1965 when the National League defeated the American League 6-5. Instead of the game being played at Metropolitan Stadium it was played indoors at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. This was the first time the All Star game was played indoors since 1968 when the Houston Astrodome hosted a 1-0 National League victory. The game was broadcast nationally on NBC with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola calling the action. The managers for the game was both managers from the 1984 World Series featuring Dick Williams from the San Diego Padres and Sparky Anderson from the defending champion Detroit Tigers.
LaMarr Hoyt of the Padres and Jack Morris of the Tigers where the starting pitchers in the game. Including five Padres where in the starting lineup for the National League. This included Tony Gwynn playing left field, Steve Garvey at first base, Graig Nettles at third base, and Terry Kennedy behind the plate at catcher. The St. Louis Cardinals had two players in the starting lineup featuring their double play combination Tom Herr at second base and shortstop Ozzie Smith. Rounding out the starting lineup was centerfielder Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves and Darryl Strawberry of the New York Mets playing right field. Ironically the American League had seven future Hall of Fame players in its starting lineup for the game. With the likes of George Brett, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Eddie Murray, and Cal Ripken Jr. in the lineup. With Detroit’s Lou Whitaker who was the starting second baseman for the American League and Morris. Compared to the National League which only had two future Hall of Fame players in its starting lineup Gwynn and Smith.
With a crowd of 54,960 in attendance cheering on the American League it started off well for the junior circuit. After getting an easy three up and three down top of the first inning the American got their only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. When leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson led off the bottom of the first inning with a ground ball single to centerfield to get things going. Henderson stole second base but National League catcher Terry Kennedy threw the ball into centerfield allowing Henderson to go to third base on the play. George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit a fly ball to left field scoring Henderson easily for the lone run of the game. In the top of the second inning with one out Darryl Strawberry of the New York Mets lined a single to left field and stole second base later in the inning. One out later he was brought in on a single to centerfield by Kennedy. In the third inning the National League struck again when Herr of the Cardinals doubled to left field and then scored on a Garvey single to center making the score 2-1. With the bases loaded and two outs in the inning Anderson took Morris out of the game and brought in Jimmy Key of the Toronto Blue Jays who got Nettles to pop out to third to end the threat.
In the fifth inning against Cleveland Indians pitcher Bert Blylevin the National League struck again rather quickly. With two outs in the inning a hit by pitch to Strawberry and a ground rule double hit by Tim Wallach of the Montreal Expos setup two more National League runs. A Ozzie Virgil of the Philadelphia Phillies single to left scored Wallach and Strawberry but was thrown out for trying to sneak into second mad the score 4-1 after five innings.
In the ninth inning the National League finally put the American League out of its misery when they got two more runs off Tigers starting pitcher Don Petry and Tigers relief ace Willie Hernandez. Petry came on in the ninth inning and pitching to four batters he walked the bases loaded and struck out Tony Pena of Pittsburgh. His teammate from the Tigers Hernande came on and gave up a ground rule double to Willie McGee of the Cardinals scoring Ryne Sandberg and Tim Raines to make the score 6-1. Rich Gossage of San Diego came on in the bottom of the ninth to finish off the game for the National League.
Only in the fifth and sixth innings did the American League mount any threats to their National League counterparts. But each time left two men on base and never mounted any other real threats in the game. Starting pitcher LaMarr Hoyt was the game Most Valuable Player for his three innings of work as the starting pitcher. This was the only highlight for Minnesota fans in 1985 as they would finish with a disappointing 77-85 record under Billy Gardner in 1985. While the Kansas City Royals would go on to win the World Series in seven games overin state rival St. Louis. Other Hall of Fame players to appear in this game are for the National League Ryne Sandberg, Gary Carter, Rich Gossage, and Nolan Ryan. Other players for the American League are Wade Boggs, Paul Molitor, and Bert Blylevin all eventually made it to Cooperstown. While Pete Rose would’ve made it except for other issues.
Sources
www.baseball-reference.com/allstar/1985-allstar-game.shtml
www.mlb.com
www.baseballhall.org
