1944 All-Star Game

For baseball, 1944 was the darkest of the war years, with most of the game's star players scattered around the globe serving their country. This game was the widest victory margin to date for an All-Star Game and the National League's four-run fifth inning was their biggest one-inning outing.

One highlight from this otherwise mediocre exhibition was the unusual pitching techniques of Rip Sewell. He had won twenty-one games that year using his special "eephus" pitch that had become a fan favorite. This curious delivery resulted in a parachute pitch that lobbed on a high arc and could be dropped over the plate with uncanny control. He made the crowd roar when he floated two of these rainbows to George McQuinn in the eighth. After the game, Sewell was asked to explain why the pitch was called an "eephus". He replied "An eephus ain't nothing. And that's what that pitch is... nothing." His style still remains as one of the most original and unorthodox approaches ever to come from a pitcher's mound.