Good Hitters Can't Hit Good Pitchers

Take 34 big-league hitters with an average-average of .290 and a total of 373 homers and 1,371 RBls. Split them into two teams, put them in a ballpark that has the shallowest centerfield in the American League, give them wind at their backs, and let them flail away madly for 15 innings. Then try to explain why the final score at last week's annual All-Star game in Anaheim, Calif., was National League 2, American League 1.

In a word, pitching. If the longest game in All-Star history proved anything, it was that good hitters can't hit good pitchers--on a day when the pitchers have good stuff and do not have to worry about pacing themselves for nine innings. All told, five pitchers worked for the American League, seven for the National League. In 30 innings, they gave up only 17 hits, walked only two batters, and fanned a record 30, including among their strikeout victims some of the most fearsome sluggers in baseball. Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays each came up to bat as pinch hitters and each looked at a called third strike. Pittsburgh's Roberto Clemente, eight-year batting average, .328, wrote his name into the All-Star record book (as they say) by whiffing four times in a row. And St. Louis' Orlando Cepeda, the No. 1 hitter (at .356) in the National League, went 0-for-six at the plate--running his lifetime All-Star record to one-for-24.

The only three runs in the game came on three wind-lofted home runs, the last of which--a 375-ft. fly ball by Cincinnati's Tony Perez--gave the National League a one-run lead in the top half of the 15th inning. To preserve that lead in the bottom of the 15th, National League Manager Walter Alston did what seemed to be a foolish and romantic thing. He called on Righthand Pitcher Tom Seaver, 22, a smooth-cheeked rookie from the last-place New York Mets. A fly ball, a walk, another fly and a strikeout later, young Tom strutted off the mound with the game ball clutched happily in his hand.

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