John Stearns, 1979 All-Star

[Edgy MD]

Check out Tommy John's ominous prediction.

Johnny Bench pulls out of All-Star Game
The Spokesman-Review, July 16, 1979

[Edgy MD]

All-Star Dropouts Are a Callous Crew
Al Strachan
The Montreal Gazzette

[G-Fafif]

Tommy John's comment, born of pitching in the Kingdome the previous week, reminded me that the All-Star Game used to be a much lower-key affair and not the peak of a multi-day festival. I remember reading NBC had done a mock broadcast, or at least the video thereof, one of those MFY-Mariner games in July 1979 because they weren't used to doing games from there and needed to figure out where the cameras would go. Today (aside from that seeming unnecessary) that couldn't happen because the All-Star host wouldn't be home so close to the game, given the Futures, the Derby and, most crucially, all the setting up beforehand, which apparently they decided was best done with more lead time. The last host that played a home game the Sunday before the All-Star Game was Cleveland in 1997. I would've thought that MLB would've come up with that sooner.

[Edgy MD]

I remember a lot about that game, as it was an island in a rather dark sea of a Met season. Frinstance, Reggie showed up without his uniform that year.



Also seems to have shown up without his physique. What a dumpy-lookin' Reggie.

[Edgy MD]

Rose looked like a chump as well:



All three Phillies seem to have gone topless:



Bob Boone got a front row seat for Morganna's act with George Brett:



Bill Russell was helpless when confronted up close with the power of Mazzilli's buttocks:

[metirish]

Some harsh words under "Both are set for life", probably wouldn't get that from today's journo.

[Edgy MD]

I say "all three" Phillies are topless, but Boone at least bothered to pack his powder blue jersey.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Morganna's buttocks attracted my eyes more than Mazilli's.

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: Some harsh words under "Both are set for life", probably wouldn't get that from today's journo.

What you have to remember is that this was at a time only a few years past the dawn of the free-agency era and many writers were still under the delusion that athletes should be happy with whatever they were offered (even if it was nowhere near their actual worth) and shut-up about everything else. That the upper crust of stars suddenly were getting salaries resembling true market rates irked a lot of people, hence the reaction to whatever those scribes decided was "ungrateful" behavior as well as the snide "set for life" comments thrown in on the side.

[Edgy MD]

And somehow, that upper-crust of stars included Dave Concepcion. He made $200,000 in 1979.

SET FOR LIFE!

[batmagadanleadoff]

How come that paper didn't make Garry Templeton the Grand Exalted Mystic Ruler of the SAS club?

[HahnSolo]

Edgy MD wrote: I say "all three" Phillies are topless, but Boone at least bothered to pack his powder blue jersey.

Carlton (I think) in the top row came with his powder blues. Danny Ozark too.

[Edgy MD]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: How come that paper didn't make Garry Templeton the Grand Exalted Mystic Ruler of the SAS club?

I was thinking that was Templeton to Russell's right, but now I realize that isn't Russell copping that feel at all, but Ron Cey with his mustache either trimmed or sublimated. But if the Cardinal isn't Templeton, who is it? Andujar?

[Zvon]

Edgy MD wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: How come that paper didn't make Garry Templeton the Grand Exalted Mystic Ruler of the SAS club? I was thinking that was Templeton to Russell's right, but now I realize that isn't Russell copping that feel at all, but Ron Cey with his mustache either trimmed or sublimated. But if the Cardinal isn't Templeton, who is it? Andujar?

Very hard to tell. That lil slice of face looks like Andujar. More than a lil bit.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Andujar was an Astro in '79.

[batmagadanleadoff]

What about Brock?

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: What about Brock?

In 1979, one of baseball's themes was the number of 40+ year olds excelling at the game. Hence that photo above, perhaps.

[Zvon]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: What about Brock?

Could be. I officially dub thee the CPF Board Detective. You join FK, who I never publicly annointed as the Official CPF Board Timekeeper.

[Frayed Knot]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: In 1979, one of baseball's themes was the number of 40+ year olds excelling at the game.

Must have been all the steroids.

[Edgy MD]

I think Brock's our man.



So it's Rose/Jack Clark(?)/Craig Reynolds(?)/Larry Parrish/Lou Brock/Ron Cey.

There appears to be a Cub helmet on a tall guy back there, so that's got to be Kingman. He might have been getting set to pinch-hit, but once the Mazzilli homer tied the game, they kept him back.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Some junk in my trunk:

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Was 1979 the absolute nadir for baseball uniforms?

[Zvon]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Was 1979 the absolute nadir for baseball uniforms?

I dug it.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Zvon wrote: Mets � Willets Point wrote: Was 1979 the absolute nadir for baseball uniforms? I dug it.

Oddly the more garish uniforms like the Astros' tequila sunrise and Pirates mustard yellow seem retro-cool, but I'm bothered by the sea of powder blue used by so many other teams.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah --- powder blue replacing road gray was a weak-minded domino mistake that somehow the Mets failed to make, even though a whole buncha teams --- Montreal, St. Louis, Philly, KC --- did. A lot of the same teams who went to artificial turf, in fact.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Was 1979 the absolute nadir for baseball uniforms?

There was a thread here a few years ago centered on a late '70's team photo of MLB all-stars touring Japan. You had every color of the rainbow, and then some, in that photo.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Was 1979 the absolute nadir for baseball uniforms? There was a thread here a few years ago centered on a late '70's team photo of MLB all-stars touring Japan. You had every color of the rainbow, and then some, in that photo.

Here's the photo:

[HahnSolo]

Multiple variations of Pirate caps and jerseys.
Those caps!
Kong looking pissed.
Niekro clearly whispering "this is a stickup" in Youngblood's ear.
Aurelio Lopez!!
And Lasorda. Because of course he'd be there.
But who is the disinterested guy in the red jacket next to Stearns? Ted Simmons?

[Frayed Knot]

The 1970s: Bad baseball stadiums, bad fashion choices, bad Presidents.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, that's Simmons. He's not disinterested so much as joining most of the players in being distracted by some phenomenon on their right.

Funny thing is the pillbox caps (and not just on the Buccos) would seemingly place the photo in 1976, but the teams these guys are representing places it a few years later --- in the 1977-1978 or 1978-1979 off-season.