Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game

Then Taco Bell All-Star Sunday winds-up with the Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game. This entertaining five inning game features MLB and Angels legends taking the field with celebrity favorites. Past legends and celebrities who have participated in previous All-Star events are:

Alyssa Milano
Billy Bob Thorton
Billy Crystal
Bob Knight
Chris Rock
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dane Cook
Dave Winfield
Don Mattingly
Ernie Banks
George Brett
George Lopez
Goose Gossage
Howie Long
James Denton
Jenna Fischer
Jerry Rice
Jessica Biel
Jimmy Kimmel
John Elway
Jon Hamm
Jon Stewart
Kevin Costner
Kevin James
Matt Damon
Nelly
Nick Lachey
Ozzie Smith
Rob Schneider
Shawn Johnson
Tim McGraw
Whoopi Goldberg

Legends, celebrities hammer home fun

By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com

07/11/10 11:45 PM ET

ANAHEIM -- Please, Hammer, don't get hurt.

This was just for fun, after all, and the way MC Hammer hacked his way through batting practice before the Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game made you wonder whether his obliques would hold up. Thankfully, they did, and Hammer, the one-time Oakland A's batboy and San Francisco Giants tryout hopeful, had his opportunity to play on a Major League Baseball diamond. He even got to trot around the bases after a first-inning home run.

The music that accompanied his trot? "U Can't Touch This," of course, the signature track from his 1990 album, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. For the record, Hammer's American League team beat the National League, 15-11, and former Angels slugger Tim Salmon took MVP honors with two home runs. But that really wasn't the point.

"My goal is to have a lot of fun and hit the ball as hard as I can," Hammer said during his all-out batting practice. "I've been coming to Angel Stadium -- the 'Big A' -- since 1972, so I'm really excited about it. I grew up watching some of these guys."

He watched them up close. As the story goes, a kid named Stanley Burrell -- he wouldn't be known as MC Hammer for years -- was dancing in the parking lot at the Oakland Coliseum in 1972 when A's owner Charlie Finley walked by. Impressed, Finley hired Burrell as a batboy.

"True story," Hammer said.

That '72 Oakland club included Hall of Famers Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers, and later Rickey Henderson would make his way to the A's. On Sunday, Hammer was a teammate of all three for the annual no-frowns-allowed softball exhibition that caps Taco Bell All-Star Sunday.

There were Hall of Famers in that Oakland trio, plus Ernie Banks, Gary Carter, Paul Molitor, Ozzie Smith and Dave Winfield. There were Los Angeles legends Salmon, Fred Lynn and Chuck Finley of the Angels and Steve Garvey of the Dodgers. Even Bo Jackson suited up, returning to the scene of his memorable leadoff home run in the 1989 All-Star Game at Angel Stadium.

Then there was the other talent. Actors John Hamm (of the award-winning Mad Men) and James Denton (of Desperate Housewives fame), comedian Andy Richter and gold medal-winning softball star Jennie Finch were among the veterans of the event.

Celebrity newcomers included supermodel Marissa Miller, celebrity chef Guy Fieri and actor Michael Clarke Duncan, perhaps best known for his starring role in the film adaptation of The Green Mile. Duncan, though, didn't win the size prize. That went to Quinton Aaron, star of the Oscar-nominated film, The Blind Side.

Richter's advice for the rookies?

"Get ready to be embarrassed," he cracked. "Because if you're ready to be embarrassed, and you are embarrassed, then it's not a surprise. And if you're not embarrassed, then you've got gravy. Just expect the worst."

That's what Fieri did. He can take the heat in the kitchen, but wasn't quite as confident in the batting cage, with Mike Piazza taking cuts over his shoulder.

"Let's just put this together. I'm going to get out there and Ricky Henderson is going to hit at me. Nice!" he said. "That's fantastic. But I'm a fan of the game, so this is awesome. We're meeting the greats, and we get to play ball with them."

"You have to have fun with it," said Hamm, a lifelong Cardinals fan who skipped his Sunday baseball league to play softball at Angel Stadium instead. "What an honor to be here."

The game itself turned into a preview of Monday's State Farm Home Run Derby. Henderson hit two, one leading off the game -- fitting from the man who has the most leadoff home runs in Major League history -- and then a go-ahead blast in the third inning. Salmon hit two of his own, and Lynn also went deep, giving the Angels fans something to cheer about. They also stood and cheered for Jackson, who conjured memories of his homer in the '89 All-Star Game with a long drive off Finch in the bottom of the third inning.

So what if Finch didn't have her best stuff? She atoned by hitting a homer of her own, a three-run shot in the third inning that gave her team a 6-5 lead. It marked a bit of history, the first home run by a woman in this event. Singer/songwriter David Nail hit a solo homer for the National Leaguers and Piazza gave them a late glimmer of hope, driving in three runs with a two-out homer in the bottom of the last inning.

If that wasn't enough long ball, everybody stuck around for an impromptu home run derby after the final out. Salmon won that, too, hitting five homers that sailed far over the drawn-in fences and three that landed on the real stadium warning track.

Was there any pressure for the pros to show the celebrity contingent how it's done?

"There isn't any pressure," Jackson said. "This is for the fans. This is very fun-oriented, to where we just want to come out to perform and entertain the fans."

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Legends, celebs congregate for All-Star fun
By Mark Newman / MLB.com | 07/11/11 12:26 AM ET

PHOENIX -- Luis Gonzalez put the finishing touches on a Taco Bell All-Star Sunday that was as good as he had imagined, and maybe even better.

