As we inch closer to the All-Star Break, we continue our 40-year anniversary of the game’s 57th Summer Installment which took place at the iconic Houston Astrodome on July 15th, 1986, in front of a capacity crowd of 45,774.
Don Aase would come on for the American League and notch the save on this night. Don reflects with us exclusively at The Crawfish Boxes.
Q: I went back and watched this game in its entirety, and it appears that Willie Hernandez thinks that he’s actually going in to close out the
game when manager Dick Howser makes the move. What happened there exactly?
A: Yeah, it was funny. Willie went to go running in there and then he stopped, dead in his tracks. It was mix up, kind of strange there, but I went in and did the job.
Q: So, you earn the save in your only All-Star appearance. What did that night at the Astrodome mean to you personally?
A: Oh man, that was something that you can only dream about. I couldn’t believe I got a save in that situation. I don’t know if anything can ever beat that feeling. That was a high point of my career.
Q: What did you think of Roger Clemens outing that night? He had a little extra going on being back home and it being his first ever ASG appearance.
A: He had it going no doubt. You know, all of the pitching was really good. I remember Fernando also doing his thing. It was just a great thing to watch really, and it got extra exciting towards the end.
Q: You were on fire to get there. You posted 23 saves in the first half of the 1986 campaign and the O’s weren’t even a legit contender that season. What do you remember most about that season?
A: We were in a ton of games early on and they were all close and we started off well and I was closing games it felt like daily. We tailed off because I hurt my back and I had to miss a few weeks. I still think about that and the season we could’ve had.
Q: What do you think about the closers today?
A: It’s just really amazing how big and strong these guys are now. This is coming from somebody who spends most of his time these days watching the grandkids, but it’s impressive seeing how hard everyone throws these days. It seems like everyone today throws it 10 mph faster than we did.
