Game Eight in our series of classic baseball match-ups sees the 1933 Major League All-Stars taking on the 1933 Negro League All-Stars at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
Before listening to the broadcast, here are some things to know.
Comiskey Park
Charles Comiskey was the owner of the Chicago White
Sox.
In the early 1900s, his team was winning a lot of
games.
The White Sox were very popular.
So, Comiskey decided that the time was right to build
a bigger & better home for his team.
Construction on the new ballpark began in March of 1910.
Incredibly, it was ready within months.
The seating capacity of the White Sox new home was
32,000.
On July 1, 1910, Chicago hosted the St. Louis Browns
in the very first game ever played at White Sox Park.
Not long after, the name of the park was changed to
Comiskey Park.
That’s where the White Sox played for the next 80
years.
The park hosted all-star games in 1933, 1950 and 1983.
It was home field for the White Sox in World Series games played in 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1959.
Comiskey Park closed its doors for the final time on
September 30, 1990.
The Teams
Major League Baseball All-Stars
The Great Depression began in October of 1929.
Times were tough.
Very tough.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs.
Money for food, clothing and shelter was hard to come
by.
So, Major League Baseball decided to hold an all-star
game to boost morale.
To try to make people feel a bit better even for just
a short while.
On July 6, 1933, the first all-star game was
played at Comiskey Park.
The very best from the National League clubs squared
off against the top performers from the American League.
Both line-ups were filled with players who would
eventually end up in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The American League won the game 4-2, powered by a
Babe Ruth home run in the third inning of the game.
Approximately 48.000 fans were in attendance that day.
Money made at the ball park that day through ticket, food and souvenir sales was donated to a charity that supported former major
league players who were down on their luck.
Negro League All-Stars
Racism existed in America in 1933.
Plain and simple.
And baseball was no different from the rest of
society.
Which meant that the major leagues were segregated.
In other words, black players were not welcome on
major league teams because of the colour of their skin.
In fact, it would be another 14 years before Jackie
Robinson broke through baseball’s racist colour barrier and joined the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1947.
So, on September 10, 1933 the Negro Leagues held
their very first all-star game, too.
The East-West contest was played at Comiskey Park.
It was billed as "the game of games" by sportswriters
of the time.
The West all-stars came out on top of a high scoring
game, 11-7.
Historians of today refer to the Negro League East-West
all-star games which ran from 1933 until 1953, as a "showcase for black
baseball".
Key Players
Babe Ruth
The New York Yankees slugger is considered to be one
of the greatest players of all time.
He began his major league career as a pitcher with the
Boston Red Sox.
And he was a good one.
In fact, he led the American League with a 1.75 ERA
during the 1916 season.
But he was just too good of a hitter to only play
every fourth or fifth game.
So, by the time he was sold to the Yankees after the
1919 season, Ruth’s pitching days were pretty well over.
During his first 12 years with New York, Ruth led the
league in home runs ten times.
In 1927, the Bambino hit 60 home runs in one season.
That was a record that stood for over 30 years.
Babe Ruth’s 714 career home runs ranks him third on the
all-time list.
Lou Gehrig
One of the greatest hitters of all-time, Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig
was a key player on six World Series winning teams.
His nickname was the Iron Horse.
Why?
Because Gehrig never missed a game, no matter what.
In fact, after starting at first base on June 1, 1925,
Gehrig didn’t come out of the New York line-up until April 30, 1939.
That’s 2,130 consecutive games.
When illness finally forced him out of baseball, the
New York Yankees retired his uniform number 4.
An honour which says that Lou Gehrig’s accomplishments
and courage both on and off the field were unparalleled.
Josh Gibson
Catcher Josh Gibson is considered to be one of the
greatest power hitters to ever play the game of baseball.
Though Negro League records were incomplete, some
estimates have Gibson hitting in excess of 700 home runs during his relatively
short career.
Gibson often played exhibition games against major
league players.
In games where records were kept, Gibson batted .426
against some of the best pitchers the major leagues had to offer.
An unbelievable batting average!
He was also an excellent defensive catcher.
Sadly, Gibson faced a number of health-related
problems and died at the very young age of 35.
He was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1972.
George Suttles
Nicknamed "Mule", George Suttles was a home-run-hitting
machine.
The first baseman used a 50-ounce bat when he came to
the plate.
Fifty ounces!
That’s nearly twice as heavy as what professional
hitters use today.
And when Suttles made contact, watch out!
In a game against the Memphis Red Sox, Suttles hit
three home runs.
That’s three home runs in one inning!
When it was Suttles turn to hit, team-mates and fans
would often yell, “Kick, Mule. Kick!”
He usually obliged.
George "Mule" Suttles was elected to the National
Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Other Nuggets to Know
- Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 years
- Negro League legend Satchel Paige pitched professionally until the age of 59
- Detroit Tiger Charlie Gehringer stole the first base in Major League Baseball’s 1933 All-Star game
- Speedster Cool Papa Bell, the Negro League’s center fielder, learned to bat from the left-hand side of the plate mid-way thru his career so that he’d be a couple of steps closer to the first base bag once he hit the ball
By the Numbers
$1.10 – the average ticket price at the 1933 MLB All-Star Game
$750 – the average ticket price at the 2025 MLB All-Star Game
While You Listen
- See if you can pick out the baseball lingo used to describe a left-handed pitcher
- Discover some of the nicknames used to describe Babe Ruth
- Learn what made manager Connie Mack so unique
After You Listen
- Choose a player from each team and see what you can find out about them
- Visit the Negro League Baseball Museum at www.nlbm.com
- Read We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson
Read Lou Gehrig: Baseball’s Luckiest Man by David A. Adler
Now, grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the game!
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