June 28, 1957: Frick Removes Members of the Redlegs From The All Star Game

On June 28, 1957, Ford C. Frick made an unprecedented move by removing three Cincinnati Redlegs from the starting lineup of the All Star game that was to be held in St. Louis. His reason for removing the players was the fans in Cincinnati had stuffed the ballot box so effectively that 8 of the 9 starters were projected to be from the Cincinnati club. The players removed were Cincinnati's first baseman George Crow as well as outfielders Gus Bell and Wally Moon, they were replaced by Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals, Willie Mays of the New York Giants, and Henry Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves. The avalanche of votes out of Cincy had come from the Cincinnati Times-Star as well as local radio and television stations that had dropped 500,000 votes into the commissioners lap just before the voting deadline came to an end. When you think about it now days, it's pretty funny, especially since they encourage the stuffing of the ballot box.

Here is a link to a story that was in the newspaper the day after Frick made his decision: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19570629&id=Vg5SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NXYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6639,6249892