This is not a happy man.
This is a proud man, with much to be proud of,
working in a place where his pride is regularly hurt.
July 10, 1962: From 1958 to 1962, Major League Baseball held 2 All-Star Games every season, 1 in a ballpark of each League. This day was the day of the season's 1st, at the new District of Columbia Stadium in Washington.
President John F. Kennedy attended, and threw out the ceremonial first ball. No one could have foreseen that, within just 6 years, both JFK and his brother, then the Attorney General of the United States, would be assassinated, and that, a year after that, D.C. Stadium would be renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
Before the first ball ceremony, JFK spoke to Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals, an ardent Democrat. Musial was 41 years old, 2 years younger than JFK was when he was elected. JFK said, "They said I was too young to be President, and you were too old to play baseball. I guess we both proved them wrong."
Selected for the American League team from the defending World Champion New York Yankees were starting center fielder Mickey Mantle, starting right fielder Roger Maris, catcher Elston Howard, 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson, shortstop Tom Tresh and pitcher Ralph Terry.
Mantle would win his 3rd AL Most Valuable Player award, though he said that Richardson deserved it. Tresh, the eventual AL Rookie of the Year, would be moved to left field when Tony Kubek returned from his military service. Terry went on to win 23 games, not including his shutout in Game 7 of the World Series.
But, at a time when the Cy Young Award was given to the best pitcher in both leagues, it was given to Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was the National League's starting pitcher in this game. Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers started for the AL.
For the 1st time, the All-Star Game had a Most Valuable Player award. It was given to Maury Wills of the Dodgers, on his way to setting a new major league record with 104 stolen bases in a season. In the 6th inning, he entered the game as a pinch-runner for Musial. Wills stole 2nd base, and was singled home by Dick Groat of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the 8th inning, Wills singled, was singled to 3rd by Jim Davenport of the San Francisco Giants, and scored on a sacrifice fly by the Giants' Felipe Alou. The NL won, 3-1.
For the NL's expansion New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s, the team that would become the Houston Astros in 1965, this was the 1st All-Star Game. Houston's 1st All-Star was pitcher Richard "Turk" Farrell. The Mets' 1st was center fielder Richie Ashburn. Each had previously been named an All-Star while with the Phillies.
The 2nd 1962 All-Star Game was played on July 30, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the AL won, 9-4. Since then, it has been 1 All-Star Game a year for Major League Baseball, except in 2020 when it was canceled due to COVID restrictions.
Don Richard Ashburn -- like Ford, he was nicknamed Whitey due to his very light blond hair, and didn't mind, because, like later Phillies star Dick Allen, he didn't like being called "Richie" -- was born in 1927 in Tilden, Nebraska, and grew up there. He had debuted with the Phillies in 1948, leading the NL in stolen bases. In 1950, he was the sparkplug of the Phils' Pennant-winning team known as the Whiz Kids. He won the NL batting title in 1955 and 1958, and was named to 5 All-Star Teams -- 6 games counting this season's dual entry.
He was traded to the Cubs in 1960, and the Mets purchased him in their 1st off-season, 1961-62. At the age of 35, he was still an exceptional center fielder, and batted .306, just below his career average of .308. But it was a season of misery, as the Mets went 40-120. He said that he knew it was time to retire when he was named the most valuable player of, as he and many others believed the '62 Mets to be, "the worst team in history."
He returned to the Phillies as a broadcaster, and became an even more beloved figure. As his contemporary, Phil Rizzuto, was to the Yankees, he was the beloved player who became a broadcaster, and had to wait too long to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was finally elected in 1995, a year after Rizzuto was, and died 2 years later.
The Phillies did not reach the postseason without him being involved as either a player or a broadcaster between 1915 and 2007. They went on to retire his Number 1, and dedicate a statue to him at Citizens Bank Park when it opened in 2004.
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July 10, 1962 was a Tuesday, as the day of the MLB All-Star Game tends to be. This being the All-Star Break, and with no other sports in progress at the time, this was the only score on the day.
This was also the day that Telstar 1 was launched. I have a separate entry for that event.
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