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

The second 1948 East-West Game marked the last time that two East-West Games were played. It also marked a win for the East, which snapped a four-game losing skid. 17,928 fans showed up at Yankee Stadium to watch the game, which was played on August 24, 1948.

While the Negro Leagues were dying off attendance-wise, plenty of top talent was still left at this point. 13 of the 31 players in this East-West Game would appear in the majors during their careers, a record. The major leaguers were Luis Márquez, Minnie Miñoso, Luke Easter, George Crowe, Junior Gilliam and Joe Black of the East and Artie Wilson, Willard Brown, Bob Boyd, Webbo Clarke, Roberto Vargas, Sam Hairston and Quincy Trouppe of the West. As some of the others here might have had a chance if integration had taken place earlier, we have a sense of what portion of players in prior East-West Games could have been major leaguers if there had not been a color barrier in baseball in the 1930s or early 1940s.

Max Manning (for the East) and Clarke (for the West) traded goose eggs for a couple innings. In the third, the West got its only run. Sam Hill drew a walk from Manning and stole second. He advanced on a grounder by Clarke and then scored on a Wilson single. In the bottom of the third, the East got the lead for good against Clarke. Frank Austin singled, then Bill Cash hit into a force. After pinch-hitter Marvin Barker fanned, Márquez hit a homer to shallow right, only 330' away, for a 2-1 lead. Miñoso doubled then came home on a hit by Lester Lockett.

In the fourth, Crowe rapped a single off reliever Jim Cohen. Austin hit into an error by Herb Souell and Cash singled to load the bags. Dave Barnhill grounded in a run to make it 4-1. Things were quiet until the 8th, when Crowe and Austin singled and León Kellman made an error to give the East its final 6-1 margin of victory.

Big stars for the East were Miñoso (2 for 2, 2 2B, R) and Crowe (2 for 4, 2 R) while Márquez was 0 for 4 outside of his big 2-run shot. Barnhill and Joe Black each pitched 3 shutout innings of two-hit ball, while Manning allowed one hit and one run in his three innings for the victory. Black got the save. The only lowlight for the East was cleanup man Easter, who went 0 for 4.

For the West, Wilson was 3 for 4 with a RBI, getting over half of their hits (the other two came from Jose Colas and Willie Grace). Piper Davis, the #3 hitter, was 0 for 4, while Souell, Brown and Boyd all were 0 for 3, Souell adding an error. Clarke gave up 3 runs in 3 innings and their only pitcher to escape unscathed was Roberto Vargas, who worked a hitless 6th inning but walked one.

The crowd had a silent tribute to Yankee Stadium legend Babe Ruth, who had just died eight days prior.