The Main Event

  • July 8, 1947 – Phillies pitcher Schoolboy Rowe was the last player on the National League bench in the 1947 All-Star game. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, he was called on to pinch-hit and flew out to end the game. That at bat, however, made him the first player to appear in an All-Star game for both leagues.
  • July 8, 1952 – At the All-Star Game in Philadelphia, Phillies pitcher Curt Simmons gets the start in a 3-2 NL victory. The game was shortened to 5 innings due to rain.

On July 8, 1952, Phillies left-hander Curt Simmons took the mound at Shibe Park to start the 19th All-Star Game, a contest that would end up making history for reasons that had nothing to do with the final score. The National League beat the American League, 3-2, but the game is remembered today as the only Midsummer Classic ever shortened by rain, called after just five innings.

Simmons wasn’t even supposed to be the starter. Robin Roberts, who had pitched the game two years earlier and would again from 1953 through 1955, had thrown just two days prior and wasn’t available. NL manager Leo Durocher informed Simmons of the assignment only when the lefty arrived late to the clubhouse and walked in on a team meeting already reviewing hitters. Rain had already soaked the region that morning, wiping out pregame batting practice, fielding drills, and the usual festivities, and pushing the scheduled 1:30 p.m. first pitch back 20 minutes. None of it seemed to bother Simmons, who worked three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit — a double by Joe DiMaggio — while striking out three, including Yankees slugger Hank Bauer on a fastball opposing players raved about afterward.

Jackie Robinson opened the game with a first-inning solo homer off Yankees starter Vic Raschi, giving the NL an early 1-0 edge. The American League answered with two runs in the top of the fourth on back-to-back singles, but Chicago Cubs slugger Hank Sauer — who would go on to win the NL Most Valuable Player Award that season — restored the lead for good with a two-run homer off Cleveland’s Bob Lemon in the bottom half of the inning. That 3-2 score held when the rain returned, forcing a 56-minute delay in the sixth before umpires called the game for good, with Chicago’s Bob Rush credited as the winning pitcher.

The Phillies weren’t the only local team represented. Bobby Shantz, the diminutive Philadelphia Athletics left-hander who would win the American League MVP Award later that season, entered in the bottom of the fifth and struck out the heart of the National League order — Whitey Lockman, Robinson, and Stan Musial — in succession, needing only 13 pitches to do it. Had the game continued, Shantz had a shot at tying Carl Hubbell‘s 1934 record of five consecutive All-Star strikeouts. Shortstop Granny Hamner also started for the Phillies, while A’s first baseman Ferris Fain and shortstop Eddie Joost rounded out the Philadelphia contingent, though neither saw game action. The 1952 game also marked the first All-Star selections for both Mickey Mantle and 46-year-old Satchel Paige, neither of whom appeared in the contest. Two decades later, in 1972, the Phillies staged an Old-Timers Game billed as the “completion” of the rained-out 1952 classic, resuming play from the sixth inning with several original participants on hand.

Philadelphia’s All-Star history stretches back to 1943.

The 1952 game was actually the second All-Star Game hosted in Philadelphia, both at Shibe Park. The first came on July 13, 1943, when the ballpark — shared by the Phillies and Athletics — hosted the American League as the designated home team, since the two clubs alternated hosting duties. That contest was the first All-Star Game ever scheduled at night, continuing a trend the ballpark had started when it hosted the American League’s first-ever night game back in 1939. World War II had depleted rosters that year, with stars like Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and Pee Wee Reese serving in the military, and the game was broadcast overseas via shortwave radio so American servicemen could tune in. Boston’s Bobby Doerr delivered the decisive blow, a three-run homer in the second inning, powering the AL to a 5-3 win. The A’s had just one representative, first baseman Dick Siebert, who went hitless in his lone at-bat.

Veterans Stadium hosted the next two Philadelphia All-Star Games.

