July 7, 1964: The Johnny Callison Game

Callison congratulated by some of his teammates.

Number 6 is Johnny Edwards of the Cincinnati Reds.

There are 2 Number 24s: Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants,

and Dick Groat of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Number 21 is Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Number 26 is Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs.

July 7, 1964: Major League Baseball holds its All-Star Game, at the brand-new William A. Shea Municipal Stadium in Flushing Meadow, Queens, New York City.

Press pin for the Game

The hosts, the New York Mets, in their 3rd year of play, were still terrible. Nevertheless, with the voting still done by the players until 1969 (it's been done by the fans since then), Ron Hunt was voted the National League's starting 2nd baseman. Of course, he might have made the Game anyway, since the rules state that each team must have at least one representative.

In contrast, the crosstown New York Yankees, on their way to their 5th straight American League Pennant, and their 29th in 44 seasons, had Mickey Mantle starting in center field, Elston Howard at catcher, and Bobby Richardson at 2nd base; with pitcher Whitey Ford and 1st baseman Joe Pepitone as reserves.

Each League's starting pitcher came from its Los Angeles team: NL manager Walter Alston of the Dodgers started his own Don Drysdale; while AL manager Al López of the Chicago White Sox started Dean Chance of the Angels, on his way to winning the Cy Young Award (then still given to the best pitcher in both Leagues.).

López was managing the AL because the Yankees' manager the season before, Ralph Houk, had moved up to the general manager's post, making Yogi Berra the Yankee manager, and López had led the White Sox to a 2nd-place finish in the AL. In fact, the last 2 times the AL Pennant was not won by the Yankees, it was won by a team managed by López: The 1954 Cleveland Indians, and the 1959 White Sox.

The AL scored in the 1st inning, and held that lead until the bottom of the 4th, when the NL got home runs from Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs and Ken Boyer of the St. Louis Cardinals. The NL added a run in the bottom of the 5th, but the AL tied it in the top of the 6th, and took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 7th.

That lead was still in place as the bottom of the 9th began. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Dick Radatz, the Boston Red Sox reliever known as "The Monster" -- a nickname he shared with slugger Frank Howard, then with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but not in this game -- began the inning by walking Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants. Mays stole 2nd, and was singled home by his Giants teammate Orlando Cepeda, to tie the game. Cepeda advanced to 2nd base on the throw home.

Cepeda was already dealing with the knee injury that curtailed his career, so Alston sent Curt Flood of the St. Louis Cardinals in to pinch-run for him. Boyer popped up. López ordered that the next batter, Johnny Edwards of the Cincinnati Reds, be intentionally walked, to set up the double play. Radatz then struck out Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves.

The batter was Johnny Callison, the right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils had surprised everyone by leading the NL by a game and a half as the All-Star Break arrived. Callison was putting together a season in which he could be named the NL's Most Valuable Player. Their 3rd baseman, Richie Allen (who would later insist upon being called "Dick Allen"), was on his way to winning the NL's Rookie of the Year. And had there been separate Cy Young Awards (it would take until 1967 for that to happen), Jim Bunning would probably have won it.

Callison crushed a Radatz delivery over the right field fence, into the bullpen, for a 7-4 National League victory. It was only the 2nd time an All-Star Game ended with what would now be called a "walkoff" home run. Stan Musial of the Cardinals had done it in Milwaukee in 1955.

Phils fans took Callison's homer as a sign that this was their year. But it wasn't. They led the NL by 6 1/2 games with 12 to go, and then lost 10 straight, and blew it. Allen was still named Rookie of the Year, but it was the Cardinals who won the Pennant, by 1 game over the Phillies and the Reds. And it was Boyer, the Cardinals' Captain, who was named MVP.

*

July 7, 1964, as is usually the case when MLB holds its All-Star Game, was a Tuesday. There were no other scores on this historic day.