A curly W for the NL

by Phil Wood

Matt Capps earning the victory in last night's All-Star Game in Anaheim rekindled memories of another Washington pitcher who earned a victory in the game 56 years ago - without retiring a hitter. In fact, he never threw a pitch.

The 1954 All-Star Game was played in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. Starting pitchers were Phillies' right-hander Robin Roberts and New York lefty Whitey Ford.

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The AL scored four times in the bottom of the third, but that was trumped by a five-run National League fourth. The AL took an 8-7 lead in the sixth on a Bobby Avila (Indians) RBI single, but the NL scored twice in the eighth on a Gus Bell home run with Willie Mays on base to go up 9-8.

Here's where it gets interesting: After the Bell homer, Red Schoendienst reached on a fielding error by Minnie Minoso, who had moved from left to right field. Alvin Dark then singled, moving the redhead to third. At this point, AL manager Casey Stengel brought in Washington left-hander Dean Stone to face Brooklyn's Duke Snider with two out.

Before Stone could deliver a pitch, Schoendienst attempted to steal home. Stone stepped off the rubber, threw to catcher Yogi Berra who applied the tag for the third out. The NL argued that Stone had balked, but the call stood.

In the bottom of the eighth inning the AL rallied for 3 runs on a pinch hit home run by Larry Doby (batting for Dean Stone), and a two-run single by Nellie Fox. The two-run lead held up, as the final score was 11-9. Stone was the pitcher of record when the AL took the lead, and got the win - despite not actually throwing a pitch.

Fourteen future Hall of Famers played in that 1954 contest. I doubt we'll see quite that many come out of last night's game, but you never say never. Nonetheless, Matt Capps joins a pretty exclusive club with a victory in a Washington uniform. Only he, Stone and Dutch Leonard in 1943, came out of the game with a W.