CBS Sports presents its third consecutive All-Star baseball game Tuesday night. And for first time, the players will be the featured attraction rather than the ballpark (quaint Wrigley Field, 1990; high-tech SkyDome, 1991).
But that doesn`t mean this year`s game, as CBS analyst Tim McCarver says, is ”not without controversy,” especially in the area of National League fan voting, where catcher Benito Santiago of the Padres and out-fielders Bobby Bonilla of the Mets and Darryl Strawberry of the Dodgers, three players booed the most by their home fans, led most of the season.
McCarver, who will broadcast Tuesday`s game along with Sean McDonough, Jim Kaat and Pat O`Brien, finds that balloting ”particularly” strange, even though Santiago wound up as the lone starter among the three.
”It`s ironic that these players could have been starters,” says McCarver. ”Yet these three players are booed at home, especially in Bonilla`s and Santiago`s cases, and the home fans are the ones who elect the All-Star team. I find it very strange. And then there are players who should be starters and won`t be, but that happens every year.”
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For instance, Santiago outpolled Philadelphia`s Darren Daulton and St. Louis` Tom Pagnozzi, who are having stellar seasons, once again making a case against fans` voting.
”A fairer formula,” suggests McCarver, ”would be to divide it up between the media, the players, the managers and the fans.”
McDonough agrees, saying ”the fans should remain involved to a certain extent, because ultimately the game is designed for the fans. Any mistakes made by the balloting are made up for by the managers.”
While McCarver has both broadcast and played in the All-Star Game (he still winces remembering the damage to his hand caused by catching Tom Seaver`s fastball in the 1967 contest: ”Seaver threw harder that day than any other pitcher I caught, and that includes Bob Gibson”), Tuesday`s contest will mark a couple of firsts for McDonough. He not only will become the youngest, at age 30, to broadcast an All-Star Game, but ”I can`t recall ever having been to an All-Star Game in any of the four major professional sports,” he says.
”There hasn`t been a day since Dec. 26 (when he was named to replace Jack Buck on the CBS baseball telecasts) that I haven`t dreamed of this,”
says McDonough, who will have to miss the annual All-Star party thrown by Bruins P.R. boss Nate Greenberg he usually attends in Boston. ”When I got the (CBS) job, I called up Nate and told him I wouldn`t be over for the Chinese food this year.”
– Among the cosmetic changes this year are microphones on both managers
(although Major League Baseball will retain editorial control over their use), access to bullpen interviews and the introduction of BaseCam, a lipstick-size remote camera attached to the first-base bag so ”you`ll be able to see the runner dive back to the bag,” says producer Ric LaCivita.
”Hopefully, (director) Joe Aceti will use it judiciously.”
– O`Brien hosts the pregame show, which will feature a tribute to the Negro Leagues, including interviews with former players Ted ”Double Duty”
Radcliffe, Jimmie Crutchfield and Ernie Banks from the site of the former Comiskey Park, where the league played its All-Star Game for many years.
– What better time than the All-Star break for HBO to debut ”When It Was a Game II,” the second installment of the pay-cable network`s wistfully nostalgic look at baseball. Nearly 50 ”new” hours of color home-movie footage (ranging from the Babe to the Rifleman) was obtained by the producers for the one-hour program that debuts at 9 p.m. Monday. Like its award-winning predecessor, ”When It Was a Game II” also contains readings of baseball literature by celebrities from Ellen Burstyn to Jack Palance and interviews ranging from Jimmy Reese to Enos Slaughter. It`s truly great fun, as well as great art.
– ESPN has scheduled five consecutive hours of special events surrounding the All-Star Game, starting at 6 p.m. Monday. Included are live and taped coverage of the day`s home-run derby, the old-timers` game and the Major League Baseball Gala at San Diego`s Balboa Park. . . . On the serious side, Bob Ley hosts ”Outside the Lines: The Sport of Money” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Included in the one-hour program is a national survey, conducted by ESPN and USA Today, to find out if sports are becoming too expensive for fans and if so, why. ”We`ll review the growth of sports from a game to big business,”
said ESPN executive Steve Anderson, ”and look at the growing separation of the athlete from the fan.”
– The Dream Team has brought dreamy smiles to NBC. Last Sunday`s telecast of the U.S. Olympic basketball team`s romp over Venezuela had an 8.2 national Nielsen rating with a 24 share. ”That would have been a big rating for an afternoon NBA playoff game,” said a network official. Regular-season NBA contests averaged only a 4.8. The chief beneficiary may be the pay-per-view Olympics TripleCast, which will carry all Dream Team games live from Barcelona. NBC plans only three Dream Team airings, with only the gold medal game a possible live telecast.
– WLS Radio ”Fan Talk” host Dan Azzaro will ask listeners for nominations for the annual ”Fannies” on Sunday`s show at 8 p.m. . . . Decathlete Dan O`Brien may make more money having failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team than if he had made it. O`Brien, the 1991 world champion, joins NBC`s Olympic analyst lineup, along with former tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis. Each will handle their specialty. . . . Bill Macatee and Peter Kostis host USA`s first- round coverage of the Celebrity Golf Championship, which includes the road-weary Michael Jordan, at 3 p.m. Friday. NBC picks up coverage Saturday and Sunday. . . . National League umpire Bruce Froemming`s brush with heart disease is featured on ”Power Stick Pennant Chase” at 11 a.m. Saturday on SportsChannel.