The first day of the All-Star break was uneventful for the Royals. Larry Gura, Darrell Porter, and George Brett made their way to Los Angeles for the festivities, although Brett was not going to play due to his ankle injury. The two managers for the game, Pittsburgh’s Chuck Tanner and Baltimore’s Earl Weaver, announced their lineups and starting pitchers. Tanner tabbed Houston’s fireballing J.R. Richard to start for the National League, while Weaver picked his own man, the Orioles’ Steve Stone. Since Stone would win the Cy Young award for 1980, it was certainly a defensible choice.

Weaver was forced to choose replacements for three injured starters when he made out his lineup card. As the American League tried to stop an eight-game losing streak in the Midsummer Classic, they would start with second baseman Willie Randolph (New York) leading off, followed by first baseman Rod Carew (California), center fielder Fred Lynn (Boston), right fielder Reggie Jackson (New York), left fielder Ben Oglivie (Milwaukee), catcher Carlton Fisk (Boston), third baseman Graig Nettles (New York), and shortstop Bucky Dent (New York). Randolph was filling in for Milwaukee’s Paul Molitor, Oglivie for Boston’s Jim Rice, and Nettles for Brett.

Tanner planned this lineup for the NL: Davey Lopes (Los Angeles) leading off and playing second base; Reggie Smith (Los Angeles), right field; Dave Parker (Pittsburgh), center field; Steve Garvey (Los Angeles), first base; Johnny Bench (Cincinnati), catcher; Dave Kingman (Chicago), left field; Ken Reitz (St. Louis), third base; Bill Russell (Los Angeles), shortstop.

Today’s birthdays: Chuck Knoblauch (1968), John Buck (1980), Richard Lovelady (1995)