7/13/1971

50 years ago today the Major League All-Star game featured 22 future Hall of Famers (and Pete Rose, who obviously should be one):

"All your baseball cards came to life," said Joe Torre, who started at third base for the National League team. "It was like walking into the Hall of Fame. You say, 'Wow, all of these guys are all Hall of Famers.' You're still gaga over it.''

No other All-Star Game has featured 20 Hall of Fame players. Let all the names on this field on this one night sink in: Rod Carew, Brooks Robinson, Luis Aparicio, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Jackson, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Jim Palmer, Johnny Bench, Willie McCovey, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Willie Stargell, Lou Brock, Ron Santo, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Ferguson Jenkins, Juan Marichal and Roberto Clemente, who would sadly be there for the final time. The managers, the Orioles' Earl Weaver and the Reds' Sparky Anderson, are also in the Hall of Fame.

"It was a huge thrill,'' Jackson said. "I remember it being the first game that two Black men started [on the mound]. It was the greatest players in history, like all the guys with 3,000 hits.''

"It was breathtaking being there, all those players, all those home runs, all in one game,'' Palmer said. "It was unbelievable. It was so good, Pete Rose didn't even start. Tell him I said that.''