Stars in the Darkness

In a nicely ironic twist, the best players in Major League Baseball are gathered tonight in Pittsburgh, home to the worst team in either league. Two Pirates, Jason Bay and Freddie Sanchez, made the NL squad, and it's nice to say that both are deserving. Bay will actually start, an unexpected treat for the home crowd. Sanchez's selection is even more gratifying in that a last-place team rarely gets more than the mandatory selection. Freddie earned it, hitting the break with a BA around .360 and solid play in the field.

This is, of course, PNC's first time to host the so-called Midsummer Classic, and it's hard to imagine a finer setting, even if the team that regularly calls it home rarely if ever does it justice. The Buccin' Ear dropped into PNC last summer and was stunned by the perfection of the park, with its wonderful sightlines and flawless display of the city skyline. Of course, the mid-July game, played in sweltering heat, didn't match the surroundings. The Bucs went down to the Astros 9-1, with the departed Dave Williams taking the loss.

But back to the All-Star game. This is the fifth time that Pittsburgh has played host, the most recent being in 1994 at Three Rivers, an 8-7 win for the National League, which scored three times in the last two innings. Former Pirates Moises Alou (traded to Montreal for Zane Smith in 1990) got the game-winner. Carlos Garcia represented the Pirates, which tells you what kind of year they were having.

In fact, the NL has won each of the previous games played in Pittsburgh.

In 1974, a tilt attended by your faithful correspondent, the NL prevailed easily, 7-2 (MVP: Steve Garvey). Only one Pirate appeared in the game, the late Ken Brett, but he threw two scoreless innings to get the win. The paucity of Pirates seems curious, given that they were the eventual winners of the NL East that year, until one remembers that the team began 18-32. Obviously, few Buccos were boasting All-Star stats in early July, given that start.

The 1959 match in Forbes Field was notable in that it was the first year that two games were played, one in an NL park and one at an AL field. The first game, in Pittsburgh, was won by the NL with two runs in the bottom of the ninth off none other than Whitey Ford. Game-winning hit (a triple)? Some guy named Mays, who drove in some guy named Aaron. The first six innings, which ended 1-1, featured these four pitchers: for the NL, Don Drysdale and Lew Burdette. For the AL, Early Wynn and Ryne Duren. Anybody who saw the game, contact the Buccin' Ear. That one lived up to the word "Classic."

Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat and Elroy Face appeared for the Pirates in the 1959 game. Unfortunately, Face was the victim of a three-run uprising by the AL in the top of the ninth that forced the NL heroics in the bottom frame.

The luster of the 1944 game, also played at Forbes, was obviously dimmed by the war, and the loss of many great players, who were in Europe and the Pacific fighting fascism. Still, those notables who were still around included Bobby Doerr, Vern Stephens, Hal Newhouser, Rip Sewall (he of the Ephus pitch), Stan Musial, Walker Cooper, Joe Medwick, Mel Ott and Marty Marion. There was even a Dimaggio (Vince, who made the team as a Pirate). The other Pirate attendees were Sewall and first baseman Bob Elliott (2,061 career hits). The NL cruised, 7-1.

So perhaps all of this history bodes well for an '06 NL squad everyone is declaring overmatched. The balance of power in baseball has undoubtedly shifted to the AL, but perhaps an old NL city can inspire the Senior Circuit again. And don't forget, the NL skipper is none other than a Pittsburgh favorite: Phil "Scrap Iron" Garner, who was a key member of that long-ago 1979 World Championship Pittsburgh Pirates team.