Evening star., 1938-07-05
FROM THE
Press Box
By JOHN LARDNER
FROM THE
: AII-Stor Come Held Greet
Off as Well as on Field


Al-Star baseball game the dream
game for more reasons than one, and
the best of 1t is not in the boxscore.
It's in the meetings of men who do
hot otherwise meet, the mingling of
the Giants of both leagues, Ruth chat
ting with McGraw, Hornsby hitting
fungo flies to Simmons, Chapman and
Averiu, Diz Dean kidding Gehrig
Hartnett and Hubbell comparing notes
on the enemy batting order.
From the five All-Star games I've
seen, the sharpest memories l have
are not OF the play-by- -play-though
some OF that play-by play was historic
stun-but of the talk in the dupouts,
the carnival spirit of the ball players,
and the feeling in the grandstand of
dream come true Maybe they
weren't good ball games. all of them
out they have been lot of fun.
Stardust on the Record Book
l933-John j, McGraw came out of
retirement to manage the National
League team against Connie Mack
neither of the old mastermlnds
uas In uniform as the game started
McGrs" wearing brown business
suit, Mack dark suit and a white Pan
anna =. perhaps McGraw was not the
most lovable character in baseball his
tory, but 1t was thrill to see him
walk up and down in front of the
American League dugout. still with a
little of the old McGravian strut. shak-
ing hands with some of the greatest
enemies OF his baseball career.
That was the game in Chicago in
which George H. Ruth came to the
plate in the third inning. with Charlie
Gehrlnger on base. swung his big bat
a. Bill Hallahan's fast ball, and
knocked the pitch out of the park
=. Ruth was marvellous" said Nc
Graw after the game, shaking his
head Marvellous. Well it was a great
ball game I'm glad lived to see it,"
l934-They got together at the
Polo Grounds, and Hubbell spun his
story book skein of strikeouts
Ruth. Gehrig. Foxx. Simmons and
Cronln. all in a row But the
American League came from behind
to win, and in the dressing room
afterward the American Leaeuers
celebrated on beer, and Joe Cronin
yelled Ioyously, Charge it to Ruth"
The gas house gang of St. Louis,
then in its heyday. had moment of
glory carrier Frank Frisch singled
and Ducky Medvick brought him
around with home run st
Louis, 2: American League, o."
ehortled Frisch.
ls35-n the big stadium at Cleve-
land Jimmy Wilson was talking to
Jerome H. Dean L bet vour
wife don't know you're chewing that
tobacco, Diz," said Jimmy Go
on, bring her down here. I'll chew
right in front of her" said Diz de-
fiantly Dean pitched some pretty
fair ball that day and so did Hal
schumacher. but the horse was stolen
None of the National League
managers had co-operated with
Frisch to the extent of having their
ace pitchers ready, and Frank tried
TO get away with Willie Walker as
starter >. The American League
won the game off Willie.
Di Magic Was the Goat.
1s36-On the train, on the way up
70 Boston, young man came into
Lou Gehrig's compartment and asked
where Joe Di Maggie was He
wanted Joe's autograph He broke
hlm. The young man looked
~ Gehrig scornfully If that
was true" he said, you would all
be out OF jobs, you and the rest of
1nose ouns, But Joe had a
tough day in Boston and wound IN
winning the goats hand-carved ant
lers He made an error afield
struck out with men on base and
stalled a rally with the bases full
Ii the seventh inning when he lined
etrsleht into Leo Durochers hands
III that ball had of gone a foot
10 the right or left" said Joe Nc
Carthy, you guys would be spelling
D1 Maggie with capital H for hero.
one loot made all the difference"
ls37-Dizzy Dean announced before
the game that the all-star classic. to
which the fans had voted him. meant
nothing in a Deans life II
probably won't show up" said Dizzy.
I'm pretty tired" But he showed
up In Washington all right, fatigue
ana all He started the game
A stift drive by Averill hit him In the
toe, and Diz's shoulder muscles never
have been the same since The
American League Won the game. but
1t turned out later that the American
Aeaguers were all Yankees in sleeps
ciothlng with Gomez pitching
great ball, Dickey. Rolfe and Gehrig
shining at bat, and Di Maggie mailing
= runner at the plate with one of his
copyrighted throws from the outfield.
II none Of the all-star games has
been great ball game except maybe
the first one), all of them were poten-
TALLY great And with w. Harold
Terry and his colleagues striving their
hest to prove this year. in Cincinnati,
that the National League Is something
more than new minor league. the
1888 game may be the greatest Of all.
tCopyright. 1898. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, 1nc.)