Left to right: Darrell Johnson, Gerald Ford, Sparky Anderson
July
13, 1976: The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played, as
all sports' All-Star Games are in this Bicentennial year, in Philadelphia, at
Veterans Stadium.
As usual, the opposing managers were the managers of the defending Pennant winners: Sparky Anderson of the Cincinnati Reds for the National League, and Darrell Johnson of the Boston Red Sox for the American League. President Gerald Ford, who once dropped a Yogi Berra-type line by saying, "I watch a lot of baseball on the radio," threw out the ceremonial first balls -- righthanded to AL catcher Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees, and lefthanded (his natural side) to NL catcher Johnny Bench of the Reds.
The 1976 American League All-Stars
Honorary Captains were a pair of newly-elected Hall-of-Famers: Robin Roberts of the host Phillies for the NL, and Bob Lemon of the Cleveland Indians for the AL.
The NL teams wore sleeve patches in honor of the League's 100th Anniversary. The AL did not do the same for their 75th Anniversary. There were 6 NL teams wearing special old-style "pillbox" caps with horizontal stripes in connection with the Centennial. The Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals were all teams that went back to the 19th Century, though not to the founding season of 1876; while the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta (formerly Boston) Braves did, but didn't wear the special caps. The New York Mets only went back to 1962, and the Montreal Expos only back to 1969, but they also wore the Centennial caps. Only the Pirates kept them after the season, keeping them through the 1986 season. The entire NL All-Star Team wore special white pillbox caps for this Game.
The 1976 National League All-Stars
The
most heralded rookie in many years, Mark Fidrych of the Detroit Tigers, started
for the American League. The similarly-curly-haired phenom Randy Jones of the
San Diego Padres started for the National League.
The NL plucked "The Bird" early, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after 3 innings, and won 7-1. César Cedeño of the Houston Astros hit the only home run.
It was not a good day for New York players: Tom Seaver of the Mets gave up the AL's only run, while Mets Dave Kingman and Jon Matlack, and Yankees Munson, Chris Chambliss, Willie Randolph, Mickey Rivers, Jim "Catfish" Hunter and Sparky Lyle were non-factors.
Jones was 16-3 at the All-Star Break, and Sports Illustrated put him on their cover with the headline "THREAT TO WIN 30." He must have been hit by "The Dreaded SI Cover Jinx," because he went 6-11 the rest of the way, to finish 22-14. He did win the NL's Cy Young Award, having finished 2nd in the voting the year before, when he was 20-12. Fidrych was 9-2 at the Break, and finished 19-9, winning the AL's Rookie of the Year, finishing 2nd to Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles for the AL's Cy.
As it turned out, both peaked with their selections to that '76 All-Star Game. Jones hurt his arm in his last start of that season, never again had a winning season, and never again won more than 13 in a season. Fidrych got hurt in the next season's Spring Training. He threw his last major league pitch at age 28, Jones his at 32. Fidrych finished 29-19; Jones, 100-123.
Fidrych left baseball, and became a farmer and a mechanic in his native Massachusetts, and ended up making more money on the baseball memorabilia circuit than he did as a player. He died in a work-related accident in 2009, only 54.
Jones was luckier: The Padres made him a broadcaster, and retired his Number 35. Like Boog Powell in Baltimore, Greg Luzinski in Philadelphia, Luis Tiant in Boston, and Gorman Thomas in Milwaukee, he opened a barbecue stand at San Diego's ballpark. (UPDATE: He died in 2025, at 75.)
*
July 13, 1976 was a Tuesday, as the day of the MLB All-Star Game usually is. And, with baseball being the only sport in season in North America, there were no other scores on this historic day.
Hockey player Sheldon Souray was born.
No comments:
Post a Comment