MLB Update (1974 edition)

The All-Star Game was last night 1974.



Here's the ballot.



And here are my votes.



My first basemen are Dick Allen and write-in Steve Garvey. Allen of the White Sox has hit 26 home runs, five more than anyone else in the major leagues, and Garvey is hitting .313 with 15 home runs and 65 runs batted in. The Dodger on the first-base ballot is Billy Buckner, who's having a good year, too (.311 and 43 runs), but not at first base.

Rod Carew's the easy choice at second base for the American League. After hitting .350 in 1973, the Twins' Panamanian bunting star is at .382 at the 1974 break. Cincinnati's Joe Morgan (.299, 13 home runs, 63 runs) is probably the right choice for the National League, but I don't have his 1975 card and, for the heck of it, I decided to limit my choices to only those guys for whom I have 1975 cards. So I'm going with Dave Cash (.315 and 61 runs) of Philadelphia. "A splendid addition to Phillies infield in 1974, Dave teamed up well with shortstop Larry Bowa to give the club one of their finest double play combinations since 1950 Whiz Kids," says Cash's 1975 card. There was a Sports Illustrated story earlier this season about how Cash had helped give Bowa confidence to emerge as one of the league's best shortstops, and then there was the story a couple of weeks ago about how Pittsburgh, with whom Cash played the first five seasons of his career, seemed to be missing something this summer. Maybe it's Cash. I'm going with Cash.

Given that I snubbed Morgan, however, I'm going with his partner, Dave Concepcion (.281 and seven home runs), over Cash's, Bowa (.272 and 60 runs), at short. In the American League, I will not be swayed by a July 29, 1974, Pat Jordan feature to write in rookie Robin Yount, even though I did find this quote from the Brewers' 18-year-old thought-provoking as all get-out: "When I'm at bat I concentrate on hitting the ball, and when I'm in the field I concentrate on picking it up. When I raced motorcycles a few years ago, that's what I wanted to do more than anything. Now that I'm a big-league shortstop, this is all I want to do. Whatever I'm doing at the moment, it seems, is what I want to do most. I try very hard to keep my mind on what I'm doing. A lot of guys can't do that." In fact, Bert Campaneris (.282 and 60 runs) is the easy A.L. pick, and his 1975 card is one of my favorites of all-time. Bert Campaneris was most often my favorite baseball player when I was a kid.

Another obvious write-in choice for the National League at third base: Mike Schmidt is hitting .314 and his 19 home runs and 67 RBI rank second and third, respectively. I'm going with Brooks Robinson in the American League. Robinson's is an interesting career. In the late 1950s and early '60s, the Orioles third baseman hit for very strong averages. Then he became a home-run hitter. (In 1964, he hit .317 with 28 home runs.) For the next several seasons, he could be depended upon for 20 or so home runs, but his batting average generally declined. In 1972 and '73, he appears to have lost his home-run stroke, too. But, in 1974, at age 37, Robinson looped back to his old line-driving self, and, at the break, he's hitting .311. And, of course, everyone says he was a fantastic fielder, so he's my choice. I expect hateful comments this week from Rico Petrocelli Nation.



Reggie Jackson (.318 with 17 home runs and 58 RBI) should be in my American League outfielders, but I sold his card to Matthew's Sunday school teacher 25 years ago in Paducah. Joe Rudi (.305 and 62 RBI, third in the American League) was another my favorites when I was a kid. Jeff Burroughs (.290, 16 home runs and A.L.-leading 73 RBI) looked a little like Steve Miller, and George Hendrick (.309, 16 home runs and 49 RBI) came up with the A's.

The National League choice was awfully tough, and, in fact, I still have to eliminate one guy by the end of this paragraph. That SI feature on Brock (.312, 62 runs and a zillion stolen bases) last week convinced me. I can't leave off Ralph Garr, whose neighborhood in Ruston, La., I once set out on foot to find. Garr's 149 hits lead the majors; his .363 average is best in the National League, and his 13 triples are five more than anyone else in baseball. Jimmy Wynn is the top slugger (league-leading 21 home runs with 67 RBI and .298 average) on baseball's best team. Poor Cesar Cedeno (.302, league-leading 75 RBI, 19 home runs and 62 runs scored--both second best in the National--and "perhaps baseball's next super-star," says his 1975 card). Poor Henry Aaron!



Johnny Bench was astounding. I knew that before digging in to all of this 1974 baseball jazz, but, I mean, come on ... astounding. He's got 17 home runs and 64 RBI--no other catcher hits like this. Of course, Carlton Fisk doesn't do badly, and he's my A.L. pick. He was hitting .299 with 11 home runs and 26 RBI, and the Red Sox have fallen out of first in the East since he was sidelined. "Chosen by fans as A.L. All-Star receiver for 1974 All-Star Game," says Fisk's 1974 card, "Carlton missed classic and balance of season due to injury." Given his unavailability, I'm writing in Minnesota backup Phil Roof of Paducah.

Of course, we fans don't get to vote on pitchers, but I will mention my endorsement of Dick Williams's Gaylord Perry (15-3, 1.47 and 141 strikesout) and Yogi Berra's Andy Messersmith (11-2, 2.21 and 136 Ks) selections as tonight's starters. I also want to give a shoutout to my Hoosier homeboy, Tommy John of Terre Haute. He's 13-3 with a 2.58 ERA, but now he's "out for at least three weeks with a ruptured ligament in his left elbow," Ron Reid reported in SI's "The Week" column. Is this the injury that eventually enters "Tommy John Surgery" into the lexicon?



Last night's game started at 7:15 Central on NBC. I spent last night 2011 traveling with my wife and daughter for a family reunion on the wife's dad side at Moonlite Barbecue in Owensboro. We got home about 9:30. Had this been last night 1974, I would've gotten the TV set warmed up in time to catch the last 10 or 12 minutes of the call by Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek. I might've thought I could listen to the Jim Simpson/Maury Wills radio broadcast in the car, but, in fact, the 2 1/2-year-old has recently grown in to being afraid of the dark and demands a lot of conversation from both her mom and me on night drives.

I asked one of my father-in-law's cousins who lives in Owensboro if he knew how long Moonlite had been around. He said he moved to town in 1974 (!) and that it was around at least then. But it was only a half-dozen or so tables and stools at a counter then, he said. That was before the visits from Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith, KISS and the Fifth Dimension and President Clinton. I imagine we would've reunited elsewhere--maybe Gabe's.

I also wondered about the roads. Last night 2011, we took Ky. 138 and Ky. 81 through Calhoun on the way over--but the Audubon and Edward T. Breathitt parkways on the way home. I wondered if those parkways existed on last night 1974. (Indeed, both did--though the Breathitt was the Pennyrile.)

And I wondered about our car. We drive a 2005 Honda Element now--it replaced my pickup when we got serious about getting a baby on the way. I'm guessing we would've been in a six-year-old station wagon in 1974.