El juego final

New York’s venerable Polo Grounds hosts its final baseball game 61 years ago today with the first and only Hispanic American all-star game held in the United States.

The game features six future Hall of Famers in Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Luis Aparicio, Tony Oliva and Minnie Minoso.

Historians note the National League players win 5-2 with the American League scoring both of its runs in the ninth inning.

Oliva has two of the American League’s seven hits, while Tony Gonzalez and Julian Javier each collects two of the National League’s nine hits.

Manny Mota

“It was a question of prestige and pride, because we were representing our countries,” Manny Mota, the Dominican-born outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates later tells the New York Daily News.

“It was a rare event and all the players had a grand passion for this game, because they knew what it signified for us and Latino fans,” Mota says. “We were all together for the first time and, as it turned out, the last time.”

The Saturday afternoon game attracts only 14,235 fans to a soon-to-be-razed stadium that holds 56,000. The payday is not all that great, either, as each player reportedly receives only $175 for participating.

“We didn’t make a lot of money back then,” Marichal later says with a laugh, “so whatever it was, it helped.”