The 1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Detroit’s venerable Tiger Stadium is widely considered the greatest collection of talent in one of these midsummer classics. There were 26 future Baseball Hall of Famers participating in the game (21 players, both managers, an umpire, a coach, and Joe Torre who played but is in the HoF as a manager).
The one that captured this young fan’s fancy was a game that took place eight summers later in a far less-venerable Seattle Kingdome.
Sixteen future Hall of Famers participated in the 1979 back and forth affair that featured plenty of offense – the final was 7-6 National League – and some stellar defense by a soon-to-be-enshrined HoFer, Pittsburgh Pirate Dave Parker.
Parker, who was voted a starting outfielder for the National League, manned the Kingdome’s right field the entire game. Yes, you read that correctly, he played all nine innings of an exhibition game! He made two unbelievable throws from right.
First, in the sixth inning, Jim Rice hit a looper down the right field line that Parker lost in the Kingdome’s ceiling before he corralled it and nabbed Rice trying to stretch a double into a triple.
Then, in the eighth inning, Craig Nettles hit a single to right and baserunner Brian Downing attempted to score on Parker. Again, he threw a missile in the air to NL catcher Gary Carter who deftly pushed Downing away from the plate and applied the tag.
It is the end result of Parker’s throw that is our featured image in this week’s Fan Teaser. Carter ensuring that Downing’s hand doesn’t reach homeplate before the tag is applied.
Parker, who recently died following a battle with Parkinson’s Disease (read an obit here), was named the game’s Most Valuable Player in large part because of those two throws. He also went 1-for-3 at the plate and drove in a run. The Baseball Hall of Fame 2025 Induction Ceremony is scheduled for July 27.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.