The 1963 All-Star game in Cleveland was noted for its unusually low attendance of 44, 160 with plenty of empty seats which this picture clearly shows.
Photo Credit: Major League Baseball
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The experiment failed.
No one was happier than a majority of fans (including scores of players) to see Major League Baseball return to a single-game format, beginning with the 1963 MLB All-Star game in Cleveland on July 9.
From 1959 through 1962, MLB launched an experiment, holding two All-Star games a year. In order to get the players' consent to return to the single game format, the owners agreed to put 95 per cent of the net receipts of $250,384.59 and the TV-radio receipts into the players pension fund. Previously, players received only 60 per cent.
The 1963 midseason classic marked the 34th playing of All-Star game. In 1963, Cleveland was still very much a vibrant city, though its population had been in decline since the 1950s. The population in Cleveland peaked in 1950 with 914,808 inhabitants, the seventh largest city in the nation with a 15 percent foreign population. In 1963, Cleveland’s population was roughly 876,050 (according to the 1960 census), the 8th largest city in the nation with an 11 percent foreign population.
Prior to the All-Star game, there were a couple of hot issues brewing within the baseball community by the time everyone arrived in Cleveland. It had been widely reported that Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie Finley wanted to relocate his team to Oakland. Though Finley never submitted a formal request, he was notified by the American League that such a bold move wouldn’t be permitted. At the same time, there were reports that a group from Atlanta, Ga., were in Cleveland at the time of the All-Star game in hopes of luring the Indians to Atlanta. Atlanta was scheduled to have a new stadium built by 1965. Since the Indians weren’t drawing well over the last two seasons, the Atlanta group felt confident that the Indians were ripe for the picking.
Cleveland Indians president and general manager, Gabe Paul, however, quickly put the kibosh on the wild rumors that his ballclub was headed to the Peach State.
Shortly before the All-Star game, Paul issued a concise and pithy statement: "We're doing fine here and have no intention of moving."
Finley would have to wait until 1968 before relocating the Athletics to the Bay area. And two weeks after the All-Star game, it was leaked that the Atlanta group was in talks with Milwaukee to relocate the Braves to Atlanta. The Braves officially abandoned Milwaukee after the 1965 season.
The body of Mervin Gold, a missing financial manipulator, twice convicted on fraud charges, was found in the trunk of his own car on Chagrin River Road in Solon, Ohio.
Photo Credit: Cleveland Public Library
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Another explosive issue engulfing Cleveland before the first pitch of the All-Star game had nothing to do with baseball, but centered on a gruesome murder of a local financer.
On the morning of the All-Star game, July 9, 1963, readers woke to a grisly story splashed across the front page of The Plain Dealer by police reporter, Ed Kissell, reporting the murder of Mervin Gold, 32, a missing financial manipulator who was found stuffed in the trunk of his car in a secluded section of Solon, Ohio. A noose was tightened around Gold’s neck and strangled to death; his body wrapped in blankets with four.38 caliber bullets discharged into his body. His body was then dumped in the trunk of his car and driven to Chagrin River Road in Solon.
According to Gold’s wife, her husband was on his way to visit Alex (Shondor) Birns, a longtime Cleveland rackets figure. Birns was immediately arrested and questioned about the murder. The rackets kingpin provided an alibi, and was released.
A year after the murder, investigators publicly acknowledged that they were never able to piece together who murdered Gold as the killers’ trails increasingly grew cold. The case remained unsolved.
Nationally, 1963, was a year in which civil rights was put to the test.
A George Gallup Poll published at the time of the All-Star game showed that President John F. Kennedy's controversial proposal to ban discrimination in businesses that serve the public won only a narrow margin of support from the American public. 49 percent of the nation's voters, according to the Gallup poll, wanted Congress to pass a law giving all persons-black as well as white-the right to be served in hotels, restaurants, theaters, stores, and other public accommodations. A large proportion of the public-42 percent were opposed to such action on the part of Congress. Nine percent were undecided. Eight of ten white southerners, in the same poll, opposed passing a law guaranteeing blacks equal access to public places.
