45th Anniversary of 1980 All Star Game

On This Day 45 years ago White Sox Pitcher Ed Farmer faced Pete Rose in the 1980 All Star Game. This was back when the Houston Astros were in the National League and the Milwaukee Brewers were in the American. In the 6th inning with 1 out, Farmer pitched to Rose who hit a ground ball to 2nd Willie Randolph, who flipped the ball to SS Robin Yount for the 1st out and then threw out Rose at First Base.

 

Special Shout out to Sox Nerd who reminded me of this play in his Jan 1, 2025 post, Pete Rose and The White Sox. Rose passed away in 2024, and Farmer in 2020, making the footage from my youth feel even  more poignant. 

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Nolan Ryan vs. The White Sox You win some and you lose some

If you mention Nolan Ryan and the Chicago White Sox many people conjure  an image of  Arlington  Texas August 4 , 1993. As depicted in the video below White Sox 3rd baseman

 and future manager Robin Ventura took exception to  being beaned by Ryan to start the inning rushed the mound and preceded to get pounded by Ryan.

I originally started this post a few months ago. Until that day, I never saw footage  of this incident.  I lived in Russian from December 1992 to November 1994 and even though I heard about the altercation had not seen the footage until now.  The melee was near the end of a storied career by Nolan Ryan. 

The Hall of Famer threw a record 7 no hitters from May 15, 1973 to May 1, 1991.  He also took 5 other  potential no hitters into the 9th inning.  The first of these disappointments came against the White Sox on 8/7/1974 when Ryan was with the Angels.

Watching the last inning of tthat game was very nostalgic for me.  The 1972-1974 Dick Allen era White Sox represent the beginning of my almost 50 year obsession with the White Sox.  Listening to Harry Caray call the action years before he headed over to the north side and  watching the likes of Allen, Jorge Orta, Ken Henderson and Bill Melton harkened me back to those early days. v

This game  features  3 future hall of famers in prominent roles.  Frank Robinson homered in the 2nd to give the Angels a 1 run lead.  Jim Kaat pitched a 9 inning gem scattering 6 hits and only allowing 1 run on the Robinson smash. Through 8 innings Ryan was the star of the show until the 9th inning when should be hall of famer Dick Allen broke the no hitter by running flat out on a check swing.  Click here to read a great account of the game along with a historical perspective of the time in which it was played.  Perhaps