Heard but not seen: my All-Star memory

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, which will be played for the 93rd time next Tuesday, has produced its share of great memories since Babe Ruth fittingly hit the Midsummer Classic’s first home run in the 1933 inaugural.

Among them:

• Carl Hubbell striking out Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin—all future Hall of Famers—in a row in 1934 . . .

• Ted Williams, who would finish the season with a .406 batting average— the last player to hit .400 in either league—upstaging Joe DiMaggio, who was 48 games into his record 56-game hitting streak, with a game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning in 1941 . . .

• Jackie, Doby, Campy and Newk all playing in the All-Star Game the year after Robinson broke Baseball’s color barrier

• Tony Perez homering in the 15th inning at Anaheim Stadium to win the longest All-Star Game ever played, 2-1, in 1967

Ironman Cal Ripken, who had surpassed Lou Gehrig’s seemingly unapproachable record of 2,130 consecutive games played almost six years earlier, en route to 2,632, homering in his final All-Star appearance in 2001

• And Fred Lynn hitting the only Grand Slam in the Game’s history in 1983, and Ichiro legging out the only inside-the-park round-tripper 24 years later.

Maybe this year’s renewal will add to the list. But if so, whatever happens won’t top the historic finish in 1970.

At least, not for me.

That’s when Pete Rose ran over catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the bottom of the 12th, and I covered it.

That is, COVERED BUT DID NOT SEE the most controversial play in AllStar history.

And that’s my great memory.

Back then, the “stars” still competed fiercely in the mid-season exhibition, as the ending suggests.

President Richard Nixon threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Riverfront Stadium, and, avid baseball fan that he was, stayed to watch—rather than slipping out after a couple innings, as most dignitaries do in that situation.

Thus, the Secret Service shut down the Press Box elevator after the top of the seventh, until Nixon left.

Those reporters who needed to go to either locker room following the game’s last out were told they’d have to go down by the middle of the seventh instead.

The American League, which had lost to the National seven years in a row, took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

It was looking like the AL locker room would be a jubilant scene.

We had been assured we’d be able to see the rest of the game on TVs in a makeshift Press Room. But when the group that included yours truly got off the elevator as the NL batted in the bottom of that inning, we were greeted with an alarming surprise.

That “Press Room” in the bowels of Cincinnati’s brand-new stadium—an area defined only by large hanging tarps—had several large TVs on high stands, as promised. But because of a glitch, they were blank! We had only audio.

Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the NL rallied for three runs and the game went into extra innings.

Nixon stayed, so we were stuck—hearing the call of Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek and Mickey Mantle but not seeing the action they were describing.

And that’s where I was when Rose crashed into Fosse.

The happy AL locker room everyone expected was instead a surly place. No member of the losing team liked the way Rose ended the game (a debate that rages still today).

I tried to interview Frank Robinson, who was starring for the Reds when Rose was a rookie. I figured the ex-teammate’s reaction would make a good local angle.

But after receiving only grunts in response to several questions, I decided to point-blank ask him if he thought the way Rose scored was a dirty play.

As the notoriously intense competitor sat on a bench and untied his spikes, he looked up at me and said:

“You saw the play. What do you think?”

I didn’t think I could admit that I hadn’t seen the play, so I replied, “Nobody cares what I think, Frank. They want to know what you think.”

He rose and began mingling with disgruntled teammates. I followed and eavesdropped until I had enough for my story.

Denny Dressman is a veteran of 43 years in the newspaper business, including 25 at the Rocky Mountain News, where he began as executive sports editor. He is the author of 15 books, nine of them sports-related (including one titled, HEARD but not SEEN). You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.

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