A-O!

The Royals had three players represent the hometown team, John Mayberry, Cookie Rojas and Amos Otis. Otis received the third most votes among American League players and earned a start. Mayberry filled in as the starting first baseman after Dick Allen was hurt and couldn’t play.

Mayberry was deserving anyhow, with a .300/.439/.539 line and 20 homers and 80 RBI. Otis had a .287/.350/.496 line with 19 homers.

Mayberry ended the first inning with a ground out, but when Otis came up in the second inning, he already had Reggie Jackson on second base after a leadoff double. He singled towards second base and drove in the American League’s only run.

Despite the scoring problems of the AL, Otis and Mayberry did their part. In his second at bat Mayberry walked in the bottom of the third, then doubled to right-center to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but he was stranded there. In his last at bat, he grounded out against Tom Seaver (but hey, he moved Rojas to second after a walk).

Otis added to his RBI single with another in the fourth inning and stole second with Bobby Murcer at bat. He left the game after Carlton Fisk and Brooks Robinson stranded him on second.

Big John.

Mayberry slowed down in the second half, finishing with a .287/.417/.478 line and ending with 26 homers and 100 RBI. Otis finished at .300/.368/.484 and 26 homers and 93 RBI.

Maybe the two Royals didn’t have flashy, superstar kind of games, but they had solid ones, contributed to their side and did so on their own field. All three Royals in the 1973 All-Star Game ended up in the Royals Hall of Fame. That adds up to a special event and one worth noting.

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The huge-scoreboard, multi-fountained stadium opened in 1973 and also hosted the All-Star Game. The new stadium and its baseball event inspired the fans to vote Amos Otis as a starter (and third leading AL vote-getter) and John Mayberry landed in the starting lineup after Dick Allen was injured. Cookie Rojas also made it into the game.

Otis had 20 homers by the All-Star Break that year and 111 hits overall. Mayberry had 20 as well but had also reached base 180 times with 97 hits and 83 walks by July 24th. Rojas was in his third consecutive All-Star Game and fourth of five in his career.

Other stars included Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson, Billy Williams, Johnny Bench, Willie Stargell, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, Rollie Fingers, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays (in his final All-Star Game). Ron Santo was in the game and will be inducted in 2012.

Others included Joe Torre, Thurman Munson, Ted Simmons, Bobby Bonds, Davey Johnson and some guy named Pete Rose.

Non-players Sparky Anderson, Dick Williams, Whitey Herzog, and Nestor Chylak were involved in the game as well, all of whom are now in the Hall of Fame.

Bobby Bonds hit a two run homer in the fifth inning and was named the game’s MVP but the big blast came off the bat of Johnny Bench, who drove a ball to deep left estimated at 480 feet and considered the longest homer in Royals/Kauffman Stadium history.

Those Royals All-Stars finished with respectable numbers – though Rojas was showing signs of aging. Mayberry and Otis were well on their way to becoming Royals Hall of Famers.

Royals 1973 All-Stars, rest of season:

Video has been posted online of a feature about the game:

Check out the threads on Ewing Kauffman.

The NL won 7-1 and it wasn’t really much of a contest after the middle innings. Rick Wise, the NL starter, got the win while Blyleven took the loss.