Chris Cannizzaro met a man in the mid-1960s during a visit to the Houston Space Center when Cannizzaro was a catcher for the New York Mets. It was a brief meeting, handshake, some small talk with others in the group, and then the men went their separate ways.
It was one of those occasions baseball players repeat thousands of times during their careers. Most of these events are long forgotten, unless there is another event that triggers the memory later on.
In 1969, Cannizzaro realized one of the proudest moments of his 13-year career when he became the first player to represent the Padres in the All-Star Game.
That year just happened to be professional baseball's centennial, so there was additional pomp and circumstance surrounding the game, which was played in Washington, D.C.
Cannizzaro found himself on the roster for a game that included 19 future Hall of Famers, and they all were invited to the White House to meet President Richard M. Nixon. It was just the sort of thing to make them the talk of the town.
Except that two days before the game, the guy Cannizzaro met a few years back in Houston went and walked on the moon.
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Neil Armstrong said.
Yeah, yeah.
"I thought it was amazing," Cannizzaro said of the moon landing. "My trust in God went up more for taking care of those guys up there."
A few hours after getting off the phone with Armstrong and fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, Nixon was greeting the ballplayers at the White House.
"It was a great experience meeting President Nixon," Cannizzaro said. "I liked him. He was very complimentary. I shook his hand and he said, 'Hey, Chris, I heard you throw like a son of a bitch.' And I said, 'Yeah. I've got a God-gifted arm.' "
Cannizzaro had to pinch himself. Being an All-Star. Meeting the President. You just never know how things are going to fall into place.
Cannizzaro played for the original Mets _ and one-of-a-kind manager Casey Stengel _ after being drafted off the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1961 expansion draft. He joined the Padres during spring training in '69 after being traded from Pittsburgh just days before the expansion franchise's inaugural season opened.
As the All-Star Game approached that year, speculation centered on either Padres outfielder Ollie Brown (batting .269 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs) or first baseman Nate Colbert (.253, 14 HR, 34 RBIs) being the team's representative.
Cannizzaro was batting .245 with two homers and 25 RBIs. But it seemed the National League needed a catcher to fill out its roster, so he was the one who got the call.
"(Padres manager) Preston Gomez told me and then everybody came up and congratulated me," said Cannizzaro, who was on the road with the Padres in San Francisco when he found out.
A Western Union Telegram from Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, sent to the visitors' clubhouse at Candlestick Park, made it official.
It read, in part: "While I am certain that you already heard of these events, it gives me great pleasure formally to invite you as a member of the All-Star team to attend the commissioners reception and Centennial dinner."
Cannizzaro, 78, still has the telegram, framed and on a wall in his Rancho Penasquitos, Calif., home.
Being named to the All-Star team is front-page news these days. Forty-seven years ago, it merited but a one-sentence mention in The San Diego Union.
Although it did include this quote from Cannizzaro: "My wife was so thrilled I couldn't get her to stop crying."
Cannizzaro roomed with knuckleballer Phil Niekro in Washington, D.C.
"The players had to pay extra then if they wanted their own room," Cannizzaro said.
He remembers watching the events surrounding the moon landing of Apollo 11 on the TV in their hotel room, attending the White House reception and then walking the streets of Washington with Niekro on the night of the game.
They were walking in the rain, a torrential storm having caused the game to be postponed. It was played the following day.
Cannizzaro remembers warming up Cardinals left-hander Steve Carlton, the NL's starting pitcher, before the game.
Reds catcher Johnny Bench started behind the plate for the NL while Cannizzaro found a seat on the bench.
The Giants' Willie McCovey homered off the A's Blue Moon Odom in a five-run third inning for the NL. McCovey added another homer in the fourth off the Tigers' Denny McLain in what would be a 9-3 NL victory.
Cannizzaro grew restless as the game wore on. He was itching to play and figured he would get his chance late in the game after Bench and the Cubs' Randy Hundley had taken their turns.
"Niekro came into the game in the ninth inning," Cannizzaro said. "I could catch Niekro in my sleep. Not really, but I used a small glove and used my body and when it stopped rolling I picked it up."
But Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst never called for Cannizzaro. He and Montreal outfielder Rusty Staub were the only two NL position players who did not get in the game.
"Very frustrating," said Cannizzaro, who had family members at home in the Bay Area eager to get a glimpse of him. "I wanted to catch at least one out.
"My folks didn't get to see me. I guess I was hurt for them rather than me. It was nice to be there for me."
Cannizzaro said Padres publicist Bud Tucker approached Schoendienst after the game.
"How come you didn't play Cannizzaro?" Tucker asked.
"I had to save a catcher in case somebody got hurt," Schoendienst said.
Five decades later, Cannizzaro still shakes his head at the statement.
"To this day, I can't believe he could give an answer like that," Cannizzaro said. "If somebody gets hurt, anybody could go back there and catch an inning. I don't care if it's a knuckleball or not. Block it and then go pick it up. ... I'm getting a little hot under the collar now about Schoendienst."
The Union's account the day after the game noted that the All-Stars had their choice of several gifts. Cannizzaro selected some pewter mugs that were to be inscribed with his name and the 1969 All-Star Game information.
"I was hoping I would get to play, but it was a thrill just to be on the team," Cannizzaro said after the game. "It was something I'll never forget."
Five decades later, Cannizzaro feels much the same way.
"It was a lifetime experience," he said, "and I treated it as such. I was thankful."
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