Baseball / Ross Newhan : World Series and All-Star Game Are Best Played Under the Sun

The commissioner can talk about Nielsens and advertising revenue and the millions more who watch the World Series and All-Star game now that they’re prime-time events.

But what about aura and magic, what about the elixir that the two events seemed to provide the country when they were played in the afternoon and the pace slowed as kids and business people and factory workers stole a second in front of a TV or huddled around a radio and the whole feeling was one of a true national moment of celebration.

What, too, about competency and the diluted quality of those events when they’re played in the twilight and the game’s best hitters can’t hit what they can’t see and the electricity is reduced to ennui, or when the World Series starts at 8:40 on a late October night with the wind whipping and the temperature dropping and the players encumbered by layers of clothing.

It’s just an opinion, a question really: Shouldn’t baseball always cast its showcase events in the best possible light, which is daylight?

It was a brief encounter that included a brief embrace. It happened at Monday night’s All-Star gala on the eve of the game in Oakland.

Dr. Harry Edwards, the San Jose State sociology professor and new adviser to Commissioner Peter Ueberroth on minority hiring, turned to find Al Campanis extending a hand.

The ensuing conversation, according to Edwards, lasted eight minutes, with Campanis attempting to explain some of his now infamous remarks on “Nightline.”

“He told me that he didn’t mean them the way they sounded, and I said, ‘Hey, you don’t have to go through that with me,’ ” Edwards said, adding that he doesn’t consider Campanis a “bad guy” and that there are no absolute evils or mistakes.

In fact, Edwards implied that he will recommend to Ueberroth that they find a position in baseball for the former Dodger vice president.

“I don’t think he should finish out his years turning in the wind,” Edwards said. “I’m planning on talking to the commissioner to make sure he’s not left out in the cold. I don’t think his last contribution in baseball should be his ‘Nightline’ appearance.”

Did the Cleveland Indians’ decision to replace Manager Pat Corrales with Doc Edwards suggest to Bobby Bonds, the black batting coach, that he would have to get minor league managing experience before being considered for a major league job?

“I will eventually manage but don’t talk to me about managing in the minors,” Bonds said. “Bobby Valentine, Joe Torre, Pete Rose never managed in the minors. If you know the game, you know the game. I’ve already got my degree.”

Bonds added that he was not disappointed by the selection of Edwards.

“First of all, I didn’t think Pat would lose his job,” he said. “Secondly, if a change was made, I thought Doc or (third base coach) Johnny Goryl would be the first guys considered. If I would have had to make the choice, I would have chosen either one of those guys.”

Veteran catcher Rick Dempsey was among the Cleveland players who viewed Corrales’ firing as a scapegoat move.

“I hated to see Pat leave,” he said. “I’ve played under Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, Bill Virdon and Ralph Houk, and I’d have to say that Pat worked harder than any of them.”

Who was the disgruntled member of the Minnesota Twins who reflected on the appointment of Kevin Seitzer and Harold Reynolds to the American League All-Star team and said, “Who’s running the American League now--Ted Mack?”

It wasn’t enough that the Oakland A’s Jay Howell took the loss in the All-Star game or that he was booed before, during and after by hometown fans. It wasn’t his day, period.

As he was backing out of his garage to go to the ballpark, another car stopped abruptly, blocking his driveway and causing Howell to stop only halfway out, just as the automatic garage door was coming down. Howell got out to inspect the damage to the car’s roof, became angry, slammed the car door and ripped his sport coat in the process.

The booing? Relief pitchers live with it.

“I had told some of the players that I’d be booed,” he said. “They didn’t think they’d do that to me in my hometown. I won $5 from (Boston’s) Bruce Hurst.”

Teammate Mark McGwire, who heard only cheers, didn’t understand the reception for Howell.

“The cheers for me brought about the most electrifying feelings of my life,” McGwire said. “But what they did to Jay wasn’t right. What’s the sense in booing somebody? He’s an All-Star in his hometown. He should have got the same cheering I got.”

McGwire, who has displayed power in a uniform, said if he weren’t a player, he would like to have the power that goes with a police uniform.

“You know when you’re driving down the street and you see maniacs driving around?” he said. “I’d like to have that power, driving that squad car and wearing that uniform to stop those people. I wish I could pull a guy over and give him a ticket or throw him in a squad car and take him to the station.”

Dave Righetti worked only one-third of an inning before American League Manager John McNamara brought in right-hander Tom Henke of Toronto to face Juan Samuel in the seventh inning of the All-Star game. Henke went on to pitch 2 innings, angering Blue Jay Manager Jimy Williams.

“McNamara showed a complete lack of common sense,” Williams said. “You tell me Righetti can’t get a right-handed hitter out?”

Wade Boggs’ latest comment on the possibility of hitting .400:

“It’s impossible. I won’t walk 150 times. You either have to do that or get 295 hits. If I did it like George (Brett) did it and played in 117 games (when he batted .390 in 1980), maybe I could. I’m not taking anything away from George, but if I play 150 games, I need 130 walks and 250 hits to do it.”

The Milwaukee Brewers opened the second half by calling up third baseman Steve Kiefer, formerly of Garden Grove High School, from Denver, where he had 30 home runs, 87 runs batted in and a .331 average. Kiefer will play third base, with Paul Molitor moving to the designated hitter role and Cecil Cooper going to the bench. Cooper had only 3 hits in his last 25 at-bats and a .248 average.

“Coop is a bench player for now,” Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “If he starts swinging the bat well again, it presents a problem.”

The injury-plagued Molitor missed 43 games, in which the Brewers were 11-32.

On the emergence of Milwaukee’s Dan Plesac as the American League’s premier reliever, Oakland coach Rene Lachemann said: “With the Brewers now, it’s getting to be a seven-inning game. You’ve got to get to them before they get to him.”

Is Dwight Evans of the Red Sox concerned about repeating his first half statistics of .303, 16 homers and 63 RBIs?

“No,” he said. “I’ve never been a Stat Masterson.”