The All Star Game

NL Stars and the opposing Port Ruppert Mundys line up on the base lines.

My 1956 NL replay has reached the All-Star break! 

Standings at the break:

MIL  49-29  ---
BRK  47-31  2
STL  45-35  5
CIN  42-37  7.5
PHI  39-40  10.5
NY  35-44  14.5
CHI  31-49  19
PIT  29-52  21.5 

Come hear Uncle John's Band...

And now, without further fanfare...or, all right, WITH further fanfare, here are your 1956 National League replay All Stars:

P-Newcombe,brk  12-3  1.96
Craig,brk  10-6  2.72
Spahn,mil  11-7  1.77
Burdette,mil  11-2  1.54
Conley,mil  10-4  2.17
Dickson,stl  11-3  2.24
Grissom,ny  2-2  1.69
Freeman,cin  1-1  0.90

C-Bailey,cin  17,46,.306
Smith,stl  5,47,.363
Lopata,phi  12,48,.243

1B-Adcock,mil  27,60,.304
Musial,stl  11,52,.292
Hodges,brk  13,54,.288

2B-Gilliam,brk  1,24,.262
Schoendienst,ny  1,17,.276

3B-Boyer,stl  8,50,.299
Mathews,mil  13,49,.260

SS-Banks,chi  10,44,.268
McMillan,cin  5,35,.285

OF-Snider,brk  20,61,.280
F.Robinson,cin  20,42,.293
Mays,ny  18,46,.295
Aaron,mil  9,40,.292
Moon,stl  10,40,.302
Walls,pit  8,40,.263

Fenway eat your heart out.

And now, meet the Port Ruppert Mundys. The Mundys are from the soon-to-be defunct Patriot League. Their home park was dismantled for war materials, and so today's game is being held at Griffith Stadium, Washington DC. The Mundys are considered the home team, even though they're homeless. All players are original to Philip Roth's "The Great American Novel" except where noted.

King Kelley, looking a lot like Ray Milland.

P--Vernon "King" Kelly (STL) His pitches seem to magically avoid anything made of wood...like bats.

Henry Wiggen (NY Mammoths) Wiggen is the star pitcher of the New York Mammoths in the movie (and novel) "Bang The Drum Slowly." He has had his contract tied to that of catcher Bruce Pearson.

Gil "Sidewinder" Gamish. The player-manager recently returned from Russia where he had been serving out his suspension for intentionally throwing at an umpire. The only Babylonian-American ever to play in the majors.

Chico Mecoatl. A Mexican League reject picked up by the Mundys.

Methuselah "Pops" Jerrasick. (FA) Oldest player on the team. Fastball tops out at 75.

Art Ritus (FA) Sore-armed free agent signing. Went 23-4 as a rookie, 2-17 in the five years since.

Gog and Magog. A relief tandem.

Blaise "Kerosene" Incendiari. (FA) The Mundys' closer, though he has been ineffective. Rumored to have mob ties.

C-"Hothead" Ptah. The peg-legged catcher.

Bruce Pearson. (NY Mammoths) A journeyman catcher, Bruce is dying but only Henry Wiggen knows it.

Piney Woods. (NY Mammoths) Piney is a rookie phenom who can't figure out why they don't give him Pearson's playing time.

1B-John Baal. "The Babe Ruth of the Big House" led the Correctional League in home runs while serving time at Sing Sing. Claims never to have hit a home run sober. 

2B-Nickname Damur. The team's 14 year old second sacker. He was the only one on the team with no nickname, and so...

3B-Wayne "Kid" Heket. 52 years old and still holding on.

SS- Frenchy "Unlucky" Asterte.  French Canadian reject from the Japanese League.

UT- Jesus "Taco" Martinez. (FA) The obligatory Latin shortstop/pinch runner.

OF--Roy "The Natural" Hobbs. (New York Knights) You know who he is.

Roland Agni. 19 year old rookie sensation. He suspects something is fishy with the Mundys. Watch your back, Roland.

