A lot had happened in Milwaukee baseball history between 1955, when Stan Musial ended the game with a 12th inning homer, and 1975, when the All Stars assembled again at County Stadium.
The Braves' Miracle Years had come and gone, producing one World Championship in 1957, a second World Series in 1958, and record attendance seasons in the mid-'50s.
Those years had given way to decline, in the caliber of baseball played by the Braves and in attendance. The climax of that decline came when the Braves moved to Atlanta, breaking the hearts of thousands of baseball fans in Milwaukee and around Wisconsin.
County Stadium sat empty of major league baseball for five seasons. The Green Bay Packers continued to play there, and a variety of other events were staged. But, the stadium was a lonely place without the sport it was built for.
Thanks to the efforts of a group headed by Bud Selig, baseball returned to Milwaukee in 1970, when the Seattle Pilots were purchased out of bankruptcy and transformed within days into the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Brewers played in the American League, so the home field advantage had switched to the other league, even though the game was played in the same stadium as the 1955 game.
In many ways, the 1975 game symbolized the rising of Milwaukee from the ashes as a baseball town, and added legitimacy to the still young Brewers' organization.
While Milwaukee was now an American League town, the National League continued its streak of wins with a 6-3 decision. It was the Nationals 12th win in the last 13 games.
Two stars of the show got big billings before the contest. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a guest of then baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, threw out the first ball.
Henry Aaron, now a Brewer and in the twilight of his career, made his 24th and final All Star appearance, tying him with Willie Mays and Musial for the all-time record for games played. Aaron lined out to shortstop as a pinch-hitter in the second inning.
"I remember the Milwaukee fans gave me a great ovation," Aaron said. "It was just another example of how well I was treated my whole career in Milwaukee."
Musial and Mickey Mantle, who had hit a tape measure homer in the 1955 game, served as honorary captains of the National and American League teams respectively. It was an especially appreciated honor for Musial, whose homer had won the '55 game.
The game produced 23 base hits, including three homers, four stolen bases, two hit batters, a couple errors and a variety of other action. It wasn't the cleanest played All Star Game ever, but it delivered enough action to entertain a sellout crowd.
Vida Blue, the ace of the Oakland A's staff, started the game. The A's had won the 1974 American League championship and were developing into the dominant force in baseball.
But, the Nationals roughed up Blue early, with two runs on five hits in two innings. Pete Rose of the Reds led off the first inning with a single. Steve Garvey and Jim Wynn, both of the Dodgers, put the NL up 2-0, with back-to-back homers off Blue to start the second inning.
The Nationals took a 3-0 lead with a run that Lou Brock of the Cardinals stole from the Royals' pitcher Steve Busby, who relieved Blue in the third inning.
Brock, the only NL starter other than the pitcher not from the Reds or Dodgers, singled, went to second base when a nervous Busby balked, stole third base and waltzed home on the Reds' Johnny Bench's single.
Jerry Reuss of the Pirates and Don Sutton of the Dodgers combined to shut out the AL for the first five innings, but the Americans tied the score, 3-3, with three runs off the Mets' Tom Seaver in the sixth.
Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox took Seaver deep with two runners on base to tie it 3-3.
The Mets' John Matlack relieved his teammate Seaver and shut out the Americans the rest of the way. A guy with a similar sounding name, Bill Madlock of the Cubs, would surface as a hero too for the NL.
{INSERT_RELATED}In the top of the ninth, Reggie Smith of the Cardinals and Al Oliver of the Pirates singled off the A's Jim "Catfish" Hunter to put runners on first and third. Rich Gossage of the White Sox relieved Hunter and plunked Larry Bowa with a pitch to load the bases.
Madlock singled home Smith. Bowa went to third base and scored on Rose's sacrifice fly for a 6-3 NL lead.
Randy Jones pitched the bottom of the ninth inning for the Nationals and retired the AL in order to earn the save. Matlack got the win and shared MVP honors with Madlock. It marked the first time in All Star history that two players shared the MVP award.
Rose and Garvey led NL hitters with two hits each. Bert Campaneris, the shortstop of the A's, was the only AL hitter with two hits.
In addition to Aaron, George "The Boomer" Scott appeared in the Game as a Brewers' representative. Scott went 0 for 2 and recorded five putouts as a reserve at first base.
Rod Carew, who later would serve as the Brewers' hitting coach under former manager Davey Lopes, started at second base for the Americans and went 1 for 5.
The 1975 All Star Game helped build fans' interest during a long building period for the Brewers. Shortly after the '75 season, Harry Dalton became general manager of the ballclub and started building what would be the only Brewers' pennant winner to date.
Gregg Hoffmann is a veteran journalist and author of "Down in the Valley: The History of Milwaukee County Stadium." Hoffmann also is the prime author of "Milwaukee's Mid-summer Dream," from which this story was adapted. That book is available via OnMilwaukee.com and the Milwaukee Brewers. Look for the fourth All Star edition of BCR Thursday.
