The 50-year-old Paige wore the uniform of the Miami Marlins of the Class AAA International League. He started the game, and pitched into the 8th inning before leaving the game with a 6-2 lead over the Ohio-based Columbus Jets, another IL team. He even knocked in half the Marlins runs with a 3-run double in the 2nd inning.
All the proceeds went to charity, and the pre-game entertainment included jazz legend Cab Calloway. To compensate for the short dimensions in right field, a giant fence was constructed at the wall, much like the one they would construct a year and a half later for the left field wall at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the newly-arrived Dodgers.
Paige enjoyed a stellar campaign with the Marlins finishing the 1956 season with an 11-4 record and 1.86 ERA, and would pitch 2 more remarkable years in Miami. In 1957, he had a 10-8 record and a 2.42 ERA. The following year, he went 10-10, and his ERA was 2.95.
The Marlins, formerly an early version of the Syracuse Chiefs, debuted in the IL that 1956 season, and remained in it through 1960. Their usual home was Miami Stadium, built in 1949, and later renamed Bobby Maduro Stadium, for a Miami-based baseball executive.
In the 1956, '57 and '58 seasons, they were a farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies; in 1959 and '60, of the Baltimore Orioles. The owners signed a working agreement with the St. Louis Cardinals for 1961, and moved the franchise to San Juan, Puerto Rico; and, in mid-season, to Charleston, West Virginia.
In 1962, a new Miami Marlins debuted in the Class D Florida State League, playing at Miami Stadium, as a Phillies farm team. The entire FSL was promoted to Class A in 1964, and remains so. The Marlins returned to the Orioles' fold in 1966, winning FSL Pennants in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1978. They were a San Diego Padres farm team in 1983 and 1984, but declining attendance ended the team.
In 1993, the National League's expansion included the Florida Marlins, playing at the Miami Dolphins' new stadium in suburban Miami Gardens. Miami Stadium was demolished in 2001, and the Orange Bowl in 2008. In 2012, when what is now named LoanDepot Park opened on the site of the Orange Bowl, the Marlins moved in, and restored the Miami Marlins name.
The Orange Bowl's record for the largest crowd in minor-league history stood until July 4, 1981, when the Denver Bears of the Class AAA American Association got 59,691 fans for a game at Mile High Stadium. They broke it again a year later: On July 4, 1982, they got 65,666 fans in, to see them lose to the Omaha Royals, 7-4. That remains the minor-league record.
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December 15, 1956 was a Saturday. This special exhibition game aside, baseball was out of season. There were no college football games: Even the Orange Bowl, home field to the University of Miami, had wrapped up its season aside from its eponymous New Year's Day bowl game. The previous Saturday, December 8, Miami, then ranked Number 6 in the country, were beaten by the University of Pittsburgh, ranked Number 12, 14-7 at the stadium. On January 1, 1957, in the Orange Bowl game, Number 20 Colorado would beat Clemson, 27-21.
There were 3 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Rochester Royals, 91-76 at the Rochester Community War Memorial (now the Blue Cross Arena) in Rochester, New York.
* The Boston Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks, 102-99 at the Boston Garden.
* And the Philadelphia Warriors beat the Syracuse Nations, 117-108 at the Onondaga County War Memorial (now the Upstate Medical University Arena) in Syracuse, New York.
The NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 6-4 at the Montreal Forum.
* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Wales, and beat Cardiff City, 3-2 at Ninian Park in Cardiff.
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