On July 23, 1956, Joe Cronin and Hank Greenberg are inducted into the Hall of Fame during the annual ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. Joe Cronin was the American League’s All-Star shortstop seven times and its MVP in 1930 when he hit .346 with 126 RBIs. The jovial, square-jawed Irishman possessed the determination and toughness…
In a 13 – 6 defeat to the Cardinals, Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese becomes one of five active players to collect 2,000 hits and teammate Junior Gilliam sets a major league record by handling 12 assists at second base.
Boston Red Sox lefty Mel Parnell pitches a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park, winning 4 – 0. It is only Parnell’s third win against two losses and is the sixth straight loss for second-place Chicago. The no-hitter is the first for the Red Sox since 1923. Parnell will go 4-4 before a torn muscle in his pitching arm ends his career as the Red Sox’s winningest southpaw.
The White Sox purchase Cardinal relief pitcher Ellis Kinder.
In the 1956 All-Star Game, Ken Boyer of the Cardinals makes three sparkling plays at 3B and gets 3 hits as the National League defeats the American League, 7 – 3. Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Stan Musial all homer. Mays’s pinch-hit two-run home run off Whitey Ford is his 7th straight hit against the Yankee lefty.
Jim Busby hits his second grand slam in consecutive days to beat the A’s, 4-2. Yesterday, in a 13-7 loss to Detroit, the Indians’ outfielder hit his bases-loaded home run off winner Frank Lary in the first inning.
On June 20, 1956 – At Detroit’s Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle poles two Billy Hoeft pitches into the right CF bleachers, something no other player had done since the bleachers were built in the late 1930s. New York wins, 7 – 4.
Joe Adcock’s ninth-inning home run off Brooklyn right-hander Ed Roebuck, his second round-tripper of the game, proves to be the game-winner in the Braves’ 5-4 victory over the Dodgers. The blast to left field, which clears an 83-foot wall at the 350-foot mark, is believed to the only homer ever to land on the roof at Ebbets Field.
1956 – The Cards pick up relief P Jim Konstanty‚ who was released by the Yankees.
In the second game of a doubleheader at Busch Stadium, future Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn records the lone 5-hit game of his career in a 9-3 win by the 1956 Phillies over the 1956 Cardinals. “Whitey” had two doubles and three singles, and scored three runs to key the Fightin’ Phils victory.
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