1939 Baseball All-Star Game Notes Part 2

In the 1939 All-Star Game played at Yankee Stadium, two thirds of the American League starting players were representing the then three time champion, New York Yankees.

Those starters were Joe DiMaggio, George Selkirk, Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe and pitcher Charlie “Red” Ruffing.

Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds were on their way to the first of two consecutive pennants in 1939. They lost in 4 straight games to the Yankees in the ’39 World Series but bounced back to win the franchise’s second title (the other was in 1919, vs a Chicago White Sox team, that allegedly played to lose) in a 7 game World Series vs the Detroit Tigers.

The Reds had 5 of the 9 National League starters in that ’39 “Star” game. The players batting second through fifth, were Lonny Frey, Ival Goodman, Frank McCormick and Ernie Lombardi. Paul Derringer, also a Reds player, was the National League starting pitcher.