The 1955 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 22nd playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

(AL) and

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(NL), the two leagues comprising

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. The game was held on July 12, 1955, at

Milwaukee County Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Opened in 1953 Milwaukee Braves season, 1953, it was primarily a baseball park for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Braves and later the Milwaukee Brewers. It was also ...

, the home of the

Milwaukee Braves The Milwaukee Braves were a Major League Baseball club that played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1953 to 1965, having previously played in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Braves. After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966 they were rename ...

of the National League.

Summary

The National League overcame a five-run deficit to defeat the American League, 6–5, in this edition of the midsummer classic.

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent ...

led off the bottom of the 12th inning by drilling a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

to deep right field on the first pitch from Frank Sullivan, pulling off one of the greatest victories in All-Star Game history. The National League began their comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of ...

led off the frame with a single off

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. ...

, and after two outs,

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. Considered one ...

walked and Johnny Logan singled to drive home Mays and make it a 5–1 game. Next batter Stan Lopata reached base on an

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

, and Aaron scored the second run off the inning before the third out was made. With two outs in the eight inning, Mays,

Ted Kluszewski Theodore Bernard Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988), nicknamed "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player, best known as a power-hitting first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds teams of the 1950s. He played from 1947 th ...

and

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive, television presenter and musician, best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing b ...

hit consecutive singles for a run, and Ford was replaced by Sullivan. Aaron greeted him with an RBI single scoring Kluszewski to knot the game at 5–5. The American League quickly took the lead in the top of the first inning when

Harvey Kuenn Harvey Edward Kuenn Jr. (; December 4, 1930 – February 28, 1988) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a shortstop and outfielder, he played with the Detroit Tigers (1952–1959), ...

and

Nellie Fox Jacob Nelson Fox (December 25, 1927 – December 1, 1975) was an American professional baseball player. Fox was one of the best second basemen of all time, and the third-most difficult hitter to strike out in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. ...

hit consecutive singles against Robin Roberts, with Kuenn advancing to third base from first and later scoring on a

wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third st ...

. Then

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 193 ...

walked and

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Mick" and "the Commerce Comet", was an American professional baseball player who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

hit a three-run home run, before Roberts recorded his first out. In the sixth inning,

Mickey Vernon James Barton "Mickey" Vernon (April 22, 1918 – September 24, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Washington Senators (1939–1948, 1950–1955), Cleveland Indians (1949–1950, 1958), Boston Red ...

grounded out to drive home

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born Lorenzo Pietro Berra; May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of Manager (baseball), manager and Coach (baseball), coach. He played 19 seas ...

to give the American League a five-run cushion. In the ninth inning, Joe Nuxhall and Sullivan matched

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s as the All-Star Game went into

extra inning Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to Tiebreaker#Baseball, break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven inn ...

s for only the second time since 1950, which turned out to be the first year the game went more than nine innings. The contest remained tied until the 12th inning, when Gene Conley struck out all three AL batters he faced. Then came the walk-off by Musial, which was his fourth homer in All-Star games, breaking a tie with Ted Williams and

Ralph Kiner Ralph McPherran Kiner (October 27, 1922 – February 6, 2014) was an American Major League Baseball player and broadcaster. An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955. Fo ...

. It was the fifth victory for the National League in the last six All-Star games, even though the American League still held a 13–9 overall advantage.

Notes

* Billy Pierce sailed through his three innings of work for the American League, facing the minimum nine batters while striking out three without walks.

Red Schoendienst Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst ( ; February 2, 1923 – June 6, 2018) was an American professional baseball second baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB), and is largely known for his coaching, managing, and playing years wi ...

led off the first inning with a single, but was out trying to advance to second on a pitch in the dirt that

managed to smother. *

Early Wynn Early Wynn Jr. (January 6, 1920 – April 4, 1999), nicknamed "Gus", was an American professional baseball right-handed pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox, dur ...

relieved Pierce in the fourth, and he tossed three shutout innings as well, allowing just three hits. *

Harvey Haddix Harvey Haddix Jr. (September 18, 1925 – January 8, 1994) was an American professional baseball pitcher and pitching coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1952–1956), Philadelphia Phillies (1956–57), ...

took over for Roberts in the fourth and he went three innings, allowing just one run in the sixth. *

Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played ten non-consecutive seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He began his career in the Negro National League and en ...

(1), Sam Jones () and Joe Nuxhall () combined for five scoreless innings. *

got the first two batters out in the eighth, but allowed three singles and a run and was replaced by Frank Sullivan, who faced 14 batters in innings before the Musial's blast. * It was the only All-Star appearance for Sullivan, the losing pitcher, who would win 18 games for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

that season. In 1960, Sullivan would be traded for the winning pitcher in this game, Gene Conley. * Both teams' pitchers combined for 23 hits and 20 strikeouts of 100 batters faced. *

Roy Campanella Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American professional baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering ...

was selected for the National League roster in the poll, but he did not play in the game due to a leg injury and was replaced by Stan Lopata. * Ironically, this game was played the same day on which funeral services were held for

Arch Ward Archie Burdette Ward (December 27, 1896 – July 9, 1955) was an American journalist who served as sports editor for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He was the creator of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournamen ...

, the sports editor for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', who had founded the All-Star Game in 1933.

Starting lineups

Rosters

Players in ''italics'' have since been inducted into the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

Umpires

Line score

:''Winning Run scored with 0 outs'' ''Play-by-play a
Retrosheet
'

References

External links

1955 All-Star Game Box Score, July 12
at Baseball-Reference.com
1955 All-Star Game
at

Baseball Almanac Baseball Almanac is an interactive baseball encyclopedia with over 500,000 pages of baseball facts, research, awards, records, feats, lists, notable quotations, baseball movie ratings, and statistics. Its goal is to preserve the history of baseba ...

July 12, 1955: Stan Musial seals Milwaukee’s first baseball All-Star celebration
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Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

(SABR Games Project) {{Major League Baseball on Mutual

Major League Baseball All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

Major League Baseball All-Star Game Major League Baseball All Star Game July 1955 sports events in the United States Baseball competitions in Milwaukee 1950s in Milwaukee