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Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of the game.
The ball was a promise, from commissioner Rob Manfred to Lyn Montgomery, that Major League Baseball would do right by her husband.
This was in April 2019, a month before David Montgomery, proud son of Philadelphia and loyal steward of its baseball team, died of cancer.
Time was precious.
Advertisement He came to visit him at Magee, where David was a patient, Lyn Montgomery said by phone this week, referring to the rehabilitation center in Center City.
And I have the signed ball by Rob Manfred, the All-Star ball that he gave David that day when he made the announcement.
It was really near and dear to David, and he felt strongly that it should be in Philadelphia this year.
So its happening, all these years later.
Baseball never awards the All-Star Game very far in advance.
Only one has been announced beyond this year, for Chicagos Wrigley Field in 2027.
Yet Manfred named the Phillies as this years host with 2,646 days to spare.
There was no rush at that point, Manfred said.
But we were kind of racing against the clock.
Montgomery, then the Phillies chairman, knew he would not live to see the United States 250th birthday celebration.
But he knew that the Phillies would be part of it.
David was always about the fans, 100 percent of the time, trying to do what he can to take care of the fans, and he just felt like Philadelphia was the right place to have the 2026 All-Star Game, said Ruben Amaro Jr., the former Phillies bat boy, player and general manager.
Our turn was probably long before that, but he wanted to make sure this was the year: Hey, let the other teams have their opportunities, but we want this one to be in Philadelphia, because this is our birthplace.
Montgomery, who was 72 when he died on May 8, 2019, devoted his life to the Phillies.
He cheered for them from the upper deck at Connie Mack Stadium, and when the team moved to Veterans Stadium in 1971, Montgomery got a job selling season tickets for $150 a week.
He came highly recommended.
Montgomery had been coaching football at nearby Germantown Academy, and one of his players was the son of Robin Roberts, the Hall of Fame pitcher.
Roberts recommended Montgomery to Bill Giles, the new vice president for business operations.
Advertisement Dont you need help down there, moving into the new stadium? Roberts told Giles.
Well, this is David Montgomery.
You probably would want to use David if you can.
With Giles keen promotional sense and Montgomerys business savvy and deep community bonds the Phillies flourished as a fan-friendly operation, in good times and bad.
As Montgomerys profile grew, so did his stature in the game.
During the revenue-sharing stuff, he was a real kind of moderate, reasonable voice throughout all those conversations, Manfred said.
And he commanded great respect in the industry, because he was so technically competent.
He knew how all the math worked, and it was the same thing with the schedule; if you gave him a number of teams and a number of games, he could give you the format off the top of his head.
It was true across issues: I mean, the way he kept score, it was unbelievable.
That book he had, every game, every season, and every single scoresheet looked perfect.
Montgomery took a leave of absence in August 2014 to undergo treatment for jawbone cancer.
But he believed so strongly in Manfred that he showed up in Baltimore that month for his election as commissioner.
Until the day he died, Montgomery kept a drawing in his wallet that Manfreds daughter Mary Clare had made for him when the families visited Radio City Music Hall for a Christmas show.
Manfred called Montgomery a Philadelphian through and through, which is just how Lyn describes him, too.
A proud graduate of Penn Charter and the University of Pennsylvania, he was a fitting Phillies lifer.
The Hall of Fame posthumously honored Montgomery with the Buck ONeil Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, and four years later, Phillies owner John Middleton awarded him a spot on the teams Wall of Fame at Citizens Bank Park.
Advertisement That stadium, which opened in 2004, stands as an enduring symbol of Montgomerys legacy every day, but especially next week.
What David and Bill wanted, more than anything, was a ballpark where the fans were close to the action, where they could feel the energy, said Chris Wheeler, now retired after decades as a Phillies broadcaster.
They wanted a ballpark with some quirks, like the angle out there in left-center field.
Theres been criticism that its too small.
Well, maybe it is.
But weve gotten some pretty good free-agent pitchers to come over, and I cant imagine what that home-run-hitting contest is going to be like on Monday.
On a hot summer night? Oh, baby.
To Manfred, this All-Star Game will be a meaningful, tangible occasion to remember a dear friend.
Montgomerys presence will be very much alive, all these years later.
The fans enjoying the ballpark experience was really important to Dave, and the organization was like family to him, Manfred said.
I mean, who else has the Phillie Phanatic at their daughters wedding? At last, an All-Star return for Wacha Michael Wacha had just turned 24 when he made his first All-Star team in 2015.
Life was different then.
Not married, no kids, Wacha, 35, said the other day, smiling as he looked ahead to his return on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Im bringing the crew now.
Got my wife, little girl, 3 1/2 years old, and then my 10-month-old baby boy.
Its cool, knowing that theyll be there to experience it.
Wacha, a stalwart righty for the Kansas City Royals, has earned his spot with a 3.77 ERA in 19 starts.
