NOTES : All That Glitters Sets Off the Detector

President Bush’s appearance at the All-Star game with Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari meant extra security throughout San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, and the players were affected too.

Metal detectors were installed in the basement of the stadium, and players and reporters had to pass through on the way to and from the clubhouse area.

Which meant:

--Some players, such as the Padres’ Benito Santiago, who wears two thick gold chains and an earring, had a difficult time getting through.

“Yeah, man,” Santiago said. “They checked me all over the place. It took a little while.”

--Some players figured a safe trip through the metal detectors absolved them from anything.

“I guess this means I don’t have a corked bat, huh?” Pittsburgh’s Andy Van Slyke said.

--It would have been difficult for a pitcher thinking of cheating to stick a nail file in his pocket.

“Gotta use them emery boards made out of paper,” Houston reliever Doug Jones joked.

--Some players simply weren’t impressed.

“Who cares?” said Minnesota’s Chuck Knoblauch. “We met (Bush) at the White House (after winning the World Series). I don’t know if I could live like that, having people all around. It’s a major production for him to leave the White House.”

Tony Gwynn started in the National League outfield after getting eight Novocaine shots while having a couple of crowns put on his teeth. His dentist, knowing it was All-Star day, opened at 8 a.m. for Gwynn, instead of the usual 10 a.m.

After that, Gwynn was trying to take in as much as possible. He set up two VCRs in the Padre clubhouse to record the game.

“Hey, I’ll have those as memories the rest of my life,” Gwynn said. “This may never happen to me again.”

The memories included Gwynn tying an All-Star record with two assists. In the first inning, he threw out Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. at second base while Ripken was attempting to stretch a single into a double. In the sixth, Gwynn threw behind Detroit’s Travis Fryman at second after Fryman had rounded the base on a single by Milwaukee’s Paul Molitor. San Diego shortstop Tony Fernandez made the putout.

“That was a play that could not have been pulled off had those guys not played together,” Fryman said. “That was obviously a play designed to work, and it worked to perfection.”

Gwynn was feeling the effects of being the hometown hero.

“I’m trying to be relaxed, loosey-goosey,” he said before the game. “I’m not. It’s like my first big league game or something. I’ve never gotten an ovation for walking from my car to the tunnel. This whole experience is wild.”

Toronto’s Roberto Alomar set an All-Star game record with two stolen bases in one inning and tied another with two stolen bases for the game.

He got them both in the second inning when he stole second and third against his old teammate Benito Santiago.

“I didn’t steal the bases off of him,” Alomar said. “I stole them off of the pitcher (Tom Glavine). He had a slow motion.”

Alomar said he didn’t realize he tied a stolen base record for an All-Star game until afterward.

“If I would have known that, I would have stolen home,” Alomar said.

St. Louis pitcher Lee Smith was the only player on either team not to play, and it turns out Smith was involved in the decision to send Cincinnati’s Norm Charlton into the game in the ninth.

“They called down to the bullpen and said: ‘Which one of you wants to pitch?’ ” Charlton said. “Lee said. ‘I’ve been in two (All-Star games), this is your first one. Go get ‘em, kid.’ ”

Charlton struck out one and then finished the game by striking out.

Not many were prouder than San Francisco Manager Roger Craig, who collected his fourth All-Star ring.

Craig has four children and has had a goal of presenting each with an All-Star and World Series ring.

He already had four World Series rings.

Sign of the night: “Ex-Padres don’t retire, they just become All-Stars.”

Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield was critical of Milwaukee’s Paul Molitor earlier this season, accusing him of, among other things, being involved in a clique with Robin Yount that shut younger players out.

Molitor’s response: “I was a little more confused than angry. I don’t have any bad feelings toward him. When we saw each other (at the All-Star game), he congratulated me.

“Maybe some day, I’d like to talk to him and bring it up.”

When Charles Nagy was named the opening-day starter for the Cleveland Indians this season, prompting numerous questions of “Charles who?” former teammate Tom Candiotti rushed to his defense.

“If the guy gets any help, he can win some games,” Candiotti said at the time.

Now that Nagy is an All-Star with an 11-4 record, he wants to thank Candiotti.

“Tom really helped me out last year,” Nagy said. “I pitched after him in the rotation, and he would take time to talk to me about hitters.

“During spring training, he played golf with me a couple of times and we talked a lot then. I would really like to thank him.”

Nagy couldn’t recall having hit since his senior year in college, he didn’t look overmatched at the plate.

With no pinch-hitters available, Tom Kelly let Nagy hit in the eighth inning, and Nagy beat out a chopper to short for a single. It was the first hit by an AL pitcher since 1963, when Ken McBride, then of the Angels, singled.

“I wasn’t prepared to hit so I had to borrow a batting helmet,” Nagy said. “Sandy Alomar had one, but I’m a left-handed hitter and he hits right-handed. I don’t know whose helmet I used.”

Rick Aguilera also hit for himself, striking out in the ninth inning. But Aguilera has had recent hitting experience, having flied out with the bases loaded in the 12th inning of the third game of last year’s World Series.

“I used Kirby Puckett’s helmet and Robin Ventura’s bat, but even that combination didn’t help me tonight,” Aguilera said, smiling. “I don’t hit that often, but when I do, they’re on worthwhile occasions.”

Kelly calculated everything perfectly Tuesday, getting every position player on his AL squad into the 13-6 victory over the NL. He also used every pitcher in his bullpen, setting up Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley to finish the game and give Kelly his second All-Star managing victory.

“TK ought to get a piece of the MVP award,” Boston’s Roger Clemens said in admiration. “He called the shots (Monday, in the home run contest), and he called the shots today in our meeting. The guys he put out there all came through.”

Kelly did make one minor error. “As a joke, I said, ‘Let’s get 15 to 20 hits tonight and see if I can manage this game,’ ” said Kelly, who managed the AL All-Stars to a 2-1 triumph in 1988 and was a coach last season. “Lo and behold, we got 19 hits.

“The players did it all. They can make you look good or they can make you look awful bad, at times.”

Although Angel left-hander Mark Langston gave up the NL’s first run, he was elated merely to have gotten into the game. Langston and teammate Bryan Harvey were added to last year’s squad but never got into the game.

“It was fun,” he said, “but how about that run? It was almost typical of our season, a bad hop (double by Barry Bonds) and a bloop single (by Fred McGriff).”

Langston is scheduled to pitch the opener of the Angels’ upcoming 15-game home stand, Thursday against the New York Yankees.

Jimmie Reese, the AL’s honorary captain, basked in the attention given him here. Reese, who will be 91 in October, patiently answered questions about his onetime roommate, Babe Ruth, and enjoyed every moment of his two-day stay. “It’s the biggest thrill of my life,” said Reese, the Angels’ conditioning coach.

Mike Sharperson, the Dodgers’ lone All-Star, was booed worse than any other player, struck out on three pitches by Eckersley and played only two innings at third base.

But perhaps nobody had more fun.

“I struck out on a high fastball, I think, but I was up there hacking,” Sharperson said with a smile. “I didn’t come to the All-Star game to do any walking.”

Sharperson even seemed amused by the boos, as he responded during the pregame introductions by doffing his cap and waving to the crowd.

“I didn’t know I would get booed that much,” he said. “Maybe they remember some of the big hits I’ve gotten against the Padres. Or most likely, they would have booed any Dodger, no matter who it was.

“But no matter what happened, it was great. I’ll never forget this.”

Times staff writers Bob Nightengale, Helene Elliott and Bill Plaschke contributed to this report.