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The 1959 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 26th edition of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues composing Major League Baseball.
[3] [4] This was the second of two All-Star Games played in 1959, the first was on Tuesday, July 7, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also an NL city. [5] [6] The first Midsummer Classic held on the West Coast, [2] it was also the first of only two All-Star Games not played in July; the other was in 1981 following a lengthy players' strike.
The 1959 Major League Baseball All-Star Game (second game), a 5–3 victory for the American League over the National League, which was played in Los Angeles. List of sports-related pages with the same or similar names
A second game was played for four seasons, from 1959 through 1962. The All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award was introduced in 1962 and the first recipient was Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2008 game featured the longest All-Star Game by time: 4 hours 50 minutes, and tied for innings at 15 with the 1967 game.
August 3 – At the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the American League defeats the National League 5–3 in the second All-Star Game of 1959. The Junior Circuit is powered by home runs from Frank Malzone, Yogi Berra and Rocky Colavito, while Frank Robinson and Jim Gilliam homer for the Nationals. The winning pitcher is 20-year-old Jerry Walker.
Between the lack of fan input and over-exposure due to the double All-Star games in 1959–1962, interest in the game was thought to be waning. As part of the rise of the MLB Promotion Corporation's attempts to modernize marketing of baseball, fan balloting for the starting eight was restored for the 1970 game.
MLB played two All-Star Games in 1959. Five Braves and two Dodgers were named to the first while six Braves and four Dodgers played in the second. [51] Five future Hall of Famers were on the Braves roster in 1959 (Aaron, Mathews, Schoendienst, Slaughter, Spahn) while the Dodgers had four (Drysdale, Koufax, Snider, Hodges). [52]
For the first time in professional baseball history, there were two separate All-Star Games played. The first, the 26th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was played on July 7, hosted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the National League winning, 5–1.