August 3, 1958: The original Yankee Stadium has its biggest crowd ever. And it has nothing to do with baseball, or even with sports.
The Jehovah's Witnesses International Convention was held there, and the announced attendance was 123,707. Every permanent seat in the Stadium, 67,224, was filled. And there were temporary seats set up on the field. Across the Harlem River, at the Polo Grounds, the speakers from Yankee Stadium were piped in, and that old ballpark was also full, more full: 130,215. And while there were officials on hand, the main speakers were across the River, in The Bronx. Total: 253,922
Yankee Stadium had begun hosting the group in 1950, and continued there until 1989. Tony Morante, a teenage usher at the 1958 event (his father had also been a Stadium usher), and eventually the director of tours at Yankee Stadium, recalled that, at the end of every event, the Jehovah's Witnesses would clean up after themselves even better than the Stadium's grounds crew, as if no event had even been held.
In 1957, Billy Graham, the country's leading evangelist, brought 100,000 to his Crusade at Yankee Stadium, and The New York Times called it "the largest crowd in stadium history." The Archbishop of New York, Francis Cardinal Spellman, held a Mass there the same year, with a similarly large crowd. But the following year, the Jehovah's Witnesses put the record out of reach.
Not as big in terms of crowds, but perhaps more important, Yankee Stadium hosted the Masses of 3 Popes: Paul VI in 1965, the 1st Papal Mass ever held in the Western Hemisphere; John Paul II in 1979, and he subsequently held Mass at Shea Stadium and Madison Square Garden; and Benedict XVI in 2008, the Stadium's last year. (As of August 3, 2022, Pope Francis has been to America, but has not held Mass at the new Yankee Stadium.)
On September 23, 2001, Yankee Stadium hosted a memorial service for victims of the terrorist attacks of 12 days earlier, with speakers from several faiths, including Graham, and the Archbishop of New York at the time, Edward Cardinal Egan.
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August 3, 1958 was, appropriately given the event, a Sunday. As was common at the time, all teams played doubleheaders on this Sunday:
* The New York Yankees, naturally, were on the road. They were swept in a doubleheader by the Chicago White Sox, 3-1 and 4-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. In the opener, Dick Donovan outpitched White Ford. Moose Skowron hit a home run. In the nightcap, Ray Moore pitched a 5-hit shutout, to beat Johnny Kucks. Over the 2 games, Mickey Mantle went 0-for-6 with a walk, and Yogi Berra went 1-for-7 with a walk.
* There was a split at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 1st game, 8-2. The Chicago Cubs won the 2nd game, 12-10. Ernie Banks went 2-for-7 with a home run and 4 RBIs.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 and 2-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. In the 1st game, Bob Friend allowed 9 hits, but kept the shutout. The losing pitcher was former New York Giants ace Sal Maglie, who pitched 4 more times that season, and retired. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4 in each game. Stan Musial flew out as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and went 0-for-2 in the 2nd game before being replaced for defensive purposes.
* The Boston Red Sox swept the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 and 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Ted Williams went 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk in the 1st game. In the 2nd game, he first got the game off, then appeared as a pinch-hitter, and flew out.
* There was a split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Redlegs in the 1st game, 8-6. John Roseboro hit 2 home runs, and Duke Snider hit 1. Sandy Koufax started for the Dodgers, but, not yet having found his control, didn't make it out of the 5th inning. Each team scored in the 9th inning. The Dodgers scored 2 runs in the top of the 10th, and the Redlegs (as the Reds were known from 1953 to 1959) couldn't score in the bottom of the 10th.
The Redlegs won the 2nd game, 3-1. Alex Kellner outpitched Don Drysdale. (The Koufax-Drysdale combination would go on to have better times.) Frank Robinson went 1-for-8 with a walk in the doubleheader.
* The Detroit Tigers swept the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 and 4-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with an RBI in each game. Brooks Robinson grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and went 0-for-4 with a 2nd game.
* The Milwaukee Braves swept the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 and 6-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Warren Spahn pitched a 4-hit shutout in the 2nd game. Over the 2 games, Hank Aaron went 3-for-6 with 2 walks and an RBI. Willie Mays went 1-for-7 with a walk.
* There was a split at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The Kansas City Athletics won the 1st game, 12-0. Once-and-future Yankee Ralph Terry pitched a 5-hit shutout. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 4-3. Eddie Yost singled Neil Chrisley home with the winning run in the top of the 15th inning. So the fans paid for 9 innings, and got 24 innings.
Another future Yankee, Roger Maris, went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs for the A's in the 1st game, but 0-for-5 with 2 walks in the 2nd game. Harmon Killebrew, then with the Senators, and still with them long after they moved to become the Minnesota Twins, was injured, and did not play in either game.
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