Looking Back: Nashville's All-Star Games
Nashville has been host to several professional baseball All-Star games, beginning in the 1940s concerning the Nashville Vols of the old Southern Association. That league began playing an All-Star game in 1938. The league leader, at a selected July date, would host a collection of All-Star players from the rest of the league members.
The 1940 Nashville Vols were on their way to a Southern Association pennant when they hosted their first all-star game at Sulphur Dell on July 8. Led by manager Larry Gilbert, the Vols lost that game, 6-1.
A hard rain in Nashville delayed the start of the game and kept the attendance down to 6,000 fans. Paul Richards was the player-manager of the Atlanta Crackers and belted a solo home run in the second inning to give the All-Stars a 2-0 lead. The clout by Richards was reported in The Tennessean "hit a street car in Jackson Street and rebounded into the park."
Richards broke into the major leagues in 1932 with Brooklyn and, after a minor league stint, finished his career with Detroit (1943-46). Richards also became a major league manger for 12 years with the White Sox (1951, 1976) and Orioles (1952-61).
The All-Stars blasted 17 hits off of four Nashville pitchers for the easy win. Vols third baseman Bob Boken belted a second inning home run for the home team, preventing a shutout for the home team. Boken's home run was reported in the newspaper as the second longest home run ever hit at Sulphur Dell. The distance was reported as 420 feet over the left-center field wall. Boots Poffenberger, who would register a record 26 wins for the Vols that season, took the loss.
July 9, 1943, would find the country at war. Baseball was not interrupted, but affected as the major league rosters were diluted while players became soldiers. Nashville hosted its second Southern Association All-Star game at this time. In his fifth season at the Vols helm, Gilbert led the Vols to their first All-Star win, 3-2 in front of 9,350 Sulphur Dell fans.
Glenn Gardner, a 12-game winner at the All-Star break, went the distance for the Vols on the mound. The Southern Stars scored a run in the first inning, but a throwing error in the fifth inning by losing Birmingham pitcher Howard Fox enabled Nashville to tie the score at 1-1. Back-to-back singles by Whitie Platt and Mel Hicks in the Vols' sixth, placed runners at first and second with one out.
Fox followed by unleashing two wild pitches to score Platt and put Hicks on third base. Vols hitters Ed Sauer and Pete Elko walked to load the bases. After Fox was mercifully relieved on the mound, Johnny Mihalic singled to score Hicks that eventually proved to be the winning run. The Stars scored a ninth-inning run for the game's final tally.
"I don't think I got a hit in that game," said Ray Hamrick who played for the Vols in that game at shortstop. "Those games always draw a pretty good crowd; you always want to beat them. Larry Gilbert always had a knack for getting good ball players. Glenn Gardner was an exceptionally good pitcher. Because of the war, the leagues weren't affected as much ability-wise as the big leagues."
The proceeds of the game amounted to $5,646 that was donated to a war relief fund. War bonds were given to each Nashville Vols player and each All-Star. Four members of the All-Star team and two umpires failed to appear at the game due to the late arrival of the famous "Dixie Flyer" train. The Vols continued their winning ways and won the 1943 Southern Association pennant.
"We had such a wonderful team that year; it was tough to beat us," said Hamrick, who would be the Phillies starting shortstop the following season. "Larry Gilbert told us we were one of the best teams he'd ever coached. In the major leagues, when some of the players were in the service, they were really missed. But in the minors, players were moving so much, I don't think the war made that much difference."
Gilbert would enter the Vols' 1948 season as his 10th in Nashville and 25th overall in the Southern Association. In what would be his last season as a manger, Gilbert once again led his first-place club against the Southern All-Stars at Sulphur Dell on July 20. This mid-season Southern classic would be the most memorable for the league and Gilbert.
Charley Gilbert, oldest son of the Vols manager, had been playing major league baseball since 1940. Charley joined the Vols after his 1947 season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Vols right fielder Charlie Workman, slugged a two-run, fifth inning home run to open the scoring in the game. Nashville added a run in the seventh to take a 3-0 lead into the ninth. Ben Wade started the game for the Vols, shutting out the All-Stars through five innings and was relieved by Leo Twardy in the sixth.
"I started the game mainly because I was the top pitcher on the Nashville club at the time," said Wade. "I didn't get back into Nashville until later that morning. I just got back from being married. The honeymoon was playing baseball in Nashville.
