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1975 All-Star Game
Give me 1975. Bring me back to the year when the record of the year was "I Honestly Love You," by Olivia Newton-John. Okay, the tune was a little soft, but she sure was hot, wasn't she? The big movies were "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Jaws." We don't see great televisions shows any more like "All in the Family," "The Jefferson's," and "Sanford and Son." Has it really been 30 years?
Give me baseball, circa 1975. Steroid free baseball. Colorful uniforms, nicknames, and mustaches. The images of all the baseball cards from the 1975 Topps set are forever burned in my brain.
The first All-Star game I remember watching was the 1975 game. Recently, I had the pleasure of watching the 1975 All-Star game all over again, commercials and all. All of its splendor was enjoyed as much at 39, as when I first saw it as a 9-year-old boy. That All-Star Game serves as a wonderful snapshot of the classic era, and it serves as a great comparison to the game of baseball as it exists today.
The venue was Milwaukee's County Stadium, which was a timely selection to host the All-Star game. The year before, Hank Aaron hit homerun number 715. This was the first of two years Aaron spent with the Brewers, to wind up his distinguished career.
The distinctive voices covering the game were of Kurt Gowdy and Joe Garagiola. Gowdy's voice takes you instantly back to the 1970's. He was one of the best baseball commentators we've had.
As the National League players are called out onto the field, with the organ music bellowing, the viewer quickly realizes that the Reds and Dodgers alone could probably supply all NL players necessary for the game. For the Reds there were Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Dave Concepcion, and Tony Perez. Representing the Dodgers were Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Jimmy Wynn, Andy Messersmith, Mike Marshall, and Don Sutton-who was sporting his new afro look.
The year before Steve Garvey was a write-in starter at first base; he even won the MVP Award for the prior All-Star game. Joe Morgan's numbers at the All-Star break were quite impressive: .345 average, 13 homeruns, and sixty RBI's. He was also leading the NL in steals and walks.
The American League was colorfully represented by numerous players from the three-peat World Champion Oakland A's: Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, Bert Campaneris, Claudell Washington, Vida Blue, and Rollie Fingers. (Catfish Hunter was at the game as well, but he was now a member of the Yankees.) One has to guess that A's owner Charlie Finley had something to do with the uniform selections for his ballplayers. Many were in green jerseys, many in yellow jerseys, and 19-year Washington was in a white jersey. Finley, however, could never be upstaged. Before the game he wore a huge, green "57 gallon hat," as he passed out orange baseballs to the fans.
Bobby Bonds, now with Yankees, was the lead off hitter for the AL. One cannot help but take notice of the slender frame of the power hitter, which was very reminiscent of the Barry Bonds frame when he played for the Pirates. For that matter, in 1975, not one player in the All-Star game had the distorted muscle bound physique that you see today in many contemporary players, such as Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire.
The game has certainly changed.
Rod Carew was the top vote getter for the AL. At the break he was hitting a typical .373. The commentators agreed that if any current player was going to hit .400, it would be Rod Carew. An obvious choice.
For the Orioles, Jim Palmer appeared in the hottest orange colored jersey I have ever seen. When it came time for Hank Aaron to be announced, they replayed Aaron's 715th homerun, and the home town fans became hysterical. This was Aaron's 24th All-Star game, which tied him with Willie Mays and Stan Musial, for playing in the most All-Star games in history: twenty-four. The extremely long standing ovation was well deserved by the classy, humble, and talented Aaron.
Honorary Captains for the game were Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial. Gowdy and Garagiola both thought the Honorary Captains idea was a great one.
Walter Alston, the skipper for the NL, had Pete Rose leading off, and Lou Brock hitting second. The announcers wondered why the NL didn't start with Lou Brock hitting first and Rose hitting second. If I were managing, I too would have had Brock leading off, and Rose hitting in the two spot. In any event, Rose opened the game by greeting Vida Blue with a single right up the middle. Although Rose has certainly had his problems in recent years, he sure was a heck of a ballplayer. On a single by arm-twitching Morgan, Rose came barreling into third base with his patented "Pete Rose Head First Slide." Rose was tagged out by Graig Nettles, but Rose's energy, determination, and grittiness are something to marvel at. What a player.
