All-Star Game Gets Lowest Rating Ever

If baseball is back, the All-Star game television rating doesn’t show it.

Tuesday night’s game got the lowest rating ever for a prime-time All-Star game and was the least-watched in 27 years.

NBC’s broadcast of the National League’s 6-0 victory got a 13.2 rating and 23 share, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday. The rating was down 5% from the 13.9 rating for last year’s game, which had the previous low rating. It was down 16% from the ’94 game--the last before the strike--which had a 15.7 rating.

The game was seen in 12.7 million homes, the fewest to tune in to an All-Star game since 1969, when a postponement caused the game to be played in the afternoon and 8.6 million watched.

Nielsen said the rating and the share were the lowest since it began tracking baseball’s All-Star game in 1967. The All-Star rating peaked at 28.5 in 1970 but has not reached 20 since 1988.

This year’s game got a 14.2 rating in Los Angeles, a 14.6 in New York, a 14.5 in Chicago and a 20.2 in Philadelphia, where the game was played in Veterans Stadium.

Among the 33 major markets, Cleveland had the highest rating for the second consecutive year, a 28.7. The lows were a 7.8 in San Diego and an 8.9 in Phoenix.

*

Wally Joyner, out since breaking his left thumb June 2, will rejoin the San Diego Padres’ starting lineup tonight at Colorado.

“I’m ready to go. Thumbs up,” Joyner said before a team workout Wednesday.

The smooth-fielding first baseman broke the thumb while sliding into second base at Philadelphia. He had the cast taken off a week earlier than expected and made three rehab appearances with Rancho Cucamonga.

The left-handed Joyner was batting .321 with five homers and 33 runs batted in when he was hurt.

*

Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas says a sore left foot may put him on the disabled list for the first time in his career.

Thomas, who was scratched from the All-Star game, went to a doctor for tests after returning to Chicago on Wednesday.

Results weren’t expected until today. But if they reveal a serious break, Thomas probably will be put on the disabled list so the club can call someone up to replace him, team spokesman Brad Roder said.

Thomas injured the foot Thursday in Cleveland while rounding first base. X-rays showed no break, and the injury was listed as a sprain.

A stint on the disabled list would last a minimum of 15 days, and end Thomas’ consecutive games streak of 346, second in the majors behind Cal Ripken Jr.

Thomas leads the American League in RBIs with 85.

*

Cleveland slugger Albert Belle claims a “smear campaign” is preventing him from changing his bad-boy image. In an interview with USA Today, Belle also said he’s considering sitting out the 1997 season.

“My body is beat up,” said Belle, who becomes a free agent after this season. “It’s wear and tear from a long, grinding season. Maybe I’ll just sit out the year and relax.”

Before the season started, Belle was fined $50,000 for his outburst against NBC’s Hannah Storm at last year’s World Series. Belle has since been ordered by American League president Gene Budig to undergo counseling after hitting a photographer with a baseball, cursing a fan and serving a two-game suspension for decking Milwaukee’s Fernando Vina with a forearm while running to second.

*

Philadelphia catcher Darren Daulton, who ended his rehabilitation assignment June 24 because of recurring pain in his right knee, probably won’t return this season.

Daulton, 34, has had eight operations on his left knee and one on his right knee in his 13-year career.

“I haven’t retired,” Daulton told the Philadelphia Daily News. “When I came up here for the All-Star game, I missed the game. But I’m 34 years old now and I know the clock is ticking.”