Date: SUN 07/18/99
Section: SPORTS
Page: 11
Edition: 4 STAR
How beautiful was seeing Teddy Ballgame at the All-Star Game tossing out the first pitch? All the players gathered around like kids at the knee of Santa. A Pied Piper to the best players in the game! The PA announcer had to tell the players to get off the field so they could start the game. To heck with the game . . . this was history!
It reminded me of Babe's farewell at Yankee Stadium's 25th anniversary on July 13, 1948. Ruth died eight weeks later. I couldn't help but draw the comparison to the Splendid Splinter, frail as he is. But by God, he got that ball to Fisk on the fly, didn't he!
And was he having a blast? Looking for Sosa and McGwire. I bet he was telling Tony Gwynn that he'd get that 3 ,000. Two of the best hitters of all time. Pure respect.
I turned to my 11-year-old son Ryan and told him, "Lock this one away with that memory of McGwire's line drive No. 62 and the finale No. 70 that you watched last summer. Someday you'll tell your grandkids that you remember that night last century when Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400, tossed out the first pitch in the All-Star classic, in his ballpark, old Fenway, before they tore it down."
Steve Cutchen
Houston