Belli, still one of 'those little kids with big dreams,' earns All-Star MVP

PHILADELPHIA – Cody Bellinger stood near home plate late on Tuesday evening, receiving the Ted Williams All-Star Game MVP Award from Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. His attention kept drifting a few feet away.

His young daughters, Caiden and Cy, were playing in the Citizens Bank Park batters’ boxes. It was a fitting image: The Yankees outfielder with a trophy in his hands, and his girls with dirt on theirs.

“We’re all little kids at heart, playing this game,” Bellinger said after the American League’s 4-0 victory. “We all fell in love with the game at a young age. We’re all still those little kids with big dreams.”

Returning to the Midsummer Classic for the first time since 2019, Bellinger hit a two-run single that represented the pivotal strike in the AL’s three-run first inning against the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez.

The 31-year-old Bellinger became the fourth Yankee to win All-Star MVP honors, and the first since Giancarlo Stanton in 2022. Derek Jeter (2000) and Mariano Rivera (‘13) are the others.

“It’s special, man,” Bellinger said. “Wearing this jersey, I feel proud wearing it. It comes with a lot. I just try to put my best foot forward every day and give it everything I’ve got.”

Selected to the All-Star Game twice within his first three seasons, when he represented the Dodgers, Bellinger said he began to believe every summer would include an opportunity to mingle with the game’s top talents.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be here every year,’” Bellinger said. “It took a long time to get back. It’s such a competitive league. It’s hard to be an All-Star. Health, performance, it all has to come together.”

A right shoulder injury sustained in 2020 marked the beginning of an up-and-down trajectory for Bellinger, who bounced back during a two-year stint with the Cubs and has continued to be productive in pinstripes – the same uniform his father, Clay, wore during the Yankees’ most recent dynasty era.

As Bellinger spoke with the media in the Citizens Bank Park press conference room, one daughter by his side and another snuggled in a fifth-row chair with her mother, Chase, Clay Bellinger watched from the back of the room with evident pride.

“You always hope for your kids to do well, whether that’s playing baseball or doing whatever they like to do,” said Clay Bellinger, now a firefighter in Gilbert, Ariz. “He’s been pretty good at it for quite a long time, so yeah, it’s fun.”

Bellinger’s knock off Sánchez preceded Ben Rice’s similarly placed RBI single, quieting a crowd that had booed the Bombers duo lustily. Given Tuesday’s outcome, they’ll certainly be jeered again when the Yankees return later this month.

“That’s what makes Philly great,” Bellinger said. “They love their team. Coming in, it’s always a tough atmosphere, but you’ve just got to be ready for it.”

It marks the first time since 1962 that the Yankees had two players with at least one RBI in the All-Star Game. That year, it was Roger Maris and Tom Tresh, in a contest played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Rice said it was enjoyable to hit behind Bellinger for a change. It’s usually the other way around when they’re in the Yankees’ lineup, with Bellinger calling Rice “my guinea pig” to see what an opposing starter is featuring.

“Seeing him driving in those two runs early from the on-deck circle, I was so fired up for him,” Rice said. “I was just so happy for him and his family; him getting to walk the red carpet with his wife and his two kids. It was just awesome.”

Bellinger donated his bat from Tuesday’s game to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He said that he didn’t necessarily expect a first-inning single would hold up as MVP-worthy, but mound work ruled the day.

“The pitching was just dominant today,” Bellinger said. “It was like the fifth or sixth inning, and they told me, ‘Keep your jersey on. You never know.’”

A few hours before Tuesday’s first pitch, Bellinger said that his family had enjoyed participating in the Red Carpet Parade. But his most enduring snapshot to that point had been sending his daughters out to hug Rice after his teammate’s round in Monday evening’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby.

By the end of the night, the Bellingers added a fresh set of memories – and a trophy that will help them tell the story.

“The kids are so tired, but it was so fun, man,” Bellinger said. “I don’t know how much they’re going to remember, but I’m going to remember it all.”