On the blog today, we celebrate the 1972 baseball All-Star game
with a 1973 highlight card, giving a spotlight to the "Midsummer
Classic" that Topps for some reason never gave attention to aside from
All-Star player cards:
The game, which was held
at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on July 25th, was an extra-inning
affair for the second time in three years, putting the National League
back on the winning side after losing the 1971 game, their first loss
since 1962.
The N.L. played late-inning heroics, tying the
game in the bottom of the ninth before winning it the next inning on
fundamental baseball, with the San Diego Padres slugger Nate Colbert
leading off the inning with a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt by
Chris Speier of the San Francisco Giants.
With Colbert on
second, the Cincinnati Reds Joe Morgan was on to face Baltimore Orioles
pitcher Dave McNally, and "Little Joe" did not disappoint the Atlanta
citizens on hand, rapping a single to drive home Colbert, giving ther
N.L. the win, the first of what would be 11 in a row until the 1983
game.
Morgan would get the game's MVP nod, with the New York Mets' Tug McGraw getting the win in relief, while McNally took the loss.
Other
notes from the game: Hank Aaron hit a two-run homer off Gaylord Perry
in the sixth inning, while the Kansas City Royals' Cookie Rojas hit the
only A.L. homer, a two-run job in the eighth.
Oakland A's star Reggie Jackson was the only player with more than one hit in the game, going 2-for-4 with a double.