When Bench came to the plate, a pre-game interview with the 8-time All-Star was shown on the screen. He was described by the announcers as possessing "natural personality and poise." He was asked what his goals were coming into the All-Star game. Bench replied that his goal was "to get out of the game before Niekro comes in." Earlier in 1975, Bench was married to Vickie Chesser. A picture of the couple at their wedding was put on the air for a moment. (They were soon to be divorced the following year.)
Another pre-game interview was shown. Thurman Munson was asked about his thoughts coming into the All-Star game. Munson responded that his mind was clearly NOT on the All-Star game at all. He explained, "My wife Diana is expecting a baby any time now. I wish her luck, and I wish I could be there with her." This makes the heart quite heavy indeed . . . knowing that Munson would die in the plane crash in 1979.
In the second inning, the Dodgers players put on a hitting clinic. Garvey and Wynn hit back-to-back homeruns. A third Dodger, Cey was next to step to the plate, and he wanted to go yard too. On a 3 and 0 count, he took a hack at the next pitch and laced a very hard single to left. A trivia question was posed to the viewers. "When was the last time there were back-to-back homers in an All-Star game?" Answer: 1956, by Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle, off Warren Spahn.
Does anyone remember when there were only two commercials between innings? Oh, those were the days. They ran a Chrysler ad with Garagiola over and over again. It became somewhat nauseating. Tom Seaver came on to try and sell eye drops. He said, "Murine 2-it's like having another right arm." Who wrote that crap? You don't see many commercials for Schlitz Beer any more. I love their slogan: "Go for the gusto, or don't go at all." Now that's good marketing.
In the third inning, Brock singled. The year before Brock had stolen a (then) record 118 bases. Whenever he reached base, he would breath fear into the opposing pitcher. Pitcher Steve Busby of the Royals was a little shaken. He balked Brock to second. With Bench at the plate, Brock swiped third base. Bench followed with a single scoring the fleet footed Brock.
When Garvey was at the plate, Garagiola said, "You can use Garvey as a blueprint for a ballplayer." In my view, Jimmy Wynn's mutton chops could serve as a blueprint for anyone planning on attending a 1970's party.
On a ball hit foul on the third base side, Cardinals's coach Red Schoendienst positioned himself to make a play on the ball. He badly misjudged it, and the ball scooted right past him. The clear "error" brought with it a few laughs.
When Joe Rudi comes up to bat, Mantle was quoted as saying that he thought Rudi was a real winner. Garagiola laughed it up by quoting Reggie Jackson describing Rudi: "He's a misfit. He gets along with everyone." The clubhouse exploits of the Champion A's are well documented. (Well done, Bruce Markusen.) Rudi was one hell of a defensive outfielder. Cey drilled a pitch to left field that Rudi snagged to rob the "Penguin" of a sure hit. The ball was hit way over Rudi's head. Unbelievable play.
The network posted a list of the AL leaders in homeruns. Bonds was leading, with 20. He was followed by Jackson with 18, Jeff Burroughs with 18, and John Mayberry with 17. We often forget about the speed of Jackson. Jackson hit a grounder to shortstop, and screamed down the line to beat the throw from Concepcion for a single.
When Bob Watson came to the plate in his colorful rainbow Astros uniform, the announcers were quick to point out that, earlier in the year, Watson scored the millionth run in the history of baseball.
The defensive talents of both starting catchers was made clearly evident in the game. Munson pegged Concepcion trying to steal, and Bench picked off base stealing wizard Campaneris from first base.
One of the most interesting things in the game came when Jim Kaat of the Whitesox came in to pitch. He exhibited his quick pitch delivery technique. I did not recall seeing or hearing about this technique before. Kaat would catch the ball from the catcher and immediately make his next pitch, using only an abbreviated windup. The hitters were kept completely off guard. Morgan tried to step out quickly as Kaat promptly launched a quick pitch. Bench tried to do the same, but all he could do was laugh when the next Kaat quick pitch was tossed. The hitters were baffled. At times Kaat would throw his "efus pitch"-a quick pitch that is just kind of tossed to the plate with a slow arch. I wonder why some pitchers today don't try the Kaat technique.
Rose was playing third base for the Reds in 1975, but he was voted in to start the game as an outfielder. Rose displayed his versatility, by shifting from rightfield to leftfield during the game. When Bonds smoked a line drive to left, Rose made an impressive diving catch. This guy is fun to watch.
