Review the other Cincinnati Midsummer Classics,
Low-scoring contests have been norm in the Queen City
The July 14 All-Star Game will be the fifth played in Cincinnati. The 1970 game is chronicled on Pages 8 and 9.
A look at the other three:
1938
Score: 4-1 National League
Summary: Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer threw three scoreless, one-hit innings to help lead the National League at Crosley Field. He was only a month removed from backto-back no-hitters.
“We played a dozen spring games against the Reds and Vandy didn’t seem so tough then, but he really had it today,” said Boston Red Sox first baseman Jimmie Foxx, who struck out against the Reds pitcher.
In one of the strangest plays in All-Star Game history, Reds first baseman Frank McCormick hit a single in the seventh inning, and Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Leo Durocher followed with a bunt hit toward third. Foxx picked up the ball and threw it into right field, where the New York Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio picked it up and threw it over home plate, allowing Durocher to score.
The American League committed four errors in the game.
Vander Meer picked up the win. Nearly 50 years after that All-Star Game, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Riverfront Stadium in June 1988 before a Reds victory against the Houston Astros.
Someone asked if Vander Meer ever tired about the consecutive no-hitters discussion.
“No,” he said in 1988. “It keeps you alive.”
Did you know: The game marked the last All-Star Game appearance for Lou Gehrig.
1953
Score: 5-1 NL
Summary: The game was the final time Crosley Field hosted an All-Star Game, as the Reds moved to Riverfront Stadium during the 1970 season.
The NL won its fourth consecutive game, matching the record of four in a row set by the AL from 1946 to 1949. The NL scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning off the Yankees’ Allie Reynolds. The NL added a run in the seventh inning off the Cleveland Indians’ Mike Garcia.
The NL then added two runs off St. Louis Browns veteran Satchel Paige. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Enos Slaughter ran down a line drive by Detroit Tigers shortstop Harvey Kuenn, making a diving catch along the right-field line — a play that is regarded as one of the best defensive plays in All-Star Game history.
Did you know? Paige was the oldest pitcher in All-Star Game history at 47. There are six living ballplayers who participated in that game, including Yogi Berra, who turned 90 in May.
1988
Score: 2-1 AL
Summary: Fourteen future Hall of Famers made the rosters for the game, including Barry Larkin, Cal Ripken Jr., Ozzie Smith, George Brett and Rickey Henderson. NL manager Whitey Herzog also is in the Hall.
Rain was an issue during AllStar week. Much to the disappointment of fans, the Home Run Derby was canceled the day before the game.
The game has been cited as one of the most lackluster contests in the event’s history. The teams combined for 11 hits and three runs.
Oakland Athletics catcher Terry Steinbach, who had been elected as a starter despite hitting .217 in the first half of the season, garnered MVP honors. He hit a solo homer off New York Mets ace Dwight Gooden in the third inning. He was nearly robbed by Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry, who said the ball popped out of his glove when he tried to pull it in over the fence. Steinbach followed up with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to drive in the AL’s only other run.
That was all the run support the AL staff needed. Minnesota Twins starter Frank Viola began the game with six consecutive outs for the AL, and the relievers — including Red Sox starter Roger Clemens and A’s closer Dennis Eckersley — surrendered five singles in seven innings of work. The only run for the NL came on a wild pitch from the Kansas City Royals’ Mark Gubicza, allowing Cardinals outfielder Vince Coleman to cross the plate.
Viola won the game, and Eckersley pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to get the save. Gooden was the loser.
Did you know? Steinbach became the first — and to this point, only — player to hit a home run in his first career at-bat and his first All-Star Game at-bat.