After a 24-year wait, the Midsummer Classic returned to the city in 1976, this time at Veterans Stadium, as part of the nation’s Bicentennial celebration. The Cincinnati Reds dominated that edition, with Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Johnny Bench, and George Foster combining for most of the NL’s offense in a 7-1 win. Foster took home MVP honors after homering and driving in three runs. Phillies slugger Greg Luzinski started in left field for the NL, the leading vote-getter among outfielders that year, a nod to the young Phillies core that would soon win three straight NL East titles.

Twenty years after that, on July 9, 1996, Veterans Stadium hosted the Midsummer Classic a second time, and the story belonged to a hometown player. Norristown native Mike Piazza, then with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was named MVP after driving in two runs on a towering 445-foot home run and a double in front of 62,270 fans, helping the NL to a 6-0 shutout win. The night carried extra local flavor: Phillies Hall of Famers Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton, Richie Ashburn, Mike Schmidt, and Jim Bunning all threw ceremonial first pitches together for the first time. Phillies closer Ricky Bottalico was the club’s lone representative and worked a scoreless inning. The game also marked the final All-Star appearance of St. Louis Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith, who was serenaded with “Oz-zie, Oz-zie” chants when he pinch-hit in the sixth, and it became the only All-Star Game in history in which not a single walk was issued by either pitching staff. Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. even played through a broken nose suffered in a pregame team photo mishap.

The Midsummer Classic makes its Citizens Bank Park debut this month.

Philadelphia’s All-Star drought will end on July 14, 2026, when Citizens Bank Park hosts the game for the first time since the ballpark opened in 2004 — the city’s fifth time hosting overall and its first appearance in the current ballpark era. The game arrives alongside the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations and a full slate of All-Star Week programming, including the Futures Game, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, and the MLB Draft, all held at Citizens Bank Park and the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Five current Phillies were named to this year’s rosters, giving the Phillies faithful plenty to cheer for as the franchise adds another chapter to its long and colorful All-Star history.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for July 8

  • July 8, 1898 – Red Donahue threw the second no-hitter in Phillies history, a 5-0 victory over Boston. He walked two and two Boston batters reached on errors. Ed Delahanty went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases.
  • July 8, 1919 – Gavvy Cravath is named manager after Jack Coombs opts to resign before being fired. Upon hearing the news, the team’s players stage a near mutiny.
  • July 8, 1924 – The Phils play a 26-inning doubleheader against Cincinnati without making an error. They won the first game 3-1 in the 10th inning, but dropped the second in the 16th. Six Phillies played every inning of both games.
  • July 8, 1934 – Euel Moore, the only member of the Chickasaw Nation to appear in the major leagues, pitches the Phillies to a 5-3 victory in his major-league debut.
  • July 8, 1992 – Jeff Grotewold‘s seventh inning pinch-hit home run is his third of the year, a Phillies rookie record. All three came during the same four-game series against San Francisco.
  • July 8, 2007 – During a rain delay in Colorado, a strong wind picks up the infield tarp while the grounds crew is in the process of putting it down, endangering several members of the crew. The entire Phillies bench, and several umpires, go out to assist the crew in getting the tarp under control. The game eventually resumed, with the Phillies winning 8-4 with four home runs.
  • July 8, 2011 – Juan Perez struck out the side on nine pitches in the 10th inning of the Phils’ 3-2 victory over Atlanta, picking up the win. He was the first pitcher to record a nine-pitch, three strikeout inning in extra innings since 1923.

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Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for July 8

  • George Culver (born 1943) – Pitched in 28 games for the 1973 and 1974 Phillies after being selected off of waivers from the Dodgers.
  • Lerrin LaGrow (born 1948) – Known primarily for his time with Detroit and the White Sox, but made 25 relief appearances with a 4.15 ERA with the 1980 Phillies.
  • Josh Harrison (born 1987) – A sixth round pick of the Cubs in the 2008 Draft, spent most of his career with Pittsburgh. His final season in the majors was with the Phillies in 2023.
  • Jose Pena Jr. (born 2003) – A sixth round pick of the Phillies in 2021, Pena has pitched 19 games in relief for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws this season with a 2.59 ERA.

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