Other events taking place in 1963, prior to the All-Star game, included: John F. Kennedy barn burning "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin (June 26); four charming mopheads from Liverpool, England: John, Paul, George and Ringo recording their debut album "Please Please Me" in a single day at the Abbey Road Studios in London (February 11); and long-running soap opera General Hospital making its debut on ABC Television (April 1). The four-digit zip code was also introduced on July 1st of the year.
The National League went into the midseason classic as 7-5-favorites to win the game.
With the game in Cleveland, Indians fans really didn’t have a horse in the race to cheer for. Jim "Mudcat" Grant (5-8 with a 3.92 ERA) was the only representative in the 1963 All-Star Game for the Indians. He never saw any action.
At the time of the All-Star break, the Indians were in sixth place in the A.L., 7 1/2 games out of first place with a 44-40 record (.524 winning percentage). The Yankees led the league with a 50-31 record (.617 winning percentage), 5 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox. The Washington Senators were dead last with a 30-56 record, 22 ½ games out of first place (.349 winning percentage).
Though Mudcat Grant was the Indians sole representative, the A.L. staring pitcher was Ken McBride of the Los Angeles Angels, a Cleveland native, and a product of West High School in Cleveland (Franklin Boulevard and West 69th) who once pitched a high school championship game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
On the Senior Circuit, Jim O’Toole, the Cincinnati Reds southpaw got the nod to start the game for the N.L.
The manager for the A.L. was Ralph Houk of the Yankees, for the N.L., Alvin Dark of the San Francisco Giants.
Los Angeles Dodger announcer Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola handled the play by play for NBC, while Bob Neal and George Bryson were the radio announcers.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Locher threw out the first pitch (impressing many with the zip he put on the ball) on a refreshingly cool and bright afternoon with temperatures in the 70s. Mike Douglas, the KYW (later WKYC) television entertainer and host in Cleveland, belted out the national anthem.
For those star gazing: Milton Eisenhower, president of John Hopkins University (and brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower), Ohio Governor James Rhodes and former Cleveland Browns head coach, Paul Brown, were all in the house. As were Bob Feller, Jimmy Foxx, Bill McKechnie, Stan Coveleski, and Bedford, Ohio native, Elmer Flick.
Before players took the field, Casey Stengel, "The Ol' Perfessor” managing the dysfunctional New York Mets, shared a few pearls of wisdom of what this game really means, as reported by Bob Sudyk of the Cleveland Press: "Whoever wins this here thing today," Stengel said, "will prove he's the best there is no matter who tells you different, otherwise there's no point in fooling around with it and they might as well give it all to charity."
The game started promptly at 1 p.m.
To the surprise of many, the 34th All-Star game was largely a dud.
Between the two teams, there were 17 hits, 16 of which were singles. Interestingly, among the land of giants, the smallest guy on the field, the Los Angeles Angels 5-foot-5 Albie Pearson, had the only extra base hit, the loudest hit of the day, a double in the third inning.
After a scoreless first inning, Willie Mays led off the second with a five-pitch walk. The Giants center fielder scampered to second when catcher Ed Bailey (SF Giants) swung and missed on a 3-1 hit and run pitch. Bailey eventually walked. Dick Groat (St. Louis Cardinals, SS) playing in his first All-Star game for the Cardinals, cracked a single to second to score Mays for the first run of the game.
The A.L. came back to score in the bottom of the frame, when pitcher Ken McBride stepped to the plate with two on and two out, and sliced a ball just to the left of third baseman Ken Boyer (St Louis Cardinals); the ball deflecting off his mitt and sailing into left field, allowing Leon Wagner (LA Angels) to cross the plate, tying the game at 1.
In the third with Hank Aaron (Milwaukee Braves, RF) on second, Willie Mays, in a season long slump with the San Francisco Giants, produced a clutch two out hit (slashing a hit to center) to score Aaron. Mays then stole second, his second steal of the game and scored on Ed Bailey’s ground single to center to put the N.L. up 3-1.
