Wednesday, July 16, 2008

All Star Game Thoughts/Rant

Quick points on last night's All Star Game.

I had zero interest in any of the players of this game so I lasted until the 5th inning. Nonetheless, I wanted to see the pregame show that they were hyping up as the best gathering of Hall Of Famers. Oh really?

1.) The intros of the historical players were neat in that they stood at their respective positions, although Paul Molitor was considered a DH and stood on second base which was weird.

2.) Willie Mays looked like the angriest man in the world and his face had been replaced by the surface of the moon. He completely blew off Josh Hamilton when he went to shake his hand and I'm sure he was thrilled to stand next to the Japanese Cub player as well.

3.) I had a tear in my eye when some of my favorite 80's players were introduced like Dave Winfield, Ryne Sandburg, Wade Boggs (showing off his Hair Club for Men), and Gary Carter (sporting a Mets hat as well as his Expos hat...nice move Gary).

4.) Of course Yogi is introduced last.

5.) Steinbrenner rolling in on the cart was very cool. It first looked like he had had a stroke and his mouth was permanently opened but then it looked like he was crying. Its a shame what's happened but that's what happens when you get old I guess...scary.

6.) Notable historical Yankees who didn't show up...Joe Torre, Don Mattingly, Willie Randolph (not surprising though), Rickey Henderson, and Kevin Maas.

7.) It was good to see Ralph Kiner there but you have to be a Mets fan from the 80's to appreciate that one.

Anyway, my rant generates from a comment that Joe Buck said in that it was greatest collection of baseball players on one field ever. Joe, did you watch the 1999 All Star game at Fenway? That was the year they had the baseball All Century Team. Here are some the players who were there on that night thay didn't make it to Yankee Stadium.

Pitchers: Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens (love him or hate him), and Warren Spahn. Plus Tom Seaver, who wasn't on the All Century Team, didn't make it either.

Position Players: Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Jr. (who should have been playing) and Ted Williams.

I'll trade Gary Carter for Johnny Bench and take any of those pitchers. Plus Vin Scully did the introductions that year so I'd take him over Joe Buck.

Enough of that...I love baseball history but Joe Buck's father Jack Buck would have chopped him across the face had he heard that (and was still alive of course).

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