Former MLB all-star makes special delivery

June 22, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/Frontiersman

PALMER - Wade Blasingame stood on the pitcher's mound at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer Wednesday evening and stared into the catcher's mitt. With a crowd of Alaska Baseball League fans looking on, the 10-year Major League veteran calmly delivered a fastball on the outside corner.

Strike.

Blasingame, who won 16 games for the Milwaukee Braves in 1965, was in Palmer to sign autographs and deliver the ceremonial first pitch between the Miners and the Athletes in Action Fire. The 10-year veteran of the Braves, Houston Astros and New York Yankees may not have the same velocity as he once did, but he can still bring it.

&#8220If I dropped 15 pounds or so I could probably get into the 80s,” the 63-year-old Blasingame joked.

Now an executive with Arctic Slope Regional Corporation's Houston Contractors who lives in Anchorage, Blasingame said much has changed from the days he used to sneak his 90-plus-mph fastball past some of the best hitters in the history of the game.

For one, he said he believes expansion has diluted the overall talent pool among players in the big leagues.

&#8220When I played, the league was very different,” he said. &#8220We faced front line pitching all the time.”

Blasingame took time out from his duties as the day's guest of honor to discuss a wide range of subjects, including expansion, the designated hitter, steroids and the Pete Rose scandal.

He was a longtime teammate of home run king Henry Aaron, and said he believes that steroids have tainted the game he loves.

&#8220There's no way you can compare Bonds with Aaron,” he said.

Blasingame said he called MLB commissioner Bud Selig when the steroid issue began to come about and suggested a simple way to rid the game of the influence of drugs.

&#8220A full suspension,” he said.

Nothing less than banishment from the game, he argued, would keep players from trying to cheat to get ahead.

Still, he said he believes baseball has taken strides to clean itself up, and that the proof is in diminished home run totals in recent years.

&#8220That's really dropped off,” he said.

As for Rose, Blasingame said he supports the all-time hits leader's banishment from baseball.

&#8220He felt like he was bigger than the game,” he said.

Blasingame also is no fan of the designated hitter rule. When he played, all pitchers hit, and he was proud of his abilities with the bat.

&#8220I hit a homer off of Steve Carlton,” he said.

If he could change anything about the current game, Blasingame said he'd like to see less showboating among players and more attention to basic fundamentals.

&#8220I don't see the basic mechanics worked on as much,” he said.

Far from a baseball critic, however, Blasingame said he's a purist who'd like to see the game return to its roots. That's why nowadays he spends his time working with youth players in the American Legion program or donating his time to causes like the Miners, a team made up of college players. In the past, he's helped secure memorabilia from such players as Aaron and current Yankees manager Joe Torre, whom he roomed with the two played for the Yankees.

Following his opening pitch, Blasingame spent much of Wednesday's game signing autographs and talking with baseball fans about how the game was played during his era.

&#8220It's a great sport, and I'm really happy to come out here,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

frontiersman.com