Again, in the bottom of the third, the A.L. was equal to the task. Albie Pearson (LA Angels, CF) cracked Larry Jackson’s (Chicago Cubs, P) offering to the left-center field gap. Willie Mays skillful backhanding of the smash, limited Pearson to a double. Pearson scored when Frank Malzone (Boston Red Sox, 3B) managed a bloop single just over short. A ground out by Leon Wagner moved Malzone to second. Earl Battey (Minnesota Twins, C) brought the stadium crowd to life by smashing a hard single up the middle to tie the score at 3.
With the game knotted at 3, little did anyone in the stadium know that the run production for the A.L. dried up for the rest of the game.
Stan Musial (St Louis Cardinals), playing in his 24th All-Star Game, drew the loudest ovation, pinch hitting in the fifth. He flied out to Al Kaline (Detroit Tigers) in right.
The top of the 5th was noted for a critical error by the New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson who was put in to replace Nellie Fox (Chicago White Sox). With Tommy Davis (LA Dodgers, LF) on first and one out, Bill White (St. Louis Cardinals, 1B) squibbed a grounder off the end of his bat toward third. Frank Malzone (Boston Red Sox, 3B) rifled the ball to second for a force out, but Richardson was late covering the bag, mishandling the ball, for an error, allowing Tommy Davis to advance to third. Mays (yes, him again) followed with a slow grounder to first. Rookie Joe Pepitone (New York Yankees, 1B) appeared to have a play at the plate, but hesitated and ended up racing to first for the put out, allowing Davis to sprint home for an unearned run, putting the N.L. on top, 4-3.
The N.L tacked on another run in the 8th. Ron Santo (Chicago Cubs, 3B) blooped a single to short right to score White who was on second base, to put the N.L. up, 5-3.
Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale took the mound for the 8th and shut down the A.L. for the next two innings, turning in a solid pitching performance, which was punctuated with Richardson hitting into a game ending double play in the 9th. Drysdale got the save. The winning pitcher was Larry Jackson. Jim Bunning (Detroit Tigers) took the loss.
Though happy with the win, Alvin Dark, the skipper of the N.L. expressed disappointment he wasn’t able to pitch Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, and Juan Marichal because all had worked Sunday prior to the All-Star game. Dark pushed for a rule change that would prevent any pitcher selected for the game from pitching on the Sunday before the midseason classic.
The N.L. made history by fielding a starting infield made up entirely of St Louis Cardinal players, featuring first baseman Bill White, second baseman Julian Javier, shortstop Dick Groat and third baseman Ken Boyer.
Willie Mays was named the MVP of the All-Star Game. The "Say Hey Kid" managed only one hit, but drove in two runs, and stole two bases, making it 5 stolen bases in his All-Star appearances. Prior to the All-Star game, Mays had only stolen three bases all year. The Giants center fielder also flashed some leather in the 8th, running into the center field wired fence while chasing down Pepitone's long fly ball.
Bob Broeg, Sports Editor for the St Louis Dispatch singled out Mays in his column. "The National League might not have the greater power and the better pitching, after all, but they're faster than American Leaguers and must be wiser, too. They're smart enough to have selected a .271 [Willie Mays] hitter to play center field for them in the All-Star game."
What was most ironic about the klunker of an All-Star game was that at the Chamber of Commerce All-Star luncheon held at the Hotel Sheraton Cleveland ballroom a day before the All-Star game, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick said "there has never been a dull All-Star game."
The baseball czar came to regret those words.
Arthur Daley, columnist for the New York Times, questioned such a statement after viewing the game. According to Daley, "It was so prosaic and routine that not even the stars could sparkle with their usual glitter. The Nationals beat the Americans, 5-3, although outhit, 11-6. Few of the hits were rip-snorters. Most were bloopers or grounders with seeing-eye ability to squirt through infield holes. A double by the littlest star, Albie Pearson, was the only extra base hit."
