No Improvement, Thanks To Abc

It was supposed to be baseball’s big coming-out party, the moment when all the gloom, doom and despair that has surrounded the national pastime was to melt away, and the game was to start on its long journey back.

Instead, Tuesday night’s All-Star telecast on ABC came off like a convention for Roto-geeks, with numbers and strategy tossed about freely, but with little passion or amusement.

“We’re having fun. That’s what All-Star games are all about,” said Frank Thomas, the Chicago White Sox first baseman, after hitting a tworun homer in the fourth.

Maybe the players adopted that philosophy, but viewers couldn’t, because the ABC booth crew of Al Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver insisted on turning what is ostensibly an exhibition game into the seventh game of the World Series.

That Michaels, Palmer and McCarver know the game of baseball is evident. They are among the best in the business and would be right near the top of the list of desired announcers for a postseason contest, where the stakes are higher and good analysis is at a premium.

But on a night when baseball desperately needed something inviting, the ABC threesome gave us heavy doses of analysis, though the tone did get thankfully lighter as the evening wore on.

By then, however, all those folks used to “Home Improvement” in that time slot must have gone looking for that really funny “Frasier” rerun that aired opposite the game.

Only John Saunders, who was working the American League dugout, had the right idea, asking questions designed to elicit a smile from his subjects. Producer Curt Gowdy Jr., who has won Emmys for his baseball work, ran a tight and proficient production.

The evening’s funniest moment came during that beer commercial where patrons in a crowded bar launched into a chorus of “Rocky Mountain High.” Who would ever believe that a bunch of people in a public place would engage in a sing-a-long to John Denver music?