ALL-STAR GAME : For American League, a Field of Dreams

The excitement began at the first crack of the bat, and the 60th All-Star game unfolded without a hitch--or major traffic jam--as 64,036 Anaheim Stadium fans watched the American League defeat the National League, 5-3, Tuesday evening.

For All-Star organizers and local officials, the night was all they had hoped for and more. As a camera mounted in the Goodyear Blimp zoomed in on the Big A, an estimated nationwide TV audience of 51 million saw a sun-splashed crowd soak up the early fireworks, while the nearby Costa Mesa Freeway, normally at a standstill at 5:30 p.m., was flowing freely. It was a marketing executive’s dream, a wonderfully idyllic--if deceptive--picture of Orange County at rush hour.

“Everything has gone as well as we could have possibly expected,” said Darrell Metzger, president of the Orange County Centennial Committee, who was seated in the upper deck above first base with his 6-year-old son, Matthew. “It’s good practice for the next time we do this, probably in October with the World Series.”

Thousands of fans, apparently heeding the warnings about gridlock from commuters and All-Star ticket-holders converging on the Big A during rush hour, arrived early. The huge, 13,000-space lot at Anaheim Stadium was full at 4:30. About an hour later, when the National League’s Kevin Mitchell drove in the game’s first run in the top of the first inning, there was hardly an empty seat inside the Big A.

The stadium was also the site of the 1967 All-Star game, which the National League won, 2-1, in extra innings. But unlike that tightly played, 15-inning affair, Tuesday’s game was a wide-open contest. After falling behind in the first inning by two runs, the American League struck back in dramatic fashion, with Kansas City’s Bo Jackson hitting the second pitch from San Francisco pitcher Rick Reuschel over the center field fence. Boston’s Wade Boggs followed with another home run, and the predominantly American League crowd in the home park of the California Angels roared with delight. It was the highest-scoring first frame in All-Star history.

What the rest of the nation saw mattered greatly to those who counted on the All-Star game as an opportunity to boost Orange County’s image. There was a Walt Disney-produced pregame show, featuring scores of singing children, followed by the Canadian and American national anthems, replete with a military flyover by a quartet of F-4 fighter jets. Parking lot attendants and ushers wore tuxedos, and even former President Ronald Reagan, a one-time Chicago Cubs announcer, climbed back into the booth to join veteran broadcaster Vin Scully for an inning of play-by-play.

Despite the huge crowd, police reported no major incidents or arrests.

“It’s one of the smoothest events of this size we’ve ever had,” one Anaheim police lieutenant said. “It’s a happy, orderly crowd, which seems to have baseball on its mind.”

And in its heart.

“It’s something that maybe you get to see once in your lifetime,” said Alfornia Lewis of Berkeley, who also attended the 1967 All-Star game. From her seat in center field Tuesday, she added: “I have been lucky enough to see it twice.”

Gary Delaquila, a Pittsburgh businessman wearing a black-and-gold Pirates cap, flew out Tuesday morning with two friends for the game. His grin said it all. “I’ve never been to an All-Star game before. And I’ve never been to California before. This is all new and exciting to me.”

Eleven-year-old Derek Raynes of Redlands knew the feeling. His father, an attorney, was at a deposition Monday, saying that he wanted to take his son to the game, when the opposing lawyer offered to sell him two seats. Raynes’ father bought the tickets at face value, $50 each, and surprised his son Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m real excited,” said Derek, a Little League second baseman and a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. “I’m looking forward to seeing (Dodger second baseman) Willie Randolph.”

Long before the first pitch, the Big A parking lot resembled a neighborhood block party. From the moment the gates opened at 2 p.m., baseball partisans sporting hats, jerseys and T-shirts from nearly every one of the 26 major league squads streamed into the lot and began partying under a warm sun.

Like a Delicatessen

It was like an open-air delicatessen. The sweet smell of pork ribs barbecuing on a portable grill filled the air near Gate 2. Several spaces away, an array of imported cheeses, pates and wine covered a white tablecloth stretched across the tailgate of a station wagon. Music of all rhythms and pitch poured forth from open car windows and sunroofs.

“It’s one big All-Star party,” proclaimed Clyde Dixon, a 24-year-old Anaheim carpenter, who skipped work after getting two tickets from his friend. “It doesn’t get a whole lot better than this. Beer, babes and baseball.”

For many, seat location was not a factor. Just getting inside was the payoff.

“We’re just glad to get into the ballpark,” said Tim Barter of San Jose, a hard-core baseball fan who has been to five All-Star games this decade, including last year’s contest in Cincinnati. Barter’s father, Milan, who also flew to Orange County on Tuesday morning for the game, described how he thought an All-Star game is different from a World Series game.

“The series is a serious event, you’re rooting for a team” Milan Barter said before Tuesday’s game. “This is just fun. This is the highlight of the year for me.”

The highlight for a dozen fans in the center field bleachers may have come in the bottom of the first inning, when Royals’ star Jackson hit his home run in his first All-Star at-bat. The ball landed on a green tarp covering several sections of seats just beyond the 400-foot marker. A mad scramble for the ball ensued.

It was snared by Paul Cooper, a Brigham Young University law student, much to the dismay of Edward Novitski of Ontario. Novitski, sporting a 10-inch scrape across his ribs, narrowly missed grabbing the souvenir.

“I looked out and saw the the ball heading toward the tarp and I just reacted on instinct,” Novitski recalled an inning later. “My finger tips brushed (the ball), and then I felt somebody jump on my back and it was gone.

“I really wish I could have gotten it. It would have been really special to have Bo Jackson’s first All-Star homer.”

Normally, usher Vin Benevento, who patrols that section of the stadium, tries to keep people from chasing balls on the outfield tarp. But Tuesday night he just watched, knowing it was a special moment.

“I didn’t have the heart to pull them back,” he said.

Not everybody came away a winner Tuesday night.

Across the street from the stadium, seated at the bar in the Catch Restaurant, Mark Reo sulked after spending two hours driving from the San Fernando Valley with a buddy hoping to buy tickets, only to come up empty-handed.

“This is a game that is only going to happen once,” the 33-year-old beer distributor moaned. “Chances are we’ll be in our 50s before it comes back again.”

Reo said he had a chance to buy a ticket for $100, but passed. Instead he spent $25 on an All-Star program, pin and a hat that he purchased outside the stadium, and then settled down at the Catch to watch the game. Still, he wasn’t satisfied as he surveyed the the crowded bar, where few people were paying attention to the game.

“We’re going to head home. . . . This bar isn’t happening,” Roe said.

Outside, a pair of Los Angeles men in search of tickets offered something besides cash to get inside. Their sign read: “We need tickets. Two knowledgeable baseball fans. An asset to any group. Willing to impart information pertinent to the game at no xtra cost.”

Times staff writers Eric Bailey and Tom Becher contributed to this story.

PART II--If you weren’t a fan, nothing much happened Tuesday. Page 1.

For a few minutes, “Dutch” Reagan was the Great Prognosticator again. Page 1.

SPORTS--Game stories, columns and statistics.