1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
American League 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 10 0
National League 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 5 9 1
Date July 9, 1957
Venue Busch Stadium
City St. Louis, Missouri
Managers
Attendance 30,693
First pitch None
Television NBC
TV announcers Mel Allen and Al Helfer
Radio NBC
Radio announcers Bob Neal and Harry Caray

The 1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 24th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 9, 1957, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League. The game was marked by controversy surrounding Cincinnati Reds fans stuffing the ballot box and electing all but one of their starting position players to the game. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 6–5.

Game summary

Six runs were scored in the final inning, three by each team, for an exciting ending as the American League eked out a 6-5 victory.

The game's scoring began in the second inning with a Mickey Mantle single, Ted Williams walk and Vic Wertz base hit, followed by walks to Yogi Berra and Harvey Kuenn that put the AL on top, 2-0. The score remained that way until the sixth, when a Moose Skowron double and Berra single made it 3-0.

Scoring twice in the seventh, the NL closed the gap with a two-run double by Gus Bell, pinch-hitting for Frank Robinson. In the ninth, the AL appeared to seal the victory with a two-run double by Al Kaline and RBI double by Minnie Miñoso for a 6-2 advantage.

Stan Musial walked and Willie Mays tripled to begin the bottom of the ninth. After Ernie Banks delivered a run-scoring single, with its lead trimmed to 6-5, the AL brought in Bob Grim to face pinch-hitter Gil Hodges, who lined out to left field to end the game.

Cincinnati voting controversy

When fan voting to determine the game's starters was completed, seven Cincinnati Redlegs players (Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Don Hoak, Frank Robinson, Gus Bell and Wally Post) had been elected to start in the All-Star Game; the only non-Redleg elected to start for the National League was St. Louis Cardinal first baseman Stan Musial. Most baseball observers agreed that while the Redlegs were known to be a great offensive team with many outstanding position players, they did not deserve seven starters in the All-Star Game.

An investigation launched by Commissioner Ford Frick found that over half of the ballots cast came from Cincinnati, with the Cincinnati Enquirer printing up pre-marked ballots and distributing them with the Sunday edition of the newspaper to make it easy for Redlegs fans to vote often for their favorite players, while stories emerged of bars in Cincinnati refusing to serve alcohol to customers until they filled out a ballot.

Frick appointed Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves to substitute for Bell and Post, and to strip the fans of their voting rights; Bell was kept as a reserve, while Post was injured and would have been unable to play in any event. Managers, players, and coaches picked the entire team until 1970, when the vote returned to the fans, and to avoid a repeat of this incident, MLB officials evenly distributed the 26 million ballots to 75,000 retail outlets and 150 minor and major league stadiums, while a special panel was also created to review the voting.

Rosters

Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Game

Umpires

Home PlateLarry Napp
First BaseFrank Dascoli
Second BaseJohnny Stevens
Third BaseHal Dixon
Left FieldNestor Chylak
Right FieldStan Landes

Starting lineups

American LeagueNational League
OrderPlayerTeamPositionOrderPlayerTeamPosition
1Harvey KuennTigersSS1Johnny TempleReds2B
2Nellie FoxWhite Sox2B2Hank AaronBravesRF
3Al KalineTigersRF3Stan MusialCardinals1B
4Mickey MantleYankeesCF4Willie MaysGiantsCF
5Ted WilliamsRed SoxLF5Ed BaileyRedsC
6Vic WertzIndians1B6Frank RobinsonRedsLF
7Yogi BerraYankeesC7Don HoakReds3B
8George KellOrioles3B8Roy McMillanRedsSS
9Jim BunningTigersP9Curt SimmonsPhilliesP

Game summary

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
American 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 10 0
National 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 5 9 1
WP: Jim Bunning (1–0)   LP: Curt Simmons (0–1)

Footnotes and references

  1. 1 2 Commissioner Ford Frick named them to the starting lineup to replace Gus Bell and Wally Post.

External links

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