July 19, 1977: The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held at Yankee Stadium, the only one held in New York City between 1964 and 2008.
Three days earlier, the New York Mets had held Old-Timers' Day at Shea Stadium, and they honored the 4 great living center fielders of New York baseball: Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle of the Yankees, Willie Mays of the Giants (who, due to his last 2 seasons, was wearing a Mets uniform), and Edwin "Duke" Snider of the Dodgers.
DiMaggio had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955; Mantle, in 1974; and Mays would become eligible in 1979, and everyone presumed that he would be elected that year, and he was. Snider was eligible, but not yet in. In 1980, he was finally elected, leading songwriter Terry Cashman to write and record "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke)."
Holding the All-Star Game in New York seemed problematic. True, the Yankees had won the American League Pennant the year before, and were contenders again. And the Stadium had just been renovated, making it capable of hosting a major event again.
But the City was in trouble. Crime seemed to be out of control. The serial killer known as the Son of Sam was on the loose. Just 6 days earlier, there had been a City-wide blackout that led to terrible looting and multiple fires. There was already a lot of burned-out, and otherwise substandard, housing and commercial property in The Bronx, the Yankees' home Borough; Harlem, former home of the Giants; and Brooklyn, former home of the Dodgers. And there seemed little that the City government could do about it, because it was still recovering from its near-bankruptcy of 2 years earlier. The incumbent Mayor, Abe Beame, wasn't even going to make the runoff for the Primary in his own Democratic Party.
But, for this night, as it so often does, sport, especially baseball, provided a distraction from it all.
DiMaggio was named Honorary Captain for the AL, and Mays was so named for the National League. (Mantle had been so honored at the 1975 All-Star Game, along with Stan Musial.) Rachel Robinson threw out the ceremonial first ball, as a nod to the 30th Anniversary of her husband, Jackie Robinson, re-integrating the sport. (Jackie had died in 1972.)
Yankees selected to play at home were Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Sparky Lyle, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, and, as manager of the defending Pennant winners, Billy Martin. The only current Met selected was John Stearns. Former Mets Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Ken Singleton were also selected. (Seaver and Singleton both became broadcasters for the Yankees.)
The game featured a lot of players who would later play in New York: For the Yankees: Rich "Goose" Gossage, Dave Winfield, Ruppert Jones, Rick Reuschel, Dave LaRoche, Butch Wynegar, Jason Thompson, Bert Campaneris and Ken Griffey Sr. For the Mets: Willie Montanez, Jerry Morales and Ellis Valentine. For both: Frank Tanana and John Candelaria.
This was also an expansion year, with the American League adding 2 teams. The 1st All-Star for the Seattle Mariners was center fielder Ruppert Jones. The 1st All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays was 1st baseman Ron Fairly, a former Los Angeles Dodgers star, who had been an All-Star for the Montreal Expos. He was the only player to be an All-Star for both Canadian-based teams before the Expos moved to Washington after the 2004 season.
Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles started for the AL. Usually, he pitched well against the Yankees. This time, pitching in Yankee Stadium did him no favors. He gave up a leadoff home run to Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds. He struck out Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Then he gave up a single to Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then he gave up an RBI double to George Foster of the Reds, who ended up leading the NL with 52 home runs and winning the NL's MVP. Then Palmer gave up a home run to Greg Luzinski of the Philadelphia Phillies.
It was 4-0 NL, the AL's starting pitcher had gotten 1 out, and the game was essentially already over. Or, as Warner Wolf, then the sports anchor for Eyewitness News on New York's WABC-Channel 7, would have said, "Turn your sets off right there!"
In contrast, the NL's starter, Don Sutton of the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched 3 strong innings, allowing no runs, 1 hit and 1 walk. This was a foreshadowing of that season's World Series -- and the next season's -- when the Yankees faced the Dodgers. So was Garvey hitting a home run in the 3rd, to make it 5-0.
Seaver got a standing ovation when he came out to pitch the bottom of the 6th, wearing his gray Reds road uniform. But he didn't pitch well, allowing a leadoff single to Rod Crew of the Minnesota Twins, who flirted with a .400 average for much of the season, ending at .388, and winning the AL MVP; a walk to Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox; and a double by Richie Zisk of the Chicago White Sox, making the score 5-2.
Rarely getting the chance to face Yankees, in the 7th, Seaver faced Nettles, who reached on an error, allowing Butch Wynegar of the Twins to get into scoring position; and then Randolph singled Wynegar home, to make it 5-3.
The NL got 2 more runs in the 8th, while in the bottom of the 9th, George Scott of the Red Sox homered off Rich "Goose" Gossage of the Pirates to get the AL within 7-5. But Gossage, apparently auditioning for the Yankees, impressed team owner George Steinbrenner by getting Randolph to short and striking Munson out to end the game.
The National League won, 7-5. This is the only game in the YES Network series Yankees Classics in which current Yankees are shown to lose.
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July 19, 1977 was a Tuesday. Since no other major league sport was then in season, this was the only score on this historic day.
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