Eventually, 22 players and managers from that game would make it to Cooperstown, 17 would win an MVP and seven would earn a Cy Young, making this night perhaps the greatest collection of talent ever assembled on one field at one time in the history of baseball. That night, he caught the whole game. You get to play with your heroes. I was standing next [to] McCovey, Al Kaline I loved Al Kaline. When they came to the plate, it was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling.
It was the greatest players in history, like all the guys with 3, hits. It was so good, Pete Rose didn't even start.
Tell him I said that. Rose, the all-time leader in hits, not only didn't start, he didn't take an at-bat. He was in the on-deck circle when the last out was made. That was my competition. I mean, c'mon. Hall of Famer Juan Marichal threw two scoreless innings. Bench called it one of the most enjoyable experiences he'd ever had. Marichal's control was precise. Third baseman Brooks Robinson won more Gold Gloves 16 than any position player in history.
He, too, was starstruck. But he also remembers something equally significant, at least to him. It was one of the best All-Star Games ever played. And it was over in a blink. The game took only 2 hours, 5 minutes, which is inconceivable in today's world where the average time is 3 hours, 10 minutes.
The lineups were chosen by a computerized ballot. Hank Aaron received the most votes. The wind was howling in Detroit. Back then, it was about league pride. Henry and Willie never played in the American League.
Yastrzemski and Al Kaline never played in the National League. He came in the clubhouse every year to talk to the players about winning the game. Veins were sticking out in his neck. He said, 'If we don't win this year, you guys won't be making this team next year! All 10 runs were scored via the home run, which happens all the time in today's game, but not back then, which made it even more significant. Appropriately, given the historic collection of talent, the first two batters of the game were Mays and Aaron, who would finish their careers with a combined 1, home runs.
That's how great this game was: The hitters were perhaps among the five best players of all time. Mays is the greatest center fielder ever and, other than Babe Ruth, perhaps the best player ever. He had 17 victories entering the game, most ever by a pitcher at the break in the All-Star Game era.
The previous record was 16 by Bob Feller in Blue threw really hard, but he got Mays to ground out to shortstop on a changeup to start the game. Where is the fastball?! Ellis, always outspoken, often controversial, said publicly that he didn't think Anderson would name him the starting pitcher because "baseball doesn't want two brothers to start the All-Star Game. The home run barrage began in the second inning, when Bench hit a massive home run to right-center field off Blue.
The only other All-Star Game played at the famous ballpark was July 8, when Ted Williams smashed a dramatic two - out, three - run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the AL a victory. One could say it was the last great All-Star Game since you had all of those Hall of Famers in the game and six of them hit homers. When PA announcer Joe Gentile introduced both teams as the players gathered on the baselines, the loudest cheers were for the Tiger representatives that included Freehan, starting first baseman Norm Cash, Mickey Lolich, Al Kaline, and Tigers manager Billy Martin, who served as the first base coach.
Mark Kaline, 63, fondly recalls sitting in box seats along the first base side with his brother Mike and mother, Louise, to watch his father who had been selected to his 17th All-Star Game. The NL struck first in the second inning when Bench launched a ball intothe bleachers, scoring Willie Stargell ahead of him. Then in the third, Aaron homered to right for his first extra-base hit in 20 All-Star appearances giving the NL a cushion.
That hit the transformer up there! A tremendous smash. On May 12, , while playing for the Angels, Jackson became the 12th player to hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium when his homer hit a parked bus on Trumbull Avenue. Alan Ingraham, 64, of Woodhaven was the batboy for the NL and was perched on the dugout step next to the bat rack. How Billy Martin made the Tigers, and their management, roar 50 years ago. Wayne State physicists once estimated the homer would have traveled feet had it not hit the rooftop transformer before bouncing back onto the field.
It was just an awesome blast. In the top of the sixth, Kaline received a standing ovation from the crowd when he ran out to his familiar position in right field replacing Robinson. He really always wanted to make Detroit and the Tigers proud.
With a lead going into the eighth inning, Weaver sent Lolich in to finish off the National League. Some thought Lolich should have started the game because the left-hander was with a 2. After eight straight losses, the American League was supreme once again. He scored when the next batter, Killebrew, launched a pitch into the stands for a two-run home run.
His homer was tomahawked into center field, a rare blast to the deepest part of Tiger Stadium. But the most astonishing part of that historic game is that there were 26 Hall of Famers on the field at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull that day.
Tigers legends Bill Freehan and Norm Cash earned starting spots, while Lolich and Kaline entered the game later, to give the home team a great representation.
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