Mike "The Ghost" Rama. Fastest runner on the team. Center fielder.

"Lonesome" Luke. Loves triples.

Bud Parusha. The team's one-armed reserve flyhawk.

All players on both teams are wearing a "DR" arm patch in honor of Universal Baseball Association star Damon Rutherford, tragically killed by a pitched ball in Season 56.

Play ball!

THE GAME.

1st inning: Wiggen stops the NL on 1 hit, a single by Gilliam. Burdette allows only a 2-out walk to Roland Agni. 0-0.

2nd inning: Adcock greets Wiggen with a triple. Boyer fans, but Banks singles in Adcock. 1-0 NL. John Baal leads off the home half with a booming home run, then weaves uncertainly around the bases. 1-1.

3rd inning: The NL adds another off of Wiggen when Adcock singles in Gilliam. Mundys down in order. 2-1 NL.

4th inning: Wiggen gives up a lead-off double to Banks, followed by a walk to Ed Bailey. Stan Musial pinch hits for Burdette and slams a three run jack to chase Wiggen and make it a 5-1 game. Gilliam collects his third hit, steals second, and scores on a single by Mays. A lead-off HR by Agni gets one back for the Mundys. 6-2 NL.

5th inning: Gog on the mound for Port Ruppert. The NL stars plate 6 runs, capped by a grand slam off the bat of Duke Snider. Magog comes on to retire pinch hitter Lee Walls. 12-2 NL.

6th inning: King Kelly retires the NL in order. Newcombe is victimized by a Gilliam error and two sac flies. 12-4 NL.

7th inning: No scoring

8th inning: No scoring

9th inning: Kelley completes four perfect innings of relief. Lonesome Luke leads off the bottom of the 9th with a pinch-hit triple (of course!). Two batters later, he scores when Grissom allows a sac fly off the bat of Nickname Damur. Final score: NL Stars 12, Port Ruppert Mundys 5.

NL  011 460 000--12 13 1
PR  010 102 001---5  7  0

Robinson, LF  4 1 1 0
Gilliam, 2B  3 3 3 0
Mays, CF  4 1 1 2
Snider,RF  4 1 1 4
Adcock,1B  3 1 2 1
Boyer, 3B  3 0 0 0
Banks, SS  5 2 3 1 
Bailey, C  4 1 0 0
Burdette, P  1 0 0 0
Musial, ph, 1B  3 2 2 4
Walls, ph  1 0 0 0
Moon, LF  1 0 0 0
Mathews, 3B  2 0 0 0
S'dienst, 2B  1 0 0 0
Aaron, ph  1 0 0 0

E-Gilliam 2B-Banks 2 3B-Adcock HR-Musial, Snider SB-Gilliam

Burdette (W) 3ip, 1h, 1r, 1er, 0 k, 1 w
Dickson  1ip, 3h, 1r 1er, 0 k, 0 w
Newcombe  2ip, 1h, 2r, 0er, 2 k, 2 w
Freeman  1ip, 1h, 0r, 0er, 0 k, 1 w
Grissom  2ip, 1h, 1r, 1er, 0 k, 0 w


Rama, CF  4 0 0 0
Damur, 2B  4 0 1 1
Agni, LF  4 1 1 1 
Hobbs, RF  3 1 0 0
Baal,1B  4 2 3 1 
Heket, 3B  4 0 1 0
Asterte, SS  3 0 0 1
Ptah, C  2 0 0 1
Wiggen, P  1 0 0 0
Woods, ph  1 0 0 0
Kelley, P  1 0 0 0
Luke, ph  1 1 1 0

3B-Luke  HR-Baal, Agni  GIDP-Asterte  SF-Asterte, Ptah, Damur

Wiggen (L)  3+ip, 7h, 5r, 5er, 2 k, 2 w
Gog  1.2ip, 6h, 7r, 7er, 0 k, 2 w
Magog  0.1ip, 0h, 0r, 0er, 0 k, 0 w
Kelley  4ip, 0h, 0r, 0er, 2 k, 0 w

This was a lot of fun.