"I enjoyed playing in Nashville. The big thing was I enjoyed playing in that ballpark. Most pitchers hated to pitch there, but I loved to pitch there. Larry Gilbert always had a bunch of left-handed hitters and we scored a lot of runs. It didn't make any difference to me if I won the game 8-6. I'd rather win 8-6 than lose 2-0."
Twardy gave up two singles and a walk to begin the ninth. Pete Mallory relieved Twardy and faced his first batter, future Boston red Sox star Walt Dropo of the Stars. Dropo hit an apparent double-play ball to Vols' second baseman, Buster Boguskie. The throw was off-line and the Stars scored their first run while the bases remained full.
Mickey Rutner followed with a double off the center field wall to tie the game 3-3, forcing extra innings. The game remained tied until the bottom of the 12th. Charley Gilbert took his turn at bat and The Tennessean described the game-winner.
Little Charley Gilbert hit one for the ol' man last night. The Vol center fielder smashed a drive over the right field wall in the last of the 12th inning to give Those Vols a thrilled-packed 4-3 triumph over the All-Stars in the annual league classic before the paying patrons in Sulphur Dell.
"Young Gilbert's wall wallop, his 28th of the year, gave Larry Gilbert, Vol manager, probably the biggest thrill he has ever received from watching his son hit a home run.
Mallory was credited with the victory. Larry Gilbert resigned as the Vols manager at the end of the season and became their vice president and general manager. Nashville also won the Southern Association pennant. Workman led the league with 52 home runs and 182 RBIs. Smokey Burgess led the league in batting with a .386 average for the Vols.
"I was out of the game, had taken a shower and may not have even seen Charley's home run," said Wade who later pitched in the major leagues for the Cubs, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. "That was the only year I got a chance to play with Charley. He was a super, super guy and was the first center fielder that I ever saw come in and slide on his knees to catch balls. I enjoyed playing there in the city of Nashville, mainly playing for Larry Gilbert."
The Vols would host another All-Star game at Sulphur Dell July 12, 1949. Rollie Hemsley was now the Nashville manager and had maneuvered his club into first place. More than 11,000 Nashville fans witnessed a game in which ten All-Star records were broken.
The Vols were embarrassed 18-6, with the Stars scoring nine runs in the ninth to break open the game. Three Nashville pitchers (Frankie Marino, Hal Kleine, Hi Bithorn) surrendered 22 hits. Dave Williams of Atlanta collected five hits for the winners. Boguskie, Carl Sawatski and Tookie Gilbert (Larry Gilbert's youngest son) were the batting stars for Nashville.
In 1957, old Sulphur Dell was host to 7, 542 fans on a miserable night with nearly a two-hour rain delay between the second and third innings. Nashville lost to the All-Stars 7-6 when future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (Chattanooga), doubled in the ninth inning and scored the tie breaking run on a single by Jim McManus.
Vols third baseman, Tommy Brown, was 3-for-5 scoring two runs and belting a home run over the left field fence. Nashville skipper Dick Sisler used four pitchers that gave up 16 hits. The All-Stars, which never trailed, used five pitchers allowing the Vols just seven hits for the night.
Exactly 30 years later, on July 12, 1979, Nashville's Herschel Greer Stadium hosted the game between the Southern League All-Stars and the Atlanta Braves. Duane Walker of the Nashville Sounds earned MVP honors as the All-Stars beat Atlanta, 5-2. Appearing for the Braves were 1978 Rookie of the Year Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, Glenn Hubbard and former David Lipscomb College pitcher Bo McLaughlin.
Other All-Star participates were Tim Raines of Memphis, Joe Charboneau of Chattanooga and Dan Heep of Columbus. Also representing the Sounds were Dave Van Gorder, Geoff Combe and Paul Householder.
Triple-A minor league baseball held a joint All-Star game in Nashville's Greer Stadium on July 13, 1994. All-Star players within the American Association, International and Pacific Coast Leagues were divided between their National and American League affiliates. The Nashville Sounds were affiliated with the Chicago White Sox at this time. The Nationals beat the Americans, 8-5 in front of 11,000 fans.
If you have any comments or suggestions you can contact Bill Traughber via email at [email protected].
Traughber was recently honored with a pair of awards by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) at its 2010 convention. He was named 2nd place "Best Feature Writer" in the Division III class for his "Looking Back" features on the Nashville Sounds website and captured 2nd place "Writer Of The Year" honors in the Division III class for his work on the Vanderbilt University Athletic website.
Congratulations Bill on these outstanding achievements!