Mississippi-Ohio Valley League 1953

All-Star Game

Decatur 5, All-Stars 2

Decatur, Tuesday, July 14, 1953

The 1953 Mississippi-Ohio Valley League All-Star Game was played at Decatur's Fans Field on July 14, 1953.

An All-Star team selected by an unknown method lost to the league-leading Decatur Commodores by a 5 to 2 score. Bob Appleby notched the win for the Commies, while Pete Hamilton of Mattoon surrendered 5 runs in 2 innings to earn the loss for the Stars. Marty Martinez knocked in two runs for the home team, but wasn't really the star as much of the Decatur offense contributed to the winning effort.

ALL-STARS                   AB R H BI      DECATUR                     AB R H BI
Sonny Hancks (HAN/STN) 2B    3 0 0 0       Gus Chenard (DEC/NA) SS      3 1 1 0
Jim Partin (DAN/CWS) CF      4 1 2 0       Ray Taylor (DEC/NA) 2B       3 0 1 0
Rudy Stanzel (DAN/CWS) 3B    2 0 1 0       Herman Niehaus (DEC/NA) RF   3 1 1 0
 Joe Henry (MV/NA) 3B        1 1 1 0       Andy Smith (DEC/NA) C        2 1 0 1
Don Strichek (MAT/PHN) SS    4 0 0 0        Clarence Hall (DEC/NA) C    1 0 0 0
Alex Sirota (MAT/PHN) C      2 0 1 0       Jim Freeman (DEC/NA) LF      4 1 1 1
 Nick Starasta (MV/NA) C     2 0 0 0       Marty Martinez (DEC/NA) 1B   4 0 1 2
Sam Hunter (MAT/PHN) LF      2 0 0 0       Creed Nance (DEC/NA) CF      4 0 0 0
 Quincy Smith (PAR/NA) RF    2 0 0 0       Gino Valdez (DEC/NA) 3B      3 0 0 0
Kenny Payne (PAR/NA) RF-LF   3 0 1 0       Bob Appleby (DEC/NA) P       2 1 0 0
Bob Oefinger (DAN/CWS) 1B    4 0 0 0
Pete Hamilton (MAT/PHN) P    0 0 0 0
 George Case (PAR/NA) P      1 0 0 0
 Carl Lutz (DAN/CWS) P       0 0 0 0
 Mil Bridges (MV/NA) P       0 0 0 0
 Virl Minnis (DAN/CWS) PH    1 0 0 0
 John Wills (HAN/STN) P      0 0 0 0
 TOTALS                     31 2 6 0                                   31 5 5 4

All-Stars         000 000 002 - 2 6 3
Decatur           410 000 00x - 5 5 1

  LOB - All-Stars 6, Decatur 5. E - Partin, Strichek, Hunter, Chenard.
  DP - Decatur 1 (Nance and Taylor). 2B - Freeman. SB - Valdez. 

ALL-STARS        IP H R BB SO
Hamilton (L)    2.0 4 5  4  2
Case            3.0 1 0  0  3
Lutz            1.0 0 0  0  1
Bridges         1.0 0 0  1  2
Wills           1.0 0 0  0  0

DECATUR          IP H R BB SO
Appleby (W)     9.0 6 2  4  3

  WP - Hamilton.

  Umpires - Jim Dale, Carmen Conte, James Walters, Henry D'Agostino,
  Russ Fisher, Joe Daugherty

Time: 2:00.  Attendance: 2,633

Notes, Issues, Sources, and Mysteries

• Based on the game account in the Mattoon Journal-Gazette of July 15, 1953, which included a rather different box score. The July 8 issue of the J-G listed complete rosters for the All-Stars.
• The Stars were managed by Virl Minnis of Danville, Joe Schmidt of Mt. Vernon, and Tince Leonard of Hannibal (three innings apiece). Ray Taylor managed his Commies, with coaching assistance from rival managers Jim Deery of Mattoon and Tom Sunkel of Paris. Since Deery was among the league's best hitters, this likely handicapped the Stars.
• Illinois Governor William Stratton attended the game.
• Everyone selected for the game made an appearance in the lineup.
• No MVP or similar award seems to have been awarded for this game.