1952 NPB All-Star Game

There were two 1952 NPB All-Star Games and the Pacific League won once while the other one was a tie.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 3 at Nishinomiya Stadium in front of 32,167 fans. The CL took the lead with four straight singles in the 4th inning, and the PL tied it with Kazuo Kageyama's 2-run shot in the 6th inning. Then both sides were silent for the next 15 innings until it was too dark to play. This was the longest All-Star Game ever, and the record would never broken due to a change of rule. Shigeru Sugishita, Takumi Otomo and Masaichi Kaneda all recorded 5 strikeouts.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	R	H	E
Central	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	2
Pacific	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	0

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Wally Yonamine, LF (Yomiuri Giants)
2. Shigeru Chiba, 2B (Yomiuri)
3. Yoshiyuki Iwamoto, RF (Taiyo Whales)
4. Tetsuharu Kawakami, 1B (Yomiuri)
5. Fumio Fujimura, 3B (Osaka Tigers)
6. Noboru Aota, CF (Yomiuri)
7. Saburo Hirai, SS (Yomiuri)
8. Akira Noguchi, C (Nagoya Dragons)
9. Takehiko Bessho, P (Yomiuri)

Backups used

• Yasuo Kusunoki, C (Yomiuri)
• Michio Nishizawa, PH (Nagoya)
• Tokuzo Harada, CF (Nagoya)
• Yuko Minamimura, PH (Yomiuri)
• Jun Hirota, PH (Yomiuri)
• Choei Shirasaka, 2B (Osaka)
• Masaichi Kaneda, P (Kokutetsu Swallows)
• Shigeru Sugishita, P (Nagoya)
• Takao Fujimura, P (Osaka)
• Takumi Otomo, P (Yomiuri)
• Tadayoshi Kajioka, P (Kokutetsu)
• Kiyoshi Matsuda, P (Yomiuri)

Manager

• Shigeru Mizuhara

Coaches

• Kenjiro Matsuki
• Tokuro Konishi

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuo Kageyama, 3B (Nankai Hawks)
2. Kazuto Tsuruoka, 2B (Nankai)
3. Kaoru Betto, CF (Mainichi Orions)
4. Hiroshi Ohshita, LF (Nishitetsu Lions)
5. Shigeya Iijima, RF (Daiei Stars)
6. Tokuji Iida, 1B (Nankai)
7. Takeshi Doigaki, C (Mainichi)
8. Susumu Yuki, P (Nankai)
9. Chusuke Kizuka, SS (Nankai)

Backups Used

• John Britton, PH (Hankyu Braves)
• Kazuo Horii, LF (Nankai)
• Junji Nakatani, PH (Hankyu)
• Yasuya Hondo, 2B (Mainichi)
• Takuzo Miyake, RF (Mainichi)
• Jimmie Newberry, P (Hankyu)
• Takeshi Nomura, P (Mainichi)
• Tokuji Kawasaki, P (Nishitetsu)
• Giichi Hayashi, P (Daiei)
• Toshihide Yamane, P (Mainichi)
• Toshinobu Sueyoshi, P (Mainichi)
• Victor Starffin, P (Daiei)

Manager

• Kazuto Tsuruoka

Coaches

• Yoshio Yuasa
• Sadayoshi Fujimoto

Umpires

• Nobuaki Nidegawa (Home), Hidenosuke Shima (1B), Saburo Yokozawa (2B), Shiro Tsuda (3B), Fujio Ueda (LF), Susumu Tsutsui (RF)

Game 2

Game 2 took place a day later at Korakuen Stadium, with an attendance of 36,418. The PL's Shigeya Iijima was 3-for-4 with a 3-run homer to win the MVP, and Kageyama was 2-for-2 while drawing 3 walks. Their pitchers also did their work well, as they shut out the CL for 8 innings and struck out 2. Only Tetsuharu Kawakami's RBI single in the 9th inning prevented a shutout.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	4	0	0	0	3	0	1	8	14	2
Central	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	0

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kageyama, 3B
2. Tsuruoka, 2B
3. Betto, CF
4. Ohshita, LF
5. Iijima, RF
6. Iida, 1B
7. Doigaki, C
8. Yuki, P
9. Kizuka, SS

Backups used

• Honda, 2B
• Horii, LF
• Miyake, RF
• Nakatani, PH
• Britton, PH
• Kawasaki, P
• Nomura, P
• Yamane, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yonamine, LF
2. Chiba, 2B
3. Iwamoto, RF
4. Kawakami, 1B
5. Fujimura, 3B
6. Aota, CF
7. Hirai, SS
8. Noguchi, C
9. Bessho, P

Backups used

• Nishizawa, PH
• Harada, CF
• Shirasaka, SS
• Kusunoki, C
• Minamimura, PH
• Hirota, PH
• Kaneda, P
• Sugishita, P
• Otomo, P
• Hiroyoshi Takano, P (Taiyo)

Umpires

• Shima (Home), Yokozawa (1B), Tsuda (2B), Nidegawa (3B), Tsutsui (LF), Ueda (RF)

Players did not play

• Nobuo Oshima, P (Nagoya)
• Haruyasu Eto, P (Nankai)
• Masumi Isegawa, C (Daiei)
• Keizo Tsutsui, C (Nankai)
• Satoshi Sugiyama, OF (Nagoya)
• Hideo Fujimoto, P (Yomiuri)
• Hiroshi Nakahara, P (Nankai)

Sources

• NPB.com box
• Japanese Wikipedia