The Curse of the Melkman

Ted Williams once said the All Star Game was invented for Willie Mays. We all understand why. In 24 games, Mays batted .307 (23 hits, 75 AB) with 2 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs and 6 stolen bases. He won the 1963 All-Star MVP award in the second year of its existence after he scored twice, swiped two bases, knocked in two runs, and twice tangled with Cleveland Municipal’s chain link fence to record catches in center. He’d go on to win another MVP in 1968.

During the 60’s and early 70’s, the award became synonymous with the San Francisco Giants. Mays won it twice, Juan Marichal took it home in 1965, Willie McCovey went back-to-back with the center fielder in 1969, and Bobby Bonds won it in 1973.

But after Bonds 2-hit day in ‘73 (a 2B and HR with 2 RBI), a Giants batter didn’t land a knock in the Midsummer Classic until third baseman Chris Brown’s double in 1986.

From the rubber, six San Francisco pitchers made appearances in six different games during that 12-year drought, allowing 10 runs on 12 hits over 9.1 innings pitched.

Vida Blue started the 1978 game, his contribution to the club’s mediocrity being 3 runs across 3 innings pitched. The National League got Blue off the hook with a 3-run 3rd of their own and went on to win it with a 4-run 8th.

Atlee Hammaker was the main offender. 1983 was the southpaw’s only All-Star appearance of his career. He’d go on to lead the National League with a 2.25 ERA in what was by-far his best year, though he set dubious records representing the NL that year in Chicago.

Pitching in the 3rd inning, Hammaker’s outing started with allowing a homer to Jim Rice; it’d end with a grand slam off the bat of Fred Lynn—still the only grand slam in All-Star history. Hammaker’s 7-runs allowed in an appearance and an inning are still the most by any pitcher.

The ineffectivness on the mound and absence at the plate put the Giants in the doghouse of the National League for a good part of two decades. Though things started to pick up for the franchise in the late-80’s and early 90’s, pitchers still struggled to perform.

Three years passed after Hammaker’s bludgeoning before the National League allowed a San Francisco pitcher take the mound. Mike Krukow tossed a perfect frame in 1986, but the redemption was brief. From 1989 to 1993, the Giants sent only four arms in three different games to the mound during an All-Star game: Rick Reuschel in ‘89, Jeff Brantley in ‘90, John Burkett and Rod Beck in ‘93. They pieced togther 3 complete innings, allowing 8 runs on 11 hits. Brantley recorded only one out in his appearance. Burkett, two.

Burkett’s 3-run line in ‘93 gained him admittance into an illustrious group of franchise arms to allow as many runs in an All-Star game. Other than Hammaker, Carl Hubbell in 1937 was the only other Giants pitcher to allow 3-runs or more in an inning or less. The AL scored 3 runs scored against Robb Nenn in 1998, but two were unearned. Johnny Cueto gave up 3 in 2016, but over 1.2 innings.

Our club’s grand tradition of getting lit up at the All-Star game continues on with Logan Webb.

In his first career All-Star appearance, Webb faced 7 batters in the 3rd inning, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk while being awarded a blown save in the box score.

Marcus Semien led off Webb’s frame by shooting a sinker through the infield’s right-side gap. Steven Kwan worked a four-pitch walk, and it was his speed that spoiled a potential double-play ball off the bat of Gunnar Henderson. Bryce Harper made a nice pick on the change-up that the Orioles shortstop pounded into the ground at 101 MPH and elected to take the easy out at first.

Juan Soto spoiled Webb’s frame by rolling a first-pitch fastball back up the middle. Two runs scored easily and with the slow-hit grounder and the depth of the center fielder, Soto turned the non-descript contact into a double. A consequential play that took away another potential double play ball when Aaron Judge grounded out to third and allowed Soto to score easily on David Fry’s 3-2 single.

My father-in-law, sunk into the couch next to me, head adorned in Dodger blue, and tutted as we watched the American League plate their third run against Webb. “Just another Giants pitcher blowing it.”

He obviously knows his history, though failed to see the bigger picture (classic Dodgers fan) and recognize Webb’s far more sacred mission of undermining the LA takeover and annoying Dooger fans, whatever the cost.

The 3-runs attributed to the Giants only pitching representative promptly erased the 3-run blast by Shohei Ohtani in the top of the frame. A homer that surely would’ve secured the Ted Williams MVP trophy if not for Webb’s coordinated melt-down and Jarren Duran’s follow-up homer that put the AL up 5-3 for good.

Heliot Ramos, the other Giant All-Star, entered the game in the 6th inning. He made one put-out in right field. His only at-bat came against Texas Rangers reliever Kirby Yates in the 8th—Ramos struck out swinging on four pitches.

The K continued another dubious run for San Francisco.

The last All-Star game in which a Giants player recorded a hit was in 2012, the year Pablo Sandoval laced a 3-RBI triple off Justin Verlander (a portent of things to come) in the 1st inning.

Melky Cabrera went 2-for-3 with a homer and 2 RBI in the National League’s 8-0 rout. Cabrera would win the All-Star MVP award that year, and a month later would test positive for PEDs and be served a 50-game suspension, thus abruptly ending his tenure with the Giants.

Call it the curse of the Melkman.

Cabrera’s homer in the 4th inning of the 2012 All-Star game was the last hit recorded by a Giant. Brandon Crawford had an RBI but went 0-for-4 across his three appearances (2015, ‘18, ‘21). Buster Posey only worked 2 walks in 7 plate appearances (2013, 2015-2017), and didn’t get to swing a bat in the 2018 or 2021 games.

All things considered, the opportunities have been few and far between. Including Ramos’s plate appearance last night, the Giants have earned only 19 plate appearances over the past 12 All-Star games. Six teams have had fewer plate opportunities in that span from 2013 to now, but no other Major League club has gone hitless.

With Ramos’s strikeout, the Giants dubious streak of failure for the National League continues. Though failure might be too strong a word for a contest with as much meaning as a wiffle ball game at a family reunion—and with worst t-shirts.