The D-backs legend, serving as All-Star Ambassador for the host club this week, smacked a solo home run to right -- just out of the reach of a leaping Fred Lynn -- to help seal the deal for the National League in a 5-3 victory over the American League in the Taco Bell Legends & Celebrities Softball Game at Chase Field.

Then the familiar No. 20 put the exclamation mark on the whole day with another shot over the fence in a Home Run Challenge that is now a new tradition at the end of that game.

It all followed up that dramatic U.S. victory over the World team (managed by Gonzalez) in the XM All-Stars Futures Game. Arizona, you are off and running.

"We've been preparing for this for a while, and I think our organization and the city and the state has been very excited for this, and you could tell by the fan reaction here today," Gonzalez said. "Today was the kick-off party, and then comes the State Farm Home Run Derby, which will be exciting, and then it goes right into the All-Star Game."

The softball game is all about fun and lasting memories, and that is exactly what was delivered. Just ask Jordin Sparks, the 2007 "American Idol" winner from Glendale, Ariz., who gave her friend, Nick Jonas, a rather just dessert by helping the NL win.

It turns out that Jonas -- a Yankees fan and rabid ballplayer who wore No. 2 in tribute of Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit -- had declined Sparks' plea to join the Jonas Brothers' Road Dogs baseball team when all of them were touring recently.

"We're really good friends. He is so serious and so competitive," Sparks said. "At first, for me when we do things like this, it's all fun and games until we start playing. Then I get competitive. But I'm like, 'What am I doing? That was horrible. Jordin, why didn't you hit the ball? Why didn't you wait?'

"But when I was touring with him, I was like, 'Can I play?' He was like, 'No.' I said, 'OK, I'll go somewhere else.' This was nice. I'm really glad we beat his team."

Then came a big smile. You will see that smile again soon, because Sparks is going to sing the national anthem before the 82nd All-Star Game on Tuesday night on FOX.

ESPN reporter Erin Andrews (AL) and Jamie Denton from Desperate Housewives (NL) managed rosters this time, and as expected, it was a ball doing it.

"I have really just grown up," Andrews joked.

"I get to manage Ozzie Smith and Steve Garvey," Denton said. "It's tough, because I've got Mark Grace and Steve Garvey. One of the guys doing the programming said, 'Well, just start Grace, because it's Phoenix, and bench Garvey.' I'm like, 'Are you telling me to bench Steve Garvey? That's what I'm supposed to do?' Welcome to managing, right? No thanks."

One of the biggest ovations was reserved for Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who, as a baseball player, is a great football player. Asked how he is coping with the current NFL lockout, Fitzgerald said has no plans to take up baseball.

"We're doing fine," he said. "We're just biding our time, waiting for things to clear up. We're optimistic things are going to be resolved here in the next couple of weeks and get back to work."

There were highlights galore in this game. "Glee" actor Chord Overstreet made the play of the game, diving and tumbling to catch a Rickey Henderson liner -- and then coming up to throw to first to double up "Extra" reporter A.J. Calloway.

"I use to play travel baseball a lot," Overstreet said. "I ruptured my ACL my senior year of football, and I came back and I didn't get to throw or hit until the week before the season. First game I came back, the first swing I took, I hit a bomb over 360. Then I didn't hit hardly anything the rest of the season, but that's one of my fond memories.

"It's so fun. I'm a huge fan of all these guys, Hall of Famers and legends. Being on the same field is just an honor. I'm so blessed to be doing this."

One of the players on the AL team was Chris Pratt, an actor who plays the part of former A's player Scott Hatteberg in the upcoming movie "Moneyball," an adaptation of the bestselling book about A's general manager Billy Beane and his transformative system of sabermetric management. This was a glimpse of a face baseball fans are likely to get to know more when that movie hits box offices.

"Unlike a lot of other movies that have baseball, this is not necessarily a baseball movie, it's a character piece about Billy Beane as a GM," Pratt explained. "What's nice about this movie is that the director stayed really authentic to the sport, by casting primarily all ex-pros and guys from farm leagues. They're really throwing the ball and really hitting the ball. You've got guys hitting 90-mph fastballs on camera. These guys are players, they're not actors. Other than myself. Stephen Bishop, who plays David Justice as an extra, used to play in the pros as well.

"You're going to see Royce Clayton playing Miguel Tejada, which is kind of funny. It shows you a different side of baseball. You get to see it from the GM's perspective, which is something you don't really see a lot of. The people who like sabermetrics, the Bill James guys. It at least created a conversation that is pretty heated on both sides, whether you agree or disagree with it."

Jennie Finch, always the center of attention in this annual event, threw a signature windmill heater ... behind the back of Jonas.

Carlos Bocanegra, captain of the U.S. men's soccer team, went up for his first at-bat on the AL squad and Mike Piazza had placed a soccer ball in front of home plate. Then Finch ordered the whole NL team to come in, and together they all formed a free-shot wall.

"I told them they better be wearing cups," Bocanegra said later. "That was a funny gesture. I knew they were going to do something."

Finch then sent all the fielders back to their positions, and then pitched the soccer ball to Bocanegra. He kicked it high in the air to Smith at short. Then Bocanegra singled to left on a real pitch.

"It's awesome," said Finch, the University of Arizona alum who had a three-week old son "chillin'" back at the hotel. It was a home crowd for her.

"This is our backyard," she said, "and it's great to be back in the Phoenix area and to be an All-Star again. I'm soaking up the atmosphere."

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. You also can leave comments on his MLB.com community blog. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.