The 2001 All-Star game was the first Midsummer Classic game without American and National League umpires, hence they are now referred to as Major League umpires, and this was also the first Midsummer Classic without representative League Presidents. After four consecutives losses, the National League had returned to the role of underdog, and was looking to win. But the American League combination of great pitching and the long ball destroy the National League and helped lead the Americans to its fifth consecutive All-Star victory, and 11th win in 14 games. Three of the American League’s four runs came on solo homers by Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordonez, who was the only player for either team to have two hits. Meanwhile, American League Pitchers held National League batters to just three hits. Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr was the star of the 2001 All-Star Game; he had announced his impending retirement earlier in the season. The fans gave Cal one of the longest standing ovations ever bestowed on an All-Star player and he tipped his batting helmet in appreciation.

He became the oldest player to hit a home run during an All-Star Game, the first American League player to win two All-Star Most Valuable Player Awards, and the fourth player to win two of them. The American League got on the scoreboard in the third inning when Ripken, playing in his 18th and final All-Star Game, hit a solo homer to left field on the first pitch he saw from Chan Ho Park to give the American League a lead it would never surrender. After the National League had cut the American League’s lead in half with a run in the sixth to make it 2-1, the American League came right back with two runs of its own. With Jon Lieber pitching Jeter led off the inning with a homer to center. Ordonez followed Jeter with another homer to center and the American league had a 4-1 lead. Commissioner Bud Selig presented Ripken and Tony Gwynn, who was also retiring after the season, with the Commissioners’ historic Achievement Award. The award, which was created in 1998, is presented at the commissioner’s discretion to any player whose body of work is in self historical or any player who sets a record of historical significance. With the victory, the junior circuit cut its overall deficit to 40-30-1.