1991 All-Star Game: Carlton Fisk sets age-old record

This is the eighth of 10 installments featuring significant White Sox moments from All-Star games past.

Calling back to the post about the 1995 All-Star Game, you might remember Frank Thomas' ambivalent reaction to being named an All-Star after just his third time.

In 1991, Carlton Fisk was named to his 11th All-Star team, 19 years after he made his first one. By all accounts, he didn't find it any less special. From the Chicago Tribune on July 5, 1991:

"Anytime you get chosen to the All-Star Game, that means you`re one of the best in the league," said Fisk. "To still be one of the best in the league and have played as long as I`ve played at the position I do and the job that I do, that`s pretty nice."

Fisk was also a little disappointed that Sandy Alomar Jr. was named the starter, since he was injured and only had driven in four runs at the time of the selection. Fisk was fired up by his selection in his third decade of baseball, whereas Thomas was jaded by his fifth season, and that's part of the reason why The Big Hurt annoyed a lot of people who cared about what he had to say.

At 43, Fisk was the third-oldest player to make an All-Star Game, behind Satchel Paige (47 years old) and Pete Rose (44). However, he made his own mark with a strong all-around game when he took over for Alomar in the fifth inning to catch first-time All-Star Jack McDowell.

In McDowell's second inning of work, he found himself in trouble. The AL's 3-2 lead was in danger with runners on the corners and one out. McDowell got Paul O'Neill to hit a chopper to first, and Cecil Fielder made a good throw home. Fisk blocked the plate, which gave Will Clark an opportunity to do his best Rose impersonation. Instead, he tried to slide through Fisk, and that didn't work. Fisk applied the tag by falling on top of Clark, and the AL maintained its one-run lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Fisk made history by singling to center off Pete Harnisch. On Twitter, @beano76 said that Tony Gwynn allowed the single to drop in, but my memory of the event isn't clear, and no reports suggest a Brett Favre-Michael Strahan scenario. All I can find is Fisk saying, "It wasn't pretty. It fell in where no one was playing."

Either way, that made him the oldest player to ever record a hit in the All-Star Game, and the record still stands today.