Stars past and present lined up to pay tribute to Yankee Stadium last night – and it was a long, lingering goodbye. With the New York Yankees struggling to make the play-offs, the All Star Game might have been the famous ballpark’s last showpiece event. After 85 years at “The House that [Babe] Ruth Built”, the Yankees move to a new stadium, next door, in 2009.

The place was packed at the start, as 49 Hall of Fame veterans were introduced to the crowd, but half-empty when Justin Morneau scored the winning run at 1.37am on the East Coast to terminate a fifteen-inning, 4 hours 50 minutes, marathon.

Morneau’s run off Michael Young’s sacrifice fly gave the American League a 4-3 win over the National League in Major League Baseball’s annual mid-season contest between its best (or most popular) players. Since 1996, the American League has won eleven times, with one draw.

“It seemed like it lasted forever,” Ian Kinsler, of the Texas Rangers and the American League, said. It was the longest All-Star Game in history, and with the sides running out of pitchers, there was a danger that hitters would have had to take the mound. The American League’s win will give one of its teams home-field advantage in the World Series.

The game’s credentials as a friendly were sorely tested beforehand when Jonathan Papelbon, the Boston Red Sox pitcher, said he hoped to close out the contest. That infuriated Yankees fans – not only are the Red Sox their deadly rivals, they wanted to see their own star, Mariano Rivera, given the honour on home turf. Papelbon said that fans threatened his pregnant wife in the build-up to the match during a red carpet parade down Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

“I felt like I needed to be in a bullet-proof car. My wife is pregnant and she’s getting her life threatened. It’s stupid,” he said. In the event, Papelbon deferred, pitching the eighth inning to jeers and chants of “Overrated!” from fans.

After the game, a fallen Yankees hero made headlines to sour the mood somewhat among those who were still awake. The New York media reported that Kirk Radomski, a former employee of the New York Mets, has handed to federal prosecutors evidence that he shipped a package of human growth hormone to the home of Roger Clemens in 2002 or 2003 – possibly for use by Clemens’ wife.

Now retired, Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, is under investigation for perjury, having told Congress he had never used illegal drugs - in contrast to claims by his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee. Radomski was convicted earlier this year of distributing steroids. His evidence was key in last year’s Mitchell Report into drug abuse in baseball.