The commentators agreed that the 19 year-old Claudell Washington had an amazing future in the majors. At the All-Star break he was hitting over .300 and he had over 30 stolen bases. (Unfortunately, although he was a sound player, he never quite lived up to his billing.) You know that Finley was beaming when the AL outfield was all Oakland A's: Rudi, Jackson, and Washington.
Earlier in the season, rookie Fred Lynn had a 10-RBI game, when he launched 3 homeruns (just missed a 4th), a triple and a single. Before the game, Mantle and Musial both sent someone over to get Lynn's attention, because the two Hall of Famers wanted to speak with him. The young Lynn could not believe his ears when he learned of the request.
In the 6th inning, Carl Yastrzemski stepped to the plate with two men on. He wasn't wearing a batting helmet! He was the only player in the game that didn't wear one. He responded by pounding a Tom Seaver pitch into the seats to tie the game at 3-3. Looks like Seaver could have used some more Murine 2.
When George Scott of the Brewers entered the game, the crowd responded with a loud applause. Earlier, they booed Gene Tenace because the fans thought that the Boomer should have been the starting firstbaseman. Scott was a colorful fellow. He called his black glove, "Black Beauty," and when he was asked what his necklace was made out of, he said, "secondbasemens' teeth."
Tenace switched from first base to catcher, just in time to hook up with his old battery mate, Catfish Hunter. A few days earlier Washington had sat out some games due to experiencing dizzy spells. The spells must have been with him at the All-Star game too, because he misjudged back-to-back fly balls, hit by Reggie Smith and Al Oliver.
This brought Catfish out of the game. Goose Gossage of the Whitesox came in to relieve Catfish with the score still tied. This was Gossage's first All-Star game. He was a big, goofy 24 year-old. And, to say that he was a complete nervous wreck is an understatement. With no outs and two on, he beaned Larry Bowa. He settled down some to get two strikes on Bill Madlock of the Cubs. Madlock was an excellent hitter, and he was leading the NL in hitting at the All-Star break with a .353 average. Goose made the mistake of tossing a change-up, which Madlock drilled past the glove of Nettles at third, scoring two runs. Year's later Goose said, "I've never been so scared in my life." He added, "Gosh, I don't even know what my stats were. It was a rocky outing for sure. My legs were shaking and I wasn't thinking too clearly out there."
Gossage was completely star-struck before the game started. He arrived at the park with his wife more than two hours early. His idol growing up was Mickey Mantle, and when he ran into Mantle for the first time, Gossage froze and failed to respond to Mantle's greeting. Later when Gossage was alone at the batting cage, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw it was Mantle again. Mantle said to Gossage, "What's the matter son, don't you talk?" Gossage replied, "Oh, Mr. Mantle . . .," as he started to stammer over his words again. Eventually he pulled himself together enough to say, "You were my idol and when I saw you, I couldn't talk." Mantle must have seen a lot of this in his life. He laughed at Goose and told him, "Hey, congratulations, have a great time and good luck."
In 1974 Padres pitcher Randy Jones posted a record of 8-22. By 1975, however, Jones was a completely different pitcher. At the break he had a 11-6 record and a 2.25 ERA. Jones came in to pitch for the NL in the 9th inning. He was able to shut them down to lock up the win for the NL.
Baseball was different in 1975. Much is missed about the era. I guess it was fitting that the last out of the 1975 All-Star game was made by Gary Carter of the Montreal Expos-a team that is no more. Carter was not playing catcher when he made the final out. He caught a fly while playing leftfield, while wearing his Expos batting helmet.
Written by Stephen Jordan, 2005. Jordan is a lawyer, writer, and artist and has published many articles for various publications and websites, including the Sporting News. In addition, Jordan has created artwork for many periodicals, newspapers, websites, and for sports organizations, including the Boston Red Sox. Jordan has also authored the following books: Bohemian Rogue: The Life of Hollywood Artist John Decker (Scarecrow Press, 2005) and Hollywood's Original Ratpack: The Bards of Bundy Drive (Scarecrow Press, 2007). Drawing of Hank Aaron and painting of Pete Rose, copyright of Stephen Jordan, 2010.
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This was an awesome all-star game. Lot of stars, and collection of hall of famers. Great story. I love looking back into history like this. Pastime Post is a great website by the way! Keep up the good work.
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| Posted by: Mendoza1 |
Wed, 12/30/2009 |
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