As MLBs Sarah Langs noted, just two others in MLB history have waited as long between their first and second All-Star appearances: Bert Blyleven (1973 and 1985) and Schoolboy Rowe (1936 and 1947).
When Q was telling me that, he said, referring to manager Matt Quatraro, I was like, Man, thats pretty crazy.
But thats always the goal of mine at the start of each year, to be at that All-Star Game in the middle of the summer.
Im really excited for another opportunity.
His decade away from the All-Star Game included a stretch of six teams in six seasons: the St.
Louis Cardinals in 2019, New York Mets in 2020, Tampa Bay Rays in 2021, Boston Red Sox in 2022, San Diego Padres in 2023 and Royals in 2024.
Advertisement A torn oblique muscle and fractured rib derailed him, Wacha said, and may have led to shoulder trouble, too.
He finally felt whole again toward the end of his Rays season, and has evolved along the way.
I was always kind of a fastball/change-up guy, he said.
So just developing that spin, whether its the curveball, the cutter, the slider, I kind of added each one at its own time, and those really helped me out, especially for right-handed batters and also mixing them in there to lefties as well.
The wider repertoire has helped Wacha pitch deeper into games.
Hes had seven starts of at least seven innings and no more than two earned runs, more than the Cardinals and Padres combined (both have three apiece), and leads the AL in quality starts, with 12.
Wacha also leads the AL in innings pitched, with 119 1/3, and said he hopes to reach 200 for the first time in his career.
Durability was much more important when he made that first All-Star team.
In the time that I came up, it was right there towards the end (before) analytics started coming in with the third-time-through-the-lineup type stuff, Wacha said.
So when I first came in, it was like, if you went five innings, you didnt quite do your job that night.
So I think that mentality kind of sticks with me still.
Five questions with..
Corey Ray, Nationals coach and former first-round pick With Major League Baseball holding its amateur draft this weekend in Philadelphia, its worth recalling just how hard it is to find an impact player, even in the first round.
In the first 20 drafts of the 2000s, just 21.6 percent of players taken in the first 30 selections have compiled even 10 career bWAR.
Thats 130 out of 600.
One draft, however, stands out as especially fruitless: 2016.
Of those first 20 drafts in this century, the 2016 class is the only one without a single 10-bWAR player among the top 30 picks.
Its probably no coincidence that many of those players had to miss the entire 2020 season when the pandemic cancelled the minor-league schedule.
Advertisement You could say it was a down draft; I dont think it was a down draft, Corey Ray, the first base coach for the Washington Nationals, said before a game at Fenway Park last week.
I think we just lost a really big development time.
A Chicago native, Ray was part of the White Sox Amateur City Elite program, which has helped more than 300 students earn scholarships.
He chose the University of Louisville and went fifth overall in that 2016 draft to the Milwaukee Brewers.
He played in only one MLB game, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored for the Brewers at Wrigley Field on April 21, 2021.
The best player in the first round of Rays draft was his Louisville teammate, catcher Will Smith, who went 32nd overall to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
None of the players taken ahead of Ray Mickey Moniak, Nick Senzel, Ian Anderson and Riley Pint have become stars.
I was thinking about playing (in 2023), and I was like, I had no motivation to work out every day, Ray said.
I was in school because I wanted to be a college coach, so I was finishing up my degree.
I called my agent and said, Hey, Ill play another year, but lets see if somebody will give me an opportunity to coach.
The Cubs bit right away.
I was like, Im gone.
Ray found his calling as an instructor, and forged a more stable spot in the majors.
After one season as a bench coach in Class A, Ray spent two as manager for the Cubs Arizona Complex League team and the organizations baserunning coordinator before joining the Nationals big-league staff this season.
Baseball is such an expensive sport for kids.
How did the White Soxs ACE program help you? You just cant afford it.
I got my scholarship at the University of Louisville because I was able to go and play there and they were able to see me.
I dont know that I would have been able to afford to go play at Louisville or in the Area Code Games or to go play in California or in Florida if it wasnt for the White Sox.
You get the exposure to scouts and college coaches, but I think you also get exposure to other talent around (the country).
Chicagos OK in baseball, but it isnt like Florida, it isnt like Texas, it isnt like California.
So getting out and playing against these guys, seeing where you stack up, understanding, That guys a little bit better than I am right now, Ive got to do some work, that helped a ton.
To kind of measure myself around the country and not (just) around Chicago, its like, OK, I might be the best player in Illinois, but I wouldnt be the best player in Florida or Texas.
Ive still got a ways to go.
Advertisement Im sure you always expected a much longer pro playing career.
What lessons do you take from it? What I learned is nobodys coming to save you.
If youre 0-for-40, 0-for-50, no pitcher on the mound is going to be like, Hey, I know youre struggling; heres a fastball.
Its like youve got to go through some stuff, right? And through that stuff, you get stronger and it makes you better.
