July 11, 1961: Between 1958 and 1962, Major League Baseball held 2 All-Star Games every year. The 1961 season was the weirdest set of them. The 2nd game, held at Fenway Park in Boston on July 31, was tied 1-1 after 9 innings, and then called because of rain, the 1st tie game in ASG history. But the 1st, held on this date, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, was even weirder.
The opposing starters were Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees for the American League, and Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves for the National League. The NL took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd, on a sacrifice fly by Bill White of the St. Louis Cardinals. Another sac fly, by Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates, made it 2-0 NL in the 4th.
In the top of the 6th, Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins hit a home run, bringing the AL to within 2-1. In the bottom of the 8th, George Altman of the Chicago Cubs hit a home run, making it 3-1 NL. The game seemed headed for an unmemorable ending, destined to be forgotten in the annals of baseball. But that would not be the case.
Danny Murtaugh, manager of the defending World Champions, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and so manager of the NL squad, sent his own closer, Elroy Face, out to pitch the top of the 9th. He struck out Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles. But Norm Cash of the Detroit Tigers doubled to right-center. Ralph Houk, manager of the Yankees, the defending AL Champions, and so manager of the AL squad, sent Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox to pinch-run for him. Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers singled Fox home, to make it 3-2 NL.
Murtaugh brought in Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was just starting a 6-year run as maybe the best pitcher of all time, but wasn't yet seen as being at that level. He pitched to Roger Maris of the Yankees, on his way to hitting 61 home runs. Maris singled to right. And then Murtaugh made what could have turned out to be a big mistake: He took Koufax out, and replaced him with Stu Miller, of the game's hosts, the San Francisco Giants.
Candlestick Park opened a year earlier, and was named for its location, Candlestick Point, in the southeastern corner of San Francisco's city limits, right on San Francisco Bay. It was already known for having high winds, and unpredictable wind currents, which led to home runs becoming popups, popups becoming home runs, and night games becoming bitterly cold. In 1971, so that the NFL's San Francisco 49ers could move in, the stadium was expanded and enclosed. It was hoped that this would end the wind problem. All it did was change the currents, possibly making them even worse, and making the night games even colder.
Miller took the mound with Kaline on 2nd and Maris on 1st, and Rocky Colavito of the Tigers at the plate. While he stood in looking for a signal from the catcher, Smoky Burgess of the Pirates, a gust of wind caused him to lose his balance on the mound. Home plate umpire Stan Landes called a balk. As the story got told down through the years, Miller, just 165 pounds, was "blown off the mound."
Not only was that not what happened at all, but the call was correct, and it didn't even matter: Colavito hit the ball to 3rd base, where Ken Boyer of the Cardinals bobbled it, and Kaline ended up scoring the tying run.
Despite 2 more errors in the inning, by Burgess and his 2nd baseman, Don Zimmer of the Cubs, Miller got out of the inning without any more runs scoring. The game went to extra innings. In the 10th, he struck out Dick Howser of the Kansas City Athletics, and then struck out Gentile. He walked Fox, and then, with Kaline up, Boyer made another error that allowed Fox to score all the way from 1st base, making it 4-3 AL.
Miller's place in the order was the leadoff spot in the bottom of the 10th. Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves pinch-hit for him, and singled off Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles. A passed ball by AL catcher Elston Howard of the Yankees advanced Aaron to 2nd. Willie Mays of the Giants doubled to left, tying the game. Wilhelm lost control of his knuckleball, and hit Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds with a pitch. And then Clemente singled to right, scoring Mays, and winning the game.
National League 5, American League 4. Winning pitcher: Stu Miller. He didn't pitch like he deserved it, but, according to the rules, he was it. As NBC broadcaster Joe Garagiola liked to say, and used as the title of a book he wrote, Baseball is a funny game.
Stu Miller had already led the NL in earned run average in 1958. In 1962, having been converted into a reliever, he helped the Giants win the Pennant. They then traded him to the Baltimore Orioles, and helped them win the 1966 World Series. In 1967, he gave up Mickey Mantle's 500th career home run.
He finished his career with a record of 105-103, and 154 saves. Both the Giants and the Orioles elected him to their team Halls of Fame. He died in 2015, at the age of 87, and deserves better than to be remembered for something that, A, did not actually happen; and, B, wouldn't have mattered if it did.
In 1983, the American League scored 7 runs in the 3rd inning, knocking Giant pitcher Atlee Hammaker out of the box. The joke was that he was the second Giants pitcher to get blown off the mound in an All-Star Game. The AL won, 13-3. The All-Star Game was held at Candlestick again the next year, and there were no weather-related incidents. The NL won, 3-1.
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July 11, 1961 was a Tuesday, as the MLB All-Star Game usually falls upon. No other baseball games were played. And the other major North American sports were out of season. So there were no other scores on this historic day.
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