Similar sentiments were echoed by Plain Dealer columnist Gordon Cobbledick, who wrote: "For those that were unable to attend, there was the consoling thought that they missed nothing memorable."
Other than the unusually low attendance (44,160) for an All-Star game, what many found peculiar was how the crowd at Cleveland Municipal Stadium wouldn’t embrace the Yankee players when they stepped to the plate, not even for an All-Star game. There was nothing but a loud chorus of boos that rippled through the stadium when a Yankee was at the plate.
Of course, the Cleveland crowd had reason to boo the Yankees since they had such a bad track record when facing them in the regular season. At the time of the All-Star break in 1963, the Indians had won only 289 and lost 425 for a .406 mark against the Yankees, stretching back to 1930.
The Yankees less than stellar performance in the All-Star game was welcome fodder for a number of Indians fans and sports reporters. Yankee rookie first baseman Joe Pepitone went 0-for-4 at the plate (with two strikeouts) and neglected to throw home when fielding a ball at first allowing the N.L. to break a 3-3 tie in the 5th. And the usually dependable Yankee second baseman, Bobby Richardson, committed a costly error in the same inning. He also hit into two double plays. Oddly, Richardson hit into only three double plays all year heading into the All-Star game.
Charles Johnson, sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star, wrote: "The New York Yankees are the world champions of baseball through most regular seasons, but their representatives were the "goats" of the American League's 5-3 defeat by the Nationals in the All-Star game in Cleveland Tuesday...funny thing, but the Yankees forte has always been to capitalize on the oppositions misplays in tight contests. In this showdown, their misplays gave the Nationals their 16th win, only one less than the A.L."
Clearly, though, the most stinging indictment about the 34th All-Star game sprang from the notebook of Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich, who wrote: “The sick city in major league baseball is Cleveland, and this was known before Tuesday's All-Star game turned up 26,000 empty seats in the big lakeside stadium that used to beckon baseball's biggest mobs. The Indians may be on the move, to another clime. The malaise in Cleveland can be diagnosed as apathy."
"In Cleveland there is much to be apathetic about,” Povich continued. “The Indians have a cheerless sixth place ball team that lacks one exciting evening. The fan interest has dipped sharply enough to ring all the alarms in the front office. It has not been gradual, but steep. Twenty-two years ago, before the population explosion, the team was drawing more fans than in these last two seasons."
Others, too, began to question why the All-Star game was held in Cleveland.
According to one item from the Minneapolis Star: "Baseball moguls realize now that they made a mistake in giving Cleveland the game this year. The attendance of 44,160 was way below estimates (60 percent of capacity) made last winter when this city got the call over Minnesota. One of the better suggestions on these games for the immediate future is to stage them in areas which have new clubs like Met Stadium [Shea Stadium], and Houston before going to the old-time franchise holders. In two previous games as host, Cleveland turned out each time."
Instead of placing all the blame on Cleveland for the poor turnout, Dick Cullum, sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star, offered an alternative viewpoint. Cullum argues that baseball may have tarnished the novelty of the All-Star game when they had two games played each year.
"May it not be, however, that the greed of players and club owners has taken the charm from the game?” Cullum observed.” "They cheapened it by presenting two All-Star games a year for four years. This gave the All-Star idea a commercial aspect which clings to it even after the error has been corrected. The appeal existing in sports events is a fragile and often indefinable thing."
Cheapened it or not, Cleveland Press columnist Frank Gibbons welcomed the cross-pollination of the two leagues and hoped it would become more frequent during the regular season in the near future. “The All-Star game made me feel, again,” Gibbons wrote, “that one of the things major league baseball can do to promote itself is for the brass hats to get together and agree on an inter-league schedule.”
Sharp questions whether Cleveland was a fading baseball town flourished ever since 1963 All-Star game.
Cleveland, in fact, would have to wait nearly 20 years before they’d see another MLB All-Star game again.
NOTE: A big heartfelt thanks to the folks at Proquest for allowing me to access the historic archives of the St. Louis Dispatch and the Minneapolis Star.
–Bill Lucey
January 16, 2019
