Milwaukee, and the entire state of Wisconsin, still enjoyed a honeymoon with baseball, when the 1955 All Star Game came to County Stadium.
The Braves had moved to Milwaukee only two seasons earlier. They were playing well, in front of big crowds.
Interestingly enough, the Braves would have hosted the 1953 All Star Game, had they stayed in Boston. But, when the team moved to Milwaukee in that year, the Braves exchanged places in the All Star rotation with Cincinnati.
So, the '55 game gave Milwaukee fans a chance to show off their new stadium, and their enthusiasm for the game. A sellout crowd of 45,314 eagerly awaited the game.
The fans' excitement grew even more as the start of the game was delayed by a half hour. Officials delayed the start because many of the game's dignitaries had attended the funeral of sportswriter Arch Ward in Chicago that very morning.
Ward, who served as sports editor for the Chicago Tribune, is credited with conceiving of the midsummer classic in 1933.
The game matched the pre-game hype and enthusiasm, as it went down to the last pitch, which Stan Musial hit for a game winning home run in a 6-5 National League win over the American League.
Milwaukee was well represented in the game, with catcher Del Crandall and third baseman Eddie Mathews in the starting lineup, Henry Aaron and Johnny Logan as reserves, and Gene Conley in the bullpen.
Conley ended up getting the win in relief. Aaron and Logan played roles in the Nationals' comeback from a 5-0 deficit.
"It was very exciting," Logan recalled. "We were the new guys in baseball, playing before big crowds. Milwaukee was the best baseball town in those days and wanted to show it."
Philadelphia's Robin Roberts made the fifth All Star start of his career, tying Lefty Gomez for the most among any pitcher at that time. It did not go well. West Allis native Harvey Kuenn, representing the Tigers, singled on the second pitch of the contest.
The Americans scored four times in the first inning, with the Yankees' Mickey Mantle hitting a towering 430-foot homer into Perini's Woods in centerfield for three of the runs.
American League start Billy Pierce of the White Sox held the Nationals scoreless, as did the Indians' Early Wynn. The score remained 4-0 until the top of the sixth when the Americans added to their lead.
Al Kaline smashed a ball off Mathews' wrist at third that went for a double. Mathews was removed from the game after the inning, but X-rays showed no fracture. Kaline made the score 5-0 when he came home on Mickey Vernon's ground out.
The Americans almost scored again in the seventh when Ted Williams launched a long fly to center field, but Willie Mays made a leaping catch above the fence to rob Williams.
The Nationals got on the scoreboard with two in the seventh. Logan singled home Mays with the first run. Aaron, who had walked, scored on Chico Carrasquel's throwing error.
Mays started a game-tying rally in the eighth inning with a single off the Yankees' Whitey Ford. Big Ted Kluzewski of the Reds also singled, and Randy Jackson of the Cubs singled Mays home.
Boston's Frank Sullivan, a 6-7 righthander, relieved Ford and gave up a single to Aaron that scored Big Klu. Jackson also scored on the play when the throw from the outfield got away from the Indians' third baseman Al Rosen and Sullivan failed to back up the bag.
Rosen argued that the throw from the outfield hit Jackson, who had been sliding into third. His protest fell on deaf ears, and the score was tied, 5-5.
It stayed that way for the next three innings. The Americans almost took the lead in the 11th, but Red Schoendienst, then with the Cardinals, made a great play on a grounder by Yogi Berra to get out of the inning.
A great ovation ushered in Conley in the top of the 12th. The gangly righthander, who also played in the NBA, struck out Kaline, Vernon and Rosen and almost brought the house down.
"I was calm until the half inning was over," Conley recalled. "Then, when the cheering started I got so nervous I couldn't even see the crowd."
The crowd still was cheering for Conley when Musial came up to start the bottom of the 12th. The six-time batting champ had not started the game, but manager Leo Durocher got him into the contest early because Musial was poised to set records for All Star games (12) and at-bats (43).
Musial was 0-3 in the game, but the fans had reason for optimism when the lefthanded batter assumed his unorthodox peek-a-boo stance.
Sullivan still was on the mound for the AL. He delivered the first pitch to Musial, who promptly ended the game with a homer into the right field bleachers.
"I wanted to follow him," Conley said later. "I wanted to go out and run with him after he rounded first base."
As Musial crossed the plate, his teammates rushed from the National League dugout. Players in the uniforms of eight different clubs, plus others who had finished playing and had already showered and dressed in street clothes, mobbed Musial.
The mob scene showed that, at least in 1955, the outcome of the All Star Game did matter to players.
Conley got the win. Aaron was one of six players to get to hits in the contest. The Miracle in Milwaukee had a mid-summer classic to add to its growing list of magic moments to remember.
Gregg Hoffmann is a veteran journalist and author of "Down in the Valley: The History of Milwaukee County Stadium." Hoffmann also is the prime author of "Milwaukee's Mid-summer Dream," from which this story was adapted. That book is available via OnMilwaukee.com and the Milwaukee Brewers. The third All Star edition of BCR will run Monday and look at the 1975 game in Milwaukee.
