There was a time in major league history that there were two all-star games played during the season.
From 1959 to 1962, there were a pair of games for four seasons to aid the pension fund for the players.
However, that was not the first time there was more than one contest played. In 1942, the American League won a couple of all-star games with the proceeds going to the war effort.
The AL stars started their endeavor with a 3-1 victory over the National League at the Polo Grounds in New York on July 6. One night later the AL squad beat a team of Service Stars 5-0 in Cleveland coached by Mickey Cochrane, who would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947.
In the opening contest, Cleveland’s Lou Boudreau hit a homer off NL starter Mort Cooper of St. Louis in the first inning. Later in the frame, Rudy York of the Detroit Tigers blasted a two-run shot off Cooper to give the AL all of the runs they would need. Spud Chandler earned the win for the AL with four innings of work.
Mickey Owen of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit what turned out to be his only homer of 1942 when he drilled one in the eighth inning for the only NL tally.
A member of the United States Navy, Cleveland’s Bob Feller was the starting and losing pitcher for the Service Stars in the second affair. Ken Keltner, also of Cleveland, and Buddy Rosar led the AL with two hits each.
The Service Stars managed just six hits with two coming from Ernie Andres, who was in the minor leagues before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Andres eventually make it to the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox in 1946, but he would appear in 15 games with a .098 batting average. He was out of pro baseball by 1947. From 1948 to 1973, Andres was the head baseball coach at Indiana University.
Also an all-conference basketball player while in college at Indiana University, Andres played professionally for a team in Indianapolis. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975.