Keegan: All-Stars shined in ’71

Twelve is the greatest baseball age. Old enough to understand the game at a fairly advanced level, yet young enough to live in the fantasy world of major-league ballplayer in training.

How lucky to be 12 in 1971, not only because the Rochester Red Wings had one of the greatest minor-league teams in history with Bobby Grich and Don Baylor anchoring the lineup and Roric Harrison as the ace of the staff.

That summer’s All-Star game also made it a great year to be 12.

The National League, winners of eight All-Star Games in a row, featured nine players now enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, plus Pete Rose in reserve. The NL’s outfield of Hank Aaron in left, Willie Mays in center and Roberto Clemente in right alone made the annual event worth circling on the calendar.

Other Hall of Fame ballplayers who played for the NL: Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Fergie Jenkins, Juan Marichal, Willie McCovey and Willie Stargell. How’s that for power at the plate, speed on the bases, guile on the mound?

Eight Hall of Fame ballplayers played for the AL: Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski. Leather, lumber, heat on the mound, hoses in the outfield. Showmanship.

Naturally, since such a remarkable collection of baseball talent gathered in one spot with a vast audience tuning in, the biggest showoff in sports history hogged the attention.

Reggie Jackson’s majestic two-run home run traveled through the light tower and clanked so hard off of a transformer that it landed back on the field. It only seems as if, 36 years later, Reggie remains frozen at the now abandoned but still-standing Tiger Stadium, admiring his creation.

The AL defeated the NL, 6-4, and every run was scored on a home run. All six home runs were hit by men now enshrined in Cooperstown: Frank Robinson and Killebrew joined Reggie in trotting the bases for the AL. For the NL, Clemente, Aaron and Bench cleared the fences. It would be Clemente’s final Midsummer Classic because on New Year’s Eve he would die in a plane crash.

The game was played in a tidy two hours and five minutes. Each team stranded two runners apiece.

One current Lawrence resident was called to the line for a tip of the cap during pregame introductions. Pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers, Marty Pattin did not get called to the mound, but that didn’t spoil the experience.

“I was tickled to death to be on the team,” Pattin said by cell phone while driving with wife Joy through the mountains of Arizona on a summer vacation. “Gosh, we had a lot of good guys on that team. Frank Howard, Yastrzemski, Brooks Robinson. Ted Williams was one of the coaches. Earl Weaver was the manager.”

Naturally, Pattin brought the conversation to Reggie.

“I watched from the bullpen, and when Reggie hit that home run, I got up real quick and banged my head,” Pattin said. “It was one of the hardest-hit balls I ever saw. I mean, it got out of there in a hurry. He smoked it.”

Pattin still has a silver sapphire ring given to all the ’71 All-Stars.

“My first and only,” Pattin said of the All-Star experience. “It was quite a thrill to be there with all those Hall of Famers. I remember after the game we got on the bus to go back down to the hotel, and the crowd was so crazy they started shaking the bus. People were going nuts. It was scary.”

Scary good.