The match consisted of former professional players, as well as current professionals such as Leroy Lita, Nicky Shorey, Aaron McLean, Ray Parlour, Justin Edinburgh, Iain Dowie, Bob Dowie, Clive Allen, Scott Fitzgerald and Paul Merson.
The lone bright spot for the Red Sox came in Game 3 at Boston's Fenway Park, in what had been a much anticipated pitching match-up of former Red Sox star Roger Clemens, who was now pitching for the Yankees, and Boston ace Pedro Martínez.
In July 2008, Overmars played in Jaap Stam's testimonial match in a team of "former Stam-mates" against Ajax.
Maurer and Morneau, the Twins' matched set of former American League most valuable players, are responsible for the team's ability to compete against its higher-salaried opponents — perhaps more than any other duo in baseball.
At the time, cops were checking to see if saliva matched that of former New Orleans Police Department cop Victor Gant, who was subsequently kicked off the force, in part for a domestic violence charge.
Before the match there was a parade of former players around the pitch and Max Boyce led the 11,000 crowd in the singing of the Welsh national anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau".
The mood had been set on Sky's Soccer Special where a panel of former players report matches "live" from studio monitors having first previewed the fixtures with sundry pearls of wisdom such as Paul Merson's take on the appointment of Sammy Lee as Sam Allardyce's successor at Bolton: "It's one of them situations where he couldn't refuse the job".
Gabbidon made his first Wales appearance in six games in February as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 home defeat to Costa Rica, a match held in memory of former manager Speed, who died in November 2011.
Former England star Paul Gascoigne was moved to the brink of tears as he returned to Rome for a match between two of his former clubs on Thursday.
It's a glorious world only wrestling could have a match refereed by the former Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, where the three competitors are a New York Times bestselling author (Mick Foley), a Hollywood superstar (The Rock), and a bad-ass named after something his wife said about a cup of tea ('Stone Cold' Steve Austin... and that's actually true).