And so now as a coach, as a person, as a man, as a father, I welcome whatever it is that life has to offer me because theres nobody whos going to save me.
Youre going to go through it whether you want to or not; youve just got to figure out how.
Do you still have vivid memories of your one big-league game? I remember it like it was yesterday.
My family and I had lived in Arizona for my entire professional career, but that offseason, maybe a month and a half before my debut, we decided to move to Illinois.
And so because we decided to move to Illinois, and the one game I played was in Chicago, my dad, my wife and my two children were able to see me play in a major-league stadium.
That was really cool.
And then I remember running bases pregame, and I get to third base, and a few grounds crew (workers) came up to me like, Hey, we watched you play in an All-American game on this field.
The whole city of Chicago is rooting for you! To follow me from a senior in high school up until my debut in the major leagues was something that Ill remember for the rest of my life.
Did missing 2020 hurt your development? Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely, not having the games.
I was on the 40-man roster, so you can say I lost a year.
I wasted an option year, basically, because they optioned me in that year.
The season was shorter, and I could have possibly gone up.
I was a streaky player, so there were times when I was the best player on the field.
And so that year, if were playing games, I get hot and Im probably in the big leagues.
I dont get that.
They played 60 games, the seasons super short, nobody gets hurt because its only 60 games, and were stuck in the minor leagues.
They say you need a thousand at-bats in the minor leagues to be ready for the major leagues.
We tried to get as many at-bats as we could on the taxi squad (in Appleton, Wisc.), but I probably ended up with like 30 the whole year.
So I probably missed out on 400, 500 at-bats.
What makes coaching a good fit for you? Any player that I meet, Ive been that player.
Ive been on the top 100 prospect list.
I was a first-rounder.
Ive also been DFAd and taken off a roster.
Ive been the 26th man on a roster; Ive been the No.
40 man on the 40-man roster.
Ive been at the top, been at the pinnacle, played in the big leagues, but Ive also been at the bottom.
So I can understand what theyre going through, and I understand what it takes to get them to the next level.
Off the Grid Lee Smith, Yankees and Orioles The last pitcher (not named Shohei Ohtani) to bat in an All-Star Game was Roy Halladay, who struck out against Tim Lincecum in St.
Louis in 2009.
Every All-Star Game since has featured the designated hitter, which was adopted throughout MLB in 2022.
Halladay, then with the Toronto Blue Jays, came to bat wearing a logo-less helmet belonging to the Tampa Bay Rays Evan Longoria.
That made him the last in a line of pitchers wearing odd batting helmets in the Midsummer Classic.
One was the well-traveled Lee Smith, who struck out in Oakland on a 13th-inning bunt attempt in 1987: 1987 All-Star Game Chicago Cubs closer Lee Smith steps to the plate...wearing a Montreal Expos batting helmet pic.twitter.com/xlcIBnSHHa OldTimeHardball (@OleTimeHardball) December 7, 2022 That image captures the bookends of Smiths Hall of Fame career, which began with eight seasons as a Chicago Cub and ended with the Montreal Expos in 1997.
He pitched briefly for the New York Yankees in 1993 and made the All-Star team as a Baltimore Oriole in 1994.
Advertisement Our pal Paul Lukas, of the dearly departed UniWatch, compiled a bunch of All-Star fashion mishaps in an ESPN column 10 years ago.
Among the pitchers in mismatched helmets: Juan Marichal, Dave Stieb, Dennis Eckersley, Charles Nagy..
and noted non-San Diego Padre Nolan Ryan: Nolan Ryan wearing a Padres batting helmet in the 1985 MLB All Star Game.
@UniWatch pic.twitter.com/kUQsDHUVW6 Brett Hansen (@bretthansen5) May 24, 2020 Smith, incidentally, was 3-for-64 in his career and had already put down the last of his four sacrifices by the time of that All-Star Game.
But he did have one highlight at the plate: his first career hit, in 1982, was a homer off Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro.
Classic clip 1952 All-Star Game, Shibe Park, Philadelphia The long-departed Athletics hosted Philadelphias first All-Star Game in 1943, and this year will be the Phillies fourth time as host.
Their first, in 1952, was a rain-shortened five-inning game in which local hero Bobby Shantz on his way to the AL MVP award struck out the side in a 3-2 NL win.
This clip shows Jackie Robinson slamming a homer into the upper deck in left field and making the final putout of an inning at second base.
After he does, at the 1:55 mark, Robinson flips his glove behind him on his way to the dugout.
Its hard to imagine this today, but it was common then for fielders to simply leave their gloves on the field at the end of an inning.
A rule change banned it for the 1954 season.
For the locals, the highlight of the game was Shantz the 26-year-old, 5-foot-7, 145-pound mighty atom who fanned Whitey Lockman, Robinson and Stan Musial.
Shantz, baseballs oldest living MVP and the pride of Ambler, Pa., turned 100 last September.