1989 ALL-STAR GAME PREVIEW : Big A Comes a Long Way Since 1967 : Anaheim Hopes Its Second Chance Proves a Charm

Twenty-two years have passed and so, apparently, has major league baseball’s statute of limitations. The Angels and the city of Anaheim have been given the chance to put on another All-Star game.

Some people never learn.

On the evening of July 11, 1967, the Angels played host to an All-Star game not unlike their own history. For a long time, nothing happened. It lasted nearly four hours, required 15 innings, produced 30 strikeouts and made a local folk hero out of Tony Perez, who finally ended the thing with his merciful home run off Catfish Hunter in the top of the 15th.

Until then, the American and National Leaguers were bogged down in a hopeless, go-nowhere 1-1 tie, transforming the Big A into the Big Zzzz. And until the All-Stars played 12 scoreless innings in Oakland in 1987, Anaheim ’67 was held up as the most striking example of how not to throw an All-Star bash.

Rule One: Do not start the game at dusk.

This was the big mistake of 1967--the decision to schedule the first pitch for 4:15 p.m. PDT. Good for national television, horrible for All-Star hitters. And, worse still for the All-Star fan, who has come to expect such things as hits and runs and a little fun in return for his attention.

The ’67 All-Star game promised a great time for all. The National League lineup featured Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Lou Brock, Ernie Banks and Roberto Clemente. The American League had Carl Yastrzemski, Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Tony Conigliaro and Rod Carew. These were hitters of real appeal.

They shouldn’t have spent the better part of the evening squinting into a setting sun, trying to pick up that white blur coming out of hands of Juan Marichal and Dean Chance.

Twenty-two years later, the Angels have been trying to plug the 1989 event by flashing “highlights” from the 1967 game on the Anaheim Stadium scoreboard. Oh boy. Here’s some footage of Clemente striking out four times. There’s Jim Fregosi fielding a ground ball. And how would you like to see that Perez home run for the 493rd time?

Things will be different this time, the All-Star organizers say. Times have changed--specifically, the starting time, which has been pushed back to 5:30. Now, the hitters might actually have a fighting chance.

Anaheim Stadium also has changed, for better or for worse. In 1967, when a hitter stepped to the plate, he could look beyond the outfield fences and survey the lay of the land. He could see freeways and trees and, if the winds shifted the smog just right, mountains. He really could watch the sun set.

But before Anaheim was able to lure the Rams from Los Angeles in 1980, the city had to agree to enclose the stadium, thus wiping out that view in the pursuit of more seats between the 20-yard lines.

There goes the sun.

If that makes for a better All-Star show on Tuesday, fine. But in the name of progress--and expanded seating capacity--charm is often lost, and the setting of the 1989 game bears only a passing resemblance to the site of the 1967 marathon.

American League All-Star Nolan Ryan, architect of four no-hitters during his eight-year career with the Angels in the 1970s, hadn’t seen the place since 1979. Last week, stopping by with the Texas Rangers, Ryan took a look around and had to pan the revisions.

“It’s disappointing to see the stadium the way it is now, all closed in,” he says. “It wasn’t like that when I was here. I always thought it was one of the best in baseball.

“Now, it’s just another big stadium.”

Some other concessions to the passage of 22 years:

THE BIG A

--1967: The most distinct baseball scoreboard in the majors used to stand behind the left-field fence inside Anaheim Stadium. A gargantuan replica of the capital A that now adorns the Angels’ caps, the Big A featured a halo that used to glow after Angel victories (A favorite Dick Enberg exhortation during those days: “And the halo shines tonight!”) as well as the message board made famous during the Ryan years. The mind’s eye has forever frozen the image: Ryan grunting and grinding on the Anaheim Stadium mound, silhouetted by a giant flashing “K” on the Big A scoreboard. It is perhaps the happiest memory an Angel fan can own.

--1989: There’s no Big A in the Big A anymore. To enclose the stadium, they had to remove the old scoreboard, which now stands adjacent to the Orange Freeway, no longer functional, a burned-out Orange County landmark. In 1980, the Big A was replaced by a smaller board, surrounded by six advertising panels.

JUMBOTRON

--1967: The old message board was black and white, usually informative but graphically limited. Clapping cartoon hands and huge block letters flashing CHARGE! and GO! were about as creative as things got.

--1989: Jumbotron, installed before the 1988 season, gives the Anaheim Stadium spectator instant replays, baseball bloopers, player mugs and, of course, commercials--all rendered in vibrant, living color. Sometimes, pertinent statistics are also squeezed in between the Dot Race and the Guess-the-Attendance quiz.

CONCESSIONS

--1967: Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack? At Anaheim’s first All-Star game, you could do that and maybe grab a hot dog, some popcorn, a beer and even some ice cream if you were so moved. With 15 innings, you probably were able to sample them all.

--1989: Along with everything else in Orange County, the menu has gone yuppie. Chicken tacos, broccoli-stuffed potatoes, discus-sized cinnamon rolls, Evian bottled water, strawberry daiquiris, “gourmet” hamburgers--this is nouveau cuisine , Anaheim Stadium style.

THE PUNCHING BAG

--1967: Two decades ago, American League All-Stars had to take out their frustrations the old-fashioned way--by breaking their bats or bones in their hands by pounding the dugout walls.

--1989: The ’89 AL All-Stars will find a huge padded punching bag dangling in the runway next to their dugout. Cookie Rojas, the Angels’ manager during the 1988 season, had it installed when his players began hitting more walls than curveballs. Could come in handy Tuesday for any pitchers required to face Kevin Mitchell.

So, is this any place to hold an All-Star game?

Well, they’ve held them on plastic grass and under fiberglass roofs, so Anaheim shouldn’t be any worse than most.

And, here’s some good news for fans of offense: Since the enclosure of the stadium, the ball tends to carry better, with the added decks of seats serving as a windbreak. With Bo Jackson, Mark McGwire, Eric Davis and Kevin Mitchell on hand, the home-run derby should be interesting, anyway.

It is also a stadium overdue for a memorable moment or two. Reggie Jackson hit his 500th home run and Rod Carew got his 3,000th hit here, but ever since Donnie Moore served up that playoff home run to Dave Henderson, the Big A has seemed locked in a hangover that only recently has shown signs of breaking.

And already, the 1989 All-Star game portends certain promise.

Mike Schmidt, retired but voted into the NL starting lineup nonetheless, will be introduced before the game and will trot out to the first-base line, to tip his cap to the crowd one last time.

Ryan, once the ultimate Angel and now the ageless Ranger, will get to pitch for the home team one last time.

And, for the first time, a new wave of young talent--Mitchell, Jackson, Ruben Sierra, Benito Santiago, Devon White--will be ushered in, providing a sneak preview for the All-Star meetings of the 1990s.

The final meeting of the 1980s has a chance to be a good one. Twenty-two years after boring everyone to tears, Anaheim and the Angels are hoping this second go-round will bowl us all over.

So let us raise a plastic cup of Evian in a toast.

Here’s to a 10-9 final.

LOOKING BACK

The ’67 All-Star game has some not-so-fond memories for one fan. Mike James’ story, Page 2.

IN SPORTS

The Old-Timers express concern about the Pete Rose case. Bob Wolf’s story, Part III, Page 1.

The ’67 All-Star game was a mound of fun for pitchers. Ross Newhan’s story, Part III, Page 8.

ALL-STAR FACTS AND FIGURES American League profiles--Pages 6-7

American League rosters--Page 6

National League profiles--Pages 12-13

National League rosters--Page 12

All-Star history, trivia--Page 14