1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1957 American baseball competition November 2013 1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game logo.png 150 1957 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 July 9, 1957 Busch Stadium St. Louis, Missouri Casey Stengel NYY Walter Alston BKN NBC Mel Allen and Al Helfer NBC Bob Neal and Harry Caray 30,693 None 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 Redlegs 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, no fewer than 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, a record that still stands. The only non-Redleg elected for the National League was St. Louis Cardinal first baseman Stan Musial, who had only narrowly beaten his Reds counterpart George Crowe. Although Cincinnati had the second-best offense in the majors (they would score 747 runs that year, surpassed only by Milwaukee), most baseball observers felt they obviously did not deserve seven starters in the All-Star Game. An investigation was launched by Commissioner Ford Frick, which found that the majority of the ballots cast had come from Cincinnati; in fact, The Cincinnati Times-Star newspaper had printed up pre-marked ballots with the Cincinnati starting lineup on them, and distributed them with each day's paper to make it easy for Redlegs fans to vote often for their favorite players.https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/13168334/1957-cincinnati-fans-stacked-all-star-team-too The stuff of legends: In 1957, Cincinnati fans stacked the All-Star team too Wulf Steve ESPN June 29, 2015 Meanwhile, Burger Beer, a Redlegs sponsor, had printed 250,000 similar ballots and distributed them to local bars, and stories emerged of bartenders refusing to serve alcohol to customers until they filled out a ballot. Subsequently, Frick suspended fans' voting rights, and appointed Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves to substitute for Bell and Post. Bell was kept as a reserve (he would bat for Redlegs teammate Robinson in the seventh and slap a two-RBI double), while Post was injured and would have been unable to play in any event. Hoak and McMillan were each dismissed from the game after a single at-bat, in favor of future Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks, respectively. Temple batted twice before giving way to another future Cooperstown resident, Red Schoendienst. (Bailey caught the whole game, but was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the ninth.) Managers, players, and coaches picked the teams until fan voting rights were restored in 1970. To avoid a repeat of this incident, MLB officials evenly distributed the 26 million ballots for that year to 75,000 retail outlets and 150 minor and major league stadiums, while a special panel was also created to review the voting. Despite these (and other subsequent) measures, teams and media outlets still tell fans to vote for their favorite players instead of the best players; while the voting for the All-Star Game has remained a popularity contest, it is to a lesser extent than in 1957. Rosters Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. American League StartersPositionPlayerTeamAll-Star GamesPJim BunningTigers1CYogi BerraYankees101BVic WertzIndians42BNellie FoxWhite Sox73BGeorge KellOrioles10SSHarvey KuennTigers5OFAl KalineTigers3OFMickey MantleYankees6OFTed WilliamsRed Sox14 PitchersPositionPlayerTeamAll-Star GamesPBob GrimYankees1PBilly LoesOrioles1PDon MossiIndians1PBilly PierceWhite Sox4PBobby ShantzYankees3PEarly WynnIndians3 ReservesPositionPlayerTeamAll-Star GamesCElston HowardYankees1CGus TriandosOrioles11BMoose SkowronYankees12BBobby RichardsonYankees13BFrank MalzoneRed Sox1SSJoe DeMaestriAthletics1SSGil McDougaldYankees3OFCharlie MaxwellTigers2OFMinnie MiñosoWhite Sox5OFRoy SieversSenators2 National League StartersPositionPlayerTeamAll-Star GamesPCurt SimmonsPhillies3CEd BaileyRedlegs21BStan MusialCardinals142BJohnny TempleRedlegs23BDon HoakRedlegs1SSRoy McMillanRedlegs2OFHank AaronCommissioner Ford Frick named them to the starting lineup to replace Gus Bell and Wally Post.Braves3OFWillie MaysGiants4OFFrank RobinsonRedlegs2 PitchersPositionPlayerTeamAll-Star GamesPJohnny AntonelliGiants3PLew BurdetteBraves1PLarry JacksonCardinals1PClem LabineDodgers2PJack SanfordPhillies1PWarren SpahnBraves9 ReservesPositionPlayerTeamAll-Star GamesCHank FoilesPirates1CHal SmithCardinals11BGil HodgesDodgers82BRed SchoendienstBraves103BEddie MathewsBraves4SSErnie BanksCubs3SSJohnny LoganBraves2OFGus BellRedlegs4OFGino CimoliDodgers1OFWally MoonCardinals1 Game Umpires Home PlateFrank Dascoli (NL)First BaseLarry Napp (AL)Second BaseHal Dixon (NL)Third BaseJohnny Stevens (AL)Left FieldStan Landes (NL)Right FieldNestor Chylak (AL) Starting lineups American LeagueNational LeagueOrderPlayerTeamPositionOrderPlayerTeamPosition1Harvey KuennTigersSS1Johnny TempleReds2B2Nellie FoxWhite Sox2B2Hank AaronBravesRF3Al KalineTigersRF3Stan MusialCardinals1B4Mickey MantleYankeesCF4Willie MaysGiantsCF5Ted WilliamsRed SoxLF5Ed BaileyRedsC6Vic WertzIndians1B6Frank RobinsonRedsLF7Yogi BerraYankeesC7Don HoakReds3B8George KellOrioles3B8Roy McMillanRedsSS9Jim BunningTigersP9Curt SimmonsPhilliesP Game summary Tuesday, July 9, 1957 1:30pm (CT) Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri American League AL 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 10 0 National League NL 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 5 9 1 Jim Bunning (1–0) Curt Simmons (0–1) Bob Grim (1) Footnotes and references External links Baseball Almanac Category:Major League Baseball All-Star Game Major League Baseball All-Star Game Category:Baseball competitions in St. Louis Category:Major League Baseball controversies Major League Baseball All-Star Game Category:July 1957 sports events in the United States Category:1950s in St. Louis