Tuesday, July 7 – 36^th All-Star Game

Shea Stadium hosted the 1964 All-Star Game in front of 50,850 fans.

If there ever were an All-Star Game to go down in the annals of Philadelphia Sports History – this would be the one. To begin with, three Phillies made the National League All-Stars:

1. Johnny Callison
2. Jim Bunning
3. Chris Short

Richie Allen – who was hitting .308 with 16 home runs and 45 RBIs – didn’t make the team. He was a rookie and not yet well-known with baseball fans across the country. Instead, the fans voted St. Louis Cardinals veteran Ken Boyer as the starter at third base. Boyer was hitting .288 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs.

Dodgers manager Walter Alston managed the National Leaguers and Cleveland Indians manager Al Lopez managed the American League team.

Both starting pitchers came from L. A. teams:

• Don Drysdale (11-7) from the Dodgers.
• Dean Chance (5-5) from the Angels.

Starting Lineups

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Jim Fregosi – the future Phillies manager who guided the 1993 team to the World Series – made the AL team leading off and playing shortstop.

Play Ball:

The AL scored in the top of the first:

• Jim Fregosi singled, moved to second on a passed ball, and scored two outs later when Minnesota Twins leftfielder Harmon Killebrew singled.

Dean Chance and Don Drysdale traded zeroes through the bottom of the third. Then Jim Bunning (9-2) came in to pitch for the NL. He gave up two singles in the top of the fourth, but kept the AL off the scoreboard.

Kansas City A’s pitcher John Wyatt (5-4) replaced Chance to start the bottom of the fourth:

• Chicago Cubs leftfielder Billy Williams greeted Wyatt with a home run to deep right-center to tie the game 1-1.
• Two outs later, Ken Boyer homered to make it 2-1 NL.

Bunning got the AL one-two-three in the top of the fifth.

In that half-inning, Baltimore Orioles first-baseman Norm Siebern pinch-hit for Wyatt. Minnesota Twins pitcher Camilo Pascual (9-6) replaced Wyatt in the bottom of the fifth – but he ran into trouble:

• With one out, Johnny Callison pinch-hit for Jim Bunning and popped out to short for the second out.
• Pittsburgh Pirates rightfielder Roberto Clemente singled and his teammate, shortstop Dick Groat, doubled to score Clemente and make it 3-1 NL.

Chris Short (7-4) replaced Bunning in the top of the sixth. He struck out Twins rightfielder Tony Oliva to start the inning, but then he too ran into trouble:

• New York Yankees centerfielder Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew hit back-to-back singles.
• Baltimore Orioles third-baseman Brooks Robinson cleared the bases with a triple to tie the game 3-3.

Houston Colt 45s pitcher Turk Farrell (10-3) replaced Short in the top of the seventh:

• Farrell hit Yankees catcher Elston Howard and then gave up a pinch-double to A’s rightfielder Rocky Colavito – batting for Camilo Pascual.
• With runners on second and third, Jim Fregosi hit a sacrifice fly to put the AL ahead 4-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Boston Red Sox pitcher Dick “The Monster” Radatz (7-4) replaced Pascual for the AL and dominated the National Leaguers in the seventh and eighth innings – striking out four of the six batters he faced.

Going into the bottom of the ninth, Radatz needed just three outs to win the game – but:

• San Francisco Giants centerfielder Willie Mays drew a walk and stole second.
• Giants first-baseman Orlando Cepeda dropped a Texas Leaguer into short right – just out of the reach of Yankees first-baseman Joe Pepitone.
• Mays had to hold to see whether or not the ball was going to be caught. But when the ball hit the turf, Mays took off and was soon rounding third and making a dash toward home.
• Pepitone retrieved the ball and fired toward the plate, but the throw bounced in the dirt and rolled away from Elston Howard as Mays scored to tie the game at 4-4.
• Cepeda – representing the winning run – advanced to second.
• Radatz got Ken Boyer to pop to third for the first out.
• Radatz walked Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Edwards intentionally to get to New York Mets second-baseman Ron Hunt.
• With runners on first and second, Walter Alston sent Milwaukee Braves rightfielder Hank Aaron up to pinch-hit for Hunt – but the strategy failed when Aaron struck out swinging.
• Johnny Callison stepped to the plate – he’d gone 0-for-2 since entering the game as a pinch-hitter back in the fifth inning. Radatz tried to throw a fastball past Callison, but Callison got all of it and drove the ball into the rightfield stands.

Dick Radatz lost and Juan Marichal won – but the biggest winner was Johnny Callison for hitting the dramatic walk-off homer.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com – Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow
• Work-in-Progress A Fuckin All-American