1950 East-West Game

The 1950 East-West Game was 18th East-West Game held in Comiskey Park. It took place on August 20, 1950, in front of 24,614 fans, almost half the crowd of three years prior, yet another sign of the dying Negro Leagues. The game featured only six future major leaguers, but four of them were pitchers, the most future big leaguers to pitch in an East-West Game. 10 of the 18 innings were pitched by someone who would wind up in The Show.

After a scoreless first, the East went ahead in the second when Jim Gilliam homered off Vibert Clarke with a shot 353' to left field. Gilliam would go down in history as the only player to homer in both an East-West Game and an All-Star Game (1959), an odd feat in that more notable sluggers like Ernie Banks, Roy Campanella and Larry Doby also appeared in both an East-West Game and All-Star Game (Campy not homering in 3 East-West Games or 7 All-Star Games).

In the third, Curley Williams drew a Joe Black walk. Herb Souell bunted down the line but 3B Sherwood Brewer threw the ball away, putting two men in scoring positon. Jesse Douglas then singled to make it 2-1, giving the West the lead. The East tied it in the fourth when Louis Louden singled against Connie Johnson and Ben Littles tripled him home.

An inning later, the West took the lead for good. Alonzo Perry got a two-out single off Raul Galata, then Bob Harvey walked. Art Pennington hit a shot to right which Littles lost in the sun, resulting in a 2-run triple and a 4-2 score. Ed Steele singled in Pennington to bring the West's lead to four.

The last run came in the 7th when the East's Pee Wee Butts drew a walk from Bill Powell, René González singled him to third and Fernando Pedroso cracked a double. Powell recovered to fan both Louden and Gilliam to prevent further damage. In the 9th, three errors by the West loaded the bases but Powell got Louden on a fly-out to end it.

Stars for the East were González (2 for 3), Littles (2 for 3, 2B, RBI), Gilliam (1 for 3, HR) and Jonas Gaines (2 scoreless innings, 3 whiffs). Their worst players were Henry Merchant (0 for 5) and Galata (5 H, 2 BB, 3 R in 2 IP).

For the West, Douglas was the big star, going 3 for 4 with a run, 2 RBI and two steals, while Perry (2 for 3, RBI) and Steele (2 for 3, HBP, RBI) also hit well. All three of their hurlers (Clarke, Johnson and Powell) allowed one run in three innings, with Powell slightly outperforming the two future major leaguers (4 K to 3 for each Clarke and Johnson, 3 H+BB as opposed to 4 by Clarke and 5 by Johnson). Johnny Washington (0 for 2, E) and Leon Kellman (0 for 2, E) were their worst performers.