1948 East-West Game - First Game (Negro League)

The first 1948 East-West Game was held on August 22, 1948 at Comiskey Park. 42,099 fans turned out to watch the 16th East-West Game held in Chicago. The East dropped its fourth straight East-West Game and 7th out of 8th. They again looked badly outclassed, held to just three hits.

After a scoreless first, the West tagged Rufus Lewis for two runs in the bottom of the second. Both Willard Brown and Bob Boyd singled to left, then Neil Robinson also hit a single to left, scoring Brown; a Luke Easter error on the play gave Boyd and Robinson an extra base. After an intentional walk to Quincy Trouppe, Sam Hill grounded home Boyd. The game's only other run came in the 8th when Piper Davis doubled off Bob Griffith, Brown singled and Boyd hit a sacrifice fly.

The East's three hits were a Junior Gilliam single against Bill Powell, a Buck Leonard double that deflected off Boyd's glove at first and an infield hit by Minnie Miñoso against Jim LaMarque. No East player reached third base. They were robbed by a couple fine defensive plays - Davis robbed both Monte Irvin and Louis Louden of hits and Robinson made a catch at the wall to take an extra-base hit away from Miñoso. Luis Márquez was the East's worst hitter at 0 for 4 and Lewis was their worst hurler (2 runs in 3 innings). Their best pitcher was Wilmer Fields, who gave up one hit and no runs from the 4th through the 6th innings.

For the West, both Brown and Boyd got two hits and a run, Boyd also driving in one run. Herb Souell was 0 for 4. On the mound, Powell (1 hit, 1 walk, 2 K in 3 IP), LaMarque (2 hits, 1 K in 3 IP) and Gentry Jessup (no hits, one walk, one K in 3 IP) combined on the shutout of a team boasting five future major league players (Marquez, Easter, Minoso, Gilliam, Irvin) and two [[Hall of Famers (Leonard and Irvin). Willard Brown became the first former major leaguer to play in the East-West Game.