Oakland Athletics pitcher Paul Blackburn had a dandy time during every phase of the All-Star festivities, including hittingching a flight to Los Angeles with the Houston Astros.
“They made me feel very welcomed and comfortable,” said Blackburn, the A’s lone representative at Tuesday’s All-Star Game. “We had some good conversations, some good laughs. It was fun, a good time.”
It was a courteous gesture by the Astros to give a lift to an All-Star player employed by a division foe.
It’s also commonplace throughout the game. If there’s room, teams will accommodate All-Stars of the opposing team after the final game of the first half since they’re heading in the same destination.
Somehow, that got lost in translation by many media outlets and fans who wrongly claimed the A’s were too cheap to fly Blackburn to the site of the All-Star Game.
Fact is, Major League Baseball picks up the bill as part of the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players’ union. Teams don’t need to pay for transportation for their All-Stars and two others.
According to the CBA, every All-Star is entitled up to three first-class commercial flights to the All-Star site, plus two hotel rooms, all paid for by MLB.
In Blackburn’s case, he was leaving from Houston, where the A’s finished the first half. So A’s traveling secretary Mickey Morabito, who was contacted Thursday for this story, booked him a first-class flight while also reaching out to Astros secretary Juan Huitron to check on the Astros’ availability.
The Astros had a huge contingent. Because the team played in the World Series last year, manager Dusty Baker and his coaching staff comprised the American League staff, so they were all on the Astros’ charter along with three All-Star players, other team personnel and families.
Huritan checked with Baker, who was fine with Blackburn coming along, and ultimately ran it by general manager James Click, who also gave approval. Blackburn was all in, too. Morabito canceled the first-class flight, which MLB would have reimbursed.
“This happens all the time,” Morabito said. “This has nothing to do with the Oakland A’s. All we do is facilitate the travel. This is in conjunction with Major League Baseball. If you call all 30 major-league teams, you’ll find more examples of this. Other teams have done this in the past.”
Indeed, then-Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran joined a large San Francisco Giants traveling party to the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix. The Giants had won the World Series the year before, so the group included manager Bruce Bochy and the coaching staff along with four All-Star pitchers.
The Mets were in San Francisco when the first half ended, so Beltran and teammate Jose Reyes were invited onto the Giants’ charter. Later that month, the Giants traded for Beltran.
The A’s have made similar gestures. In 2019, they chartered a jet from Seattle for All-Stars Matt Chapman and Liam Hendriks for the All-Star Game in Cleveland and invited Marines All-Star Daniel Vogelbach to come along.
The more the merrier, really. Because MLB would pay the equivalent of a first-class fee, an extra All-Star on the plane further helps offset the cost of the jet.
In 2014, with the A’s sending six players to the All-Star Game (seven counting Jeff Samardzija, who had just been acquired in a trade), it made more sense to charter a plane. Conversely, last year the A’s had two All-Stars, and Chris Bassitt and Matt Olson flew first class along with their wife and fiancee, respectively, on a commercial flight.
This year, the Astros accommodated Oakland’s All-Star.
“I was asked if I wanted to fly out with them, and I said, ‘If Dusty would allow that, then, yeah, of course,'” Blackburn said. “It’s awesome. It shows that within baseball, it’s like a brotherhood, and everyone respects each other and tries to help each other out. So I’m greatly appreciative of their organization and letting me tag along over here.”
This was a particularly special flight for Blackburn because he grew up in the Bay Area a Giants fan when Baker was San Francisco’s manager.
After the flight to Los Angeles, Blackburn met up with Baker in the hotel lobby to thank him for the transportation and for what he has done for baseball. Baker asked Blackburn about appearing in the next day’s game, and Blackburn said he was all for it.
Blackburn pitched a scoreless fourth inning, struck out Giants outfielder Joc Pederson and retired Albert Pujols in Pujols’ final All-Star at-bat career.
John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey