After 42 years and a COVID delay, Dodger Stadium readies for All-Star moment

Chub Feeney stood before the team for his annual rah-rah speech in the home clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. It was July 1980. The National League All-Stars were about to defend their eight-game winning streak against their American League counterparts, and Feeney badly wanted to continue the trivial dominance.Feeney was the National League’s president. Winning that game mattered to him and it mattered to players in the room back when the summer showcase was more than just a lighthearted, mic’d-up scrimmage.“The pride took over,” Steve Garvey said.Garvey was the National League’s starting first baseman and one of six Dodgers selected to the team that year. He was selected most valuable player in his first All-Star appearance in 1974. He appeared in 10 games over his career and went undefeated. But nothing compared to suiting up in Los Angeles in 1980.“To win the game in front of our crowd was extra special,” he said.The 1980 All-Star game was the first held at Dodger Stadium and the second the Dodgers hosted since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. Ken Griffey Sr. was chosen the MVP. The first home run derby was still five years away. Interleague baseball was a distant nightmare for purists.The…
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