Baseball All-Star Game

The 78th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be played in San Francisco on July 10, 2007 at AT&T Park. Perhaps you might wish to read about the first time San Francisco hosted the All-Star Game in 1961 at Candlestick Park.

The Magazines and Newspapers Center has the San Francisco Chronicle Index, 1950-1980 on microfiche. In the index, under the topic “Baseball, Major League – All-star Game…," you will find citations to San Francisco Chronicle articles on July 11, 1961 (day of the game) and on July 12. The Center has a complete set of the San Francisco Chronicle on microfilm.

The Chronicle Sporting Green headline for July 11, 1961 announced “Ford and Spahn to Start Today In ‘Dream Game’ at Candlestick." Additional articles, “Ol’ Casey Banquet Hit” and Art Rosenbaum’s “Why the All-Star Players Really Care," provided even more pregame color for the event.

The San Francisco Chronicle front page headline for July 12, 1961 stated with chagrin “How Wind Conquered Mighty All-Stars." The front page of the Chronicle Sporting Green for the same day continued the feeling with the headline “The Wind Howled and Stars Cried."

The Chronicle Sporting Green recapped the game in a July 12 article “Mays’ Hit Ties It, Run Clinches It” by Bill Leiser. The opening sentence poetically described the end of the game: “Sharp, sudden, crackling hits by Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente gave the National League a 5-4, 10-inning victory over the American League in the 30th All-Star Game yesterday after the contest had all but exploded in struggling Stu Miller’s face.”

Photograph of Candlestick Park courtesy of San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.