Who was the ex-Phillies pitcher who won the 1973 All-Star Game? Hint: He was involved in a major 1972 trade.

If you answered Rick Wise, you are correct. Wise was dealt for Steve Carlton in February 1972, and Phillies’ fans were irate about the trade of the right-hander, who pitched a dramatic no-hitter in 1971 in which he hit two home runs.

His 1973 season was the final one in St. Louis before he was dealt to Boston, where he flourished. Wise won 16 games in each of his two seasons with the Cardinals (32-28 overall) after a 17-14 season with the Phillies - in which he was an All-Star. He was the starting pitcher for the 1973 game.

In this week’s version of my Behind the Plate column, I’ll take a look at the 1973 All-Star Game - as well as some other interesting facts involving that game with the Phillies, Mets, and Yankees - and Tuesday evening’s 90th tussle in Seattle.

It Was The Game ... If your youth was spent before 1980, this was the game you waited to see. The 1973 version was held at brand spanking new Royals Stadium, which opened just three months earlier. It also marked the 40th anniversary of the game, and legends like Carl Hubbell, Lefty Grove, Lefty Gomez, and Jimmie Dykes - who all played in the inaugural game - were honored before the contest.

All-Star games for me before the dawning of ESPN in 1979 were a must watch because we didn’t see most of the American League players often. In the game, it was great to see players like Rod Carew, Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Paul Blair, Brooks Robinson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Nolan Ryan, Bill Singer, and Amos Otis to name a few.

Plus, this was baseball’s annual showcase. We were inundated with wall-to-wall baseball like we are today.

I was able to watch - like some of you - Mets game on WOR- Channel 9 and Yankees game on WPIX-Channel 11, but you were still thrilled to see the West Coast guys like Bobby Bonds, Chris Speier, Willie Davis, Claude Osteen, Don Sutton, and Jim Brewer, who you would see on the Phillies’ broadcasts.

An interesting point back then was that each team only used seven pitchers. Bonds was the game’s MVP in the National League’s 7-1 victory, as he smacked a two-run homer and also turned a single into a hustling double.

Who was the Phillies’ representative on the 1973 team? No, it wasn’t Steve Carlton, but instead it was Wayne Twitchell, who was 6-2 at the time, and appeared to be headed toward a banner season. Carlton, off his 27-10 season in 1972, was scuffling with an 8-9 record, but still could have been the choice by Reds’ manager Sparky Anderson. Oakland’s Dick Williams managed the AL squad.

Twitchell finished the year with a 13-9 mark, while Carlton was 13-20. The Phils were 46-51 at the break, and they ended the season with a 71-91 mark.

One fact we may have forgotten was the game was on July 24. Most of the games back then were at the latter part of the month.

And, we all had fun punching holes through the slots of our favorite players with the paper ballots that we stuffed into the boxes. I remember usually finding them in a drug store, as they were sponsored by Gillette. It began in 1970 and ended in 2015, but it was a great tradition and part of the game.

Mets’ Musings ... Who were the Mets’ representatives? They were Tom Seaver and Willie Mays, ironically two of the game’s more iconic figures.

Seaver was 9-2 with 148 strikeouts, and he would finish the season with an overall 19-10 record with a 2.08 ERA and 251 strikeouts. He was the workhorse of a World Series-bound team and gained his second Cy Young Award in the process.

The 42-year-old Mays - who spent his final season with them after coming over in 1972 - also helped them to the postseason. Mays was only hitting .214 with four homers and 16 RBIs at the time, but this was more about his legacy with his 24th All-Star appearance, which only trailed Hank Aaron’s 25.

Yankees’ Yearnings ... The Yankees were represented by Bobby Murcer, Sparky Lyle, and Thurman Munson. Murcer, who was a starter in left field and easily could have been overlooked as one of the better Yankees, hit .292 with 22 homers and 95 RBIs for the season, while Munson hit .304 with 20 homers and 74 RBIs for the year. Lyle was 5-9 with a 2.51 ERA and had 27 saves.

For his career, Murcer hit .278 and hit 175 of his 252 lifetime homers with the Bronx Bombers. Another point of irony was Murcer was traded to the Giants for Bobby Bonds after the 1974 season. Neither player produced well with their new surroundings. Murcer did manage to return to the Yanks for his final four-plus years before he retired in 1983, which truly elevated his status in Yankee lore.

Retro Is Better ... In 2003, MLB decided to change the format of the game, giving the winner the home field advantage in the World Series. Thankfully, that rule was eliminated in 2017, and home-field advantage was assigned to whichever team had the better regular season record. Before 2003, it was simply an alternating pattern between the American League and National League.

Since 2022, any game tied after nine innings will result in teams battling in a best-of-three-round home run derby. Three players are chosen by managers to determine who will bat. Each player gets three swings.

The game certainly has lost some of its luster, especially with some new rule changes. The interviews in the dugouts and player mic’d up during the game truly takes away from the traditional, old-school setting.

I guess I’m a purist at heart, and enjoy the simplicity of it. However, technology will continue to be integrated into the game, and there is sure to be more changes ahead.

My hope is that this game doesn’t soon resemble the individual competition that has been implemented in the Pro Bowl and NHL All-Star game. The NBA All-Star game has become a lackadasical pick-up game.

Present Phillie ... Nick Castellanos got the call for the Phillies in this year’s game. He ended Sunday’s play with a .301 average and 13 homers with 55 RBIs. Castellanos has picked up his pace after a slow start.

Reliever Craig Kimbrel was a late injury replacement. Kimbrel entered Saturday 5-1 with a 3.41 ERA and 14 saves in 14 opportunities this season.

Since 1970, Castellanos is the 10th Phillies outfielder for the game. It’s easy to recall Lenny Dykstra, Bobby Abreu, Greg Luzinski, Shane Victorino, and Von Hayes in the category, but how about Odubel Herrara. Glen “Glenbo” Wilson, Aaron Rowand, and Raul Ibanez? The last four may have slipped your mind.

New York, New York ... Pete Alonso and Kodai Senga will represent the Mets at the Midsummer Classic, while the Yanks’ Gerrit Cole could get the start for the AL. Alonso has a major-league leading 26 homers with 61 RBIs, and Senga is an injury replacement with a 7-5 record and a 3.31 ERA.

Cole is 8-1 with a 2.79 ERA, and their lone representative. In 1991, Scott Sanderson was the team’s lone representative, but he didn’t pitch in the game despite his 9-3 record.

Final Thought ... Earlier, I mentioned about the Phillies’ All-Stars since 1970. Who was the team’s lone player in the 1970 game? Anyone remember lefty reliever Joe Hoerner? He was 9-5 with nine saves and a 2.65 ERA in 44 games.

Enjoy the game, and think back to the ones when you were young.

Feedback ... Your ideas, comments,and thoughts are always welcomed and will be published. Email tnports@tnonline.com.