The 1964
All-Star Game is considered one of the most exciting games in the classic’s
history. Only 3 of the 9 innings didn’t
feature scoring. The game featured two
solo homeruns by Ken Boyer and Billy Williams in the 4th. The
National League would come from behind to win on a 3-run walk off homerun by
Johnny Callison.
Unfortunately,
we don’t see any of that.
After the jump, we will discuss this recent
offering of yet another 1960’s All-Star Game.
Like the 1962
game we covered last year, all that has survived is a partial broadcast. This offering is only the 2nd reel
of the game. With a game time of 2 hours
and 37 minutes, the game would have been split over approximately 5 reels. This reel runs around 24 minutes. What we are missing is any pregame material
and the first half inning of the game. The top half of the inning featured
early scoring, as Jim Fergosi (who reached on a single) advanced on a passed
ball and was driven in by a Harmon Killebrew base hit.
The kinescope
picks up coming back from commercial in the bottom of the 1st
inning. When I say ‘coming back from
commercial’, there are actually no commercials on this kinescope but the fade
outs remain. They have all been edited
out at the original source. Highlighting
how the defense is set up, we get shots of future HOF’ers Harmon Killebrew,
Brooks Robinson, and Mickey Mantle. The
leading vote getter, Bobby Richardson, started at 2B and the reigning AL MVP,
Elston Howard, was behind the plate.
Another All-Star
Game, another chance to see Willie Mays wearing the wrong batting helmet. As we wrote before, Mays has a history of
borrowing other player’s helmets during All-Star Games. Mays, playing in his 11th
Midsummer Classic, is sporting a helmet adorned with the M of the Milwaukee
Braves.
The only real
action we get from the bottom of the 1st thru the top of the 3rd
comes in the form of long fly balls and a botched groundball off the bat of
Boyer ruled a single. The fly balls give us a chance to compare the styles of three
Hall of Fame outfielders. Mays, with all
the casual coolness that the ‘Say Hey Kid’ was known for, Mantle, with his
powerful strides going back on the ball, Clemente with the appearance of it
being an inconvenience that he has to move to record the out. You can see how people formed perceptions of
these players. You can imagine kids
going out in the backyard after this game, staring into the sun as they emulate
these mannerisms on self-thrown pop-ups, flipping the ball back in to imaginary
cutoff men.
Finally, some
action! Ron Hunt, becoming the first New York Met to be voted a starter at the
All-Star Game raps a single into left field to the roar of the partisan home
crowd. Drysdale is lifted for
pinch-hitter Willie Stargell, who moves Hunt into scoring position with a
groundout to the pitcher. Clemente took
two of his iconic wild hacks before grounding out to Jim Fergosi at shortstop. Groat bounced a grounder to Richardson and
the inning (and the reel) ends.
Usually with NBC
telecasts of the era, the pregame would feature a showcasing of the
ballpark. Without that, we get a few
glimpses of the new, state of the art stadium in Flushings, New York. You can see, repeatedly, the iconic
gargantuan scoreboard, the massive parking lots beyond the outfield fence, as
well as the standing area overhangs down both foul lines. For my money, the most beautiful feature of
pre-‘blue plastic’ Shea Stadium was the brick walls beyond the outfield fence
down both foul lines. These shots of
both bullpens, as well as this foul ball tracked by Billy Williams, of the
brick wall show it gave Shea an elegant 60’s look.
Former St. Louis
Cardinal Buddy Blattner is on the call for these first 3 innings. Blattner, a table tennis HOF’er, had an often
forgotten but historic broadcasting career.
After signing with the Browns and Falstaff beer as a broadcaster, owner
Bill Veeck attempted to sign the retired player to a player contract for the
sole purpose of having him broadcast a game from right-field using a
walkie-talkie. His association with
Falstaff would pair him with Dizzy Dean and the two would go on the air for the
first ever Game of the Week in 1953. The
two made up the highest rated broadcast team, working both locally and
nationally until they had a falling out over Dean’s refusal to let Blattner
call the 1959 NL Playoff on television without him. His resume featured work for the Browns,
Cardinals, Angels and Royals.
Nationally, Blattner broadcast on the radio for the Mutual and Liberty
networks and did the television ‘Game Of The Week’ for ABC and CBS.
Twice Blattner
would call the All-Star Game for NBC, this game in 1964 on TV and in 1967 on
the radio. His style is informational,
in the vein of Vin Scully. He fills the
between pitch time with loads of background information about the players,
right down to identifying each player by their hometown. One of
the more fascinating fillers Blattner gives is the claim that Tony Oliva’s name
is actually ‘Pedro’ and that he is in the United States falsely using his brother’s
passport.
The camera
set-up by NBC gives us a variety of angles.
The behind home plate view features both the traditional high position
(giving an aerial view of the action) and a low zoomed position. The low zoomed position focuses over the
umpires shoulder and tries to replicate the experience of being in the batter’s
box. The viewer at home gets a real
treat during Dick Groat’s at-bat. Chance
uncorks a wild pitch over the head of Elston Howard and seemingly into the
viewer’s living room from that low zoomed angle. The producers also use the
traditional high first and third base angles to give zoomed closeups of the
player’s and coach’s faces.
Conclusion: This
is a great offering from the kinescope era.
Although it is missing many of the iconic moments from this game, we get
to see many of the stars from the era in action. The picture quality on this transfer by
RareSportsFilms is one of the crispest I have seen of film from the era.
Runtime: approx. 24 minutes
Network: NBC
Complete: No, Partial Bottom 1st thru
Bottom 3rd
Commercially available: Yes
Color: No
Video/Kinescope: Kinescope
Audio: Television broadcast
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