Frank Robinson (left), Harmon Killebrew, and Reggie Jackson after the 1971 All-Star Game. (Associated Press)
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In anticipation of the 81st Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Anaheim Tuesday night, which will see Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez start for National League, while Tampa Bay’s David Price takes to the hill for the junior circuit, I compiled some historical notes on the Midsummer Classic.
• 2010 will mark the third time Anaheim has hosted the All-Star Game; previous years were in 1967 and 1989.
• The first All-Star Game played in Anaheim (1967) went several extra frames before Cincinnati Red’s Tony Perez deposited a solo shot at the top of the 15th inning off the Oakland A’s Catfish Hunter to give the National League a 2-1 victory.
• The first All-Star Game was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 6, 1933, the brainchild of Chicago Tribune Sports editor Arch Ward, an event that was hyped as the ``Game of the Century’’ that coincided with the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition.
• Babe Ruth smacked the first home run at an All-Star Game, helping the American League to a 4-2 win in 1933.
• Prior to 1933, there were several unofficial exhibition All-Star Games, including when all-stars of Brooklyn and New York squared off in 1858; and on July 24, 1911, the best of the American League played against the Cleveland Indians to benefit the widow of Indians’ pitcher Addie Joss. The American League stars beat the Indians, 5-3, in a game in which more than $13,000 was raised.
• The March 1916 issue of Baseball Magazine proposed a midseason ``All-Star Series’’ between the best players of the National and American Leagues.
• In the 1934 All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds in New York, southpaw Carl Hubbell struck out five of the most frightening hitters in succession: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.
• During the third All-Star Game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on July 8, 1935, fans grumbled they were being ``gouged’’ at the concession stands, having to fork over 15 cents for peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs, ice cream and soda instead of the normal 10 cents.
• The 11th All-Star Game played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on July 13th 1943 was the first time the Midsummer Classic was played at night. And because so many players were off fighting in WW II, this marked the first time in the 20th Century that a New York Yankee didn’t play in an All-Star Game.
• There was no All-Star Game in 1945 due to wartime travel restrictions, the only cancellation in All-Star Game history.
• The first national broadcast of an All-Star Game began in 1950 when Jack Brickhouse announced the game for NBC with 10 million viewers tuning in. NBC would broadcast the All-Star game from 1950 through 1975.
• The first All-Star cards appeared in the 1958 Topps baseball set.
• From 1959 through 1962 there were two All-Star Games played in different cities
• The All-Star MVP award was first introduced in 1962, known as the ``Arch Ward Award’’. Only two players from losing teams were recipients of the award: Brooks Robinson in 1966 and Carl Yastrzemski in 1970. There was no MVP named in 2002
• The 1968 All-Star Game at the Astrodome in Houston in the ``Year of the Pitcher’’ turned out to be the only 1-0 game in All-Star Game history with the National League coming out on top. 1968 was also the first year a Midsummer Classic was played indoors.
• In the 1971 All-Star Game played in Detroit, 18 of the players were future Hall of Famers; while all six of the home runs in the game were belted by future Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Johnny Bench and Frank Robinson.
• The 1976 All-Star Game was played at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in honor of America’s bicentennial.
• The 1978 All-Star Game in San Diego sparked some heated criticism over the fan selection of Reds catcher Johnny Bench, who was elected for the 10th consecutive year despite missing over a month of the season due to back trouble; while the Yankees Don Money was elected as the A.L second baseman despite playing only 10 games at that position.
• Davie Lopes started the 1981 All-Star Game with a .169 batting average, the worst for a Midsummer Classic.
• The largest attendance at an All-Star Game was in 1981, when 72,086 fans passed through the turnstiles at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland; the smallest was 25, 556 at Braves Field in Boston on July 7, 1936.
• The 1982 All-Star Game played at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, marked the first time the All-Star Game was played outside the United States.
• Fred Lynn blasted the only grand slam in All-Star history on July 6, 1983 at Comiskey Park in Chicago off of Atlee Hammaker
• Pete Rose and Paul Molitor hold records for being the only All-Stars with appearances at five different positions.
• The longest nine inning game was three hrs, 38 minutes at Coors Field in Denver on July 7, 1998; the shortest was one hour, 53 minutes at Sportsman’s Park in St Louis on July 9, 1940.
• The most players used by one club during a nine inning game were 30 by the American League on July 12, 2005; the fewest were 11 by the A.L on July 6, 1942.
• The oldest player to participate in an All-Star Game was Satchel Paige at age 47 in 1953; the youngest was Dwight Gooden, aka ``Dr. K‘’, at age 19 in 1984
• The Dodger’s Don Drysdale struck out 19 batters over eight games, an All-Star record.
• 11 different New York Yankee pitchers have started an All-Star Game, the most ever in All-Star history, while Philadelphia Phillies’ pitchers started six consecutive All-Star Games from 1950 through 1955.
• Cal Ripken was elected starter to an All-Star Game a record 17 times; Ivan Rodriguez, meanwhile, has been elected 12 times, the most among active players.
• The first time a designated hitter was used in an All-Star Game was in 1989 in Anaheim.
• When President Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game in St Louis, he became the fourth sitting U.S. president to do so.
• In 2010, over 2,000 writers, photographers will be credentialed to cover the All-Star Game.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
Source: Major League Baseball; ``The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball’s All-Star Game’’ By David Vincent, Lyle Spatz, David W. Smith; ``The Dickson Baseball Dictionary’’ (Third Edition) By Paul Dickson.
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