It was twenty years ago today...
The 1986 All-Star Game was held on July 15th in the Astrodome. The American League won 3-2 behind two home runs, each hit by second basemen - the Tigers' Lou Whitaker and the Royals' Frank White. Fernando Valenzuela tied Carl Hubbell's famous All-Star record by striking out five consecutive batters. Of course, Hubbell struck out five legendary Hall-of-Famers, including the trio of Ruth, Gehrig and Foxx, while among Fernando's fivesome of victims were Jesse Barfield and Teddy Higuera. But hey, a record is a record.
Here were the starting batting orders:
NL
1. Tony Gwynn, Padres - OF
2. Ryne Sandberg, Cubs - 2B
3. Keith Hernandez, Mets - 1B
4. Gary Carter, Mets - C
5. Darryl Strawberry, Mets - OF
6. Mike Schmidt, Phillies - 3B
7. Dale Murphy, Braves - OF
8. Ozzie Smith, Cardinals - SS
AL
1. Kirby Puckett, Twins - OF
2. Rickey Henderson, Yankees - OF
3. Wade Boggs, Red Sox - 3B
4. Lance Parrish, Tigers - C
5. Wally Joyner, Angels - 1B
6. Cal Ripken, Orioles - SS
7. Dave Winfield, Yankees - OF
8. Lou Whitaker, Tigers - 2B
Note the NL 3-4-5 of '86 Mets and the fact that AL manager Dick Howser decided to lead off with Puckett and not Rickey (and check out that signed Topps Rickey - shit is ill). Also note - this is a pretty impressive crew, eight Hall-of-Famers and two certain future inductees, Rickey and Gwynn.
Actually make that three. I left the best for last. The NL starter was Dwight Gooden, while Astros fans got a peek at their future ace in the A.L. starter, none other than - who else? - the Rocket himself. That shot below is him throwing the first pitch of the game. Not surprisingly, Clemens is the only player from either roster still active in the bigs. It was his first of eleven All-Star Game appearances and, lest you have forgotten, he won his only All-Star Game MVP that year. I guess he was a Houston boy all along.
Here were the starting batting orders:NL
1. Tony Gwynn, Padres - OF
2. Ryne Sandberg, Cubs - 2B
3. Keith Hernandez, Mets - 1B
4. Gary Carter, Mets - C
5. Darryl Strawberry, Mets - OF
6. Mike Schmidt, Phillies - 3B
7. Dale Murphy, Braves - OF
8. Ozzie Smith, Cardinals - SS
AL
1. Kirby Puckett, Twins - OF
2. Rickey Henderson, Yankees - OF
3. Wade Boggs, Red Sox - 3B
4. Lance Parrish, Tigers - C
5. Wally Joyner, Angels - 1B
6. Cal Ripken, Orioles - SS
7. Dave Winfield, Yankees - OF
8. Lou Whitaker, Tigers - 2B
Note the NL 3-4-5 of '86 Mets and the fact that AL manager Dick Howser decided to lead off with Puckett and not Rickey (and check out that signed Topps Rickey - shit is ill). Also note - this is a pretty impressive crew, eight Hall-of-Famers and two certain future inductees, Rickey and Gwynn.
Actually make that three. I left the best for last. The NL starter was Dwight Gooden, while Astros fans got a peek at their future ace in the A.L. starter, none other than - who else? - the Rocket himself. That shot below is him throwing the first pitch of the game. Not surprisingly, Clemens is the only player from either roster still active in the bigs. It was his first of eleven All-Star Game appearances and, lest you have forgotten, he won his only All-Star Game MVP that year. I guess he was a Houston boy all along.
7 Comments:
ah that reminds me of a vhs, "baseball in the 80," i wore down back in the day. funny thing was, 1980 baseball looked nothing like 1989 baseball, thanks to the juice.
1980 Runs Per Game
AL: 4.51
NL: 4.03
1989 Runs Per Game
AL: 4.29
NL: 3.94
Damn steroids!
Excellent Teddy Higuera reference. Ripken Jr. isn't in the Hall of Fame yet - he retired at the end of the 2001 season. Expect the writers to make him wait at least a year due to the whole - Billy Ripken Fleer Card thing.
Thanks for the catch there Benjamin. Ripken - you kind of imagine him being inducted into the Hall in like, '97.
anonymous don't foreget the the pitchers were taking steroids too.
Geeez....Don Mattingly, coming off an MVP year gets beat out in the voting by Wally Joyner. Mattingly goes on to hit .352, 31 HR, 113 RBI, and plays great defense while playing all 162 games. Fans' voting should have ceased immediately.
yeah i mean, i know the stats, you look at all the dudes hitting 20-25 bombs this year by the break, i think pitchers used to keep their jobs all year. but i just remember a segment in the movie called "homerun explosion in 1986" where they showed some tiny shortstop jack a bomb 420 ft the opposite way. you don't see that anymore.
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