Moving on in my new thread celebrating the All-Star games held between 1969 and 1978, we have the now classic 1970 game, of course remembered for Pete Rose and his game-winning take-out of American League catcher Ray Fosse at the plate:
Played
at the new Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, it was the first All-Star
game played at night, and featured starters Jim Palmer going up against
Tom Seaver.
The game was scoreless until the sixth inning,
when the A.L. put up a run, then added a second run in the top of the
seventh before the N.L. got on the board in the bottom of the inning.
In
the top of the eighth, the A.L. answered back with two runs, giving
them a commanding 4-1 lead and looking at their first All-Star win since
1962.
But in the bottom of the ninth against young Oakland
A's pitcher Jim Hunter, the N.L. came back and scored three runs to tie
it, helped by a Dick Dietz solo shot, setting up an extra-inning game
that would give us an iconic moment in the game's history.
Scoreless
to the 12th inning, the N.L. had Pete Rose single with two outs against
California Angels' pitcher Clyde Wright, followed by another single by
Los Angeles' Billy Grabarkewitz, sending Rose to second.
Up
comes the Chicago Cubs' Jim Hickman, who lines a single to center field,
sending Rose flying around third straight for the plate.
As
we all know by now, the young Indians catcher Fosse was preparing to
catch the throw in from centerfield, and just as he caught the throw,
Rose comes and barrels into him, causing him to drop the ball, thus
giving the N.L. their All-Star win.
Of course Rose has caught a
lot of flack ever since then, some saying derailing Fosse's career just
for an exhibition game. I tend to agree.
The Red Sox
Carl Yastrzemski was actually named the game's MVP, only the second time
a winner was chosen from the losing team, based on his four hits.
Clyde Wright took the loss while Claude Osteen got credited with the win.
