The 1966 Midsummer Classic was played on July 12, 1966 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. But the top story of the 1966 All-Star Game had nothing to do with baseball. It was the blistering one hundred five-degree game time temperature. Spectators in St. Louis’ Stadium were passing out in the stands and smelling salts and oxygen were required in the dugouts. The game was a pitching clinic as both squads barely managed to speak a run each across the plate as the game went through nine innings. Despite these intense conditions, the game went on as scheduled, although no one wanted to spend much time on the field. This was the first All Star Game ever to be played at the Brand new Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Denny McLain pitched three perfect innings during this game and both he and Jim Kaat would finish the 1966 season with at least twenty wins each.The American League took a 1-0 lead against Sandy Koufax in the second when Brooks Robinson hit a one–out liner to left and wound up with a triple when Hank Aaron let the ball slip past him. Robinson scored a few moments later on a wild pitch.

The national League tied it against Jim Kaat in the fourth on singles by Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente and Ron Santo. Over the next five innings the National League’s Jim Bunning, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry matched the American League’s Kaat, Mel Stottlemyre and Sonny Siebert. As the game went on into extra innings, in the bottom of the tenth, with Baltimore’s Pete Richert on the hill, Maury Wills of the Dodgers singled to bring home Cards catcher Tim McCarver with the winning run. Some joked that Maury Wills had saved many lives by holding the hundred degree game to only ten innings. Brooks Robinson who played for the American League received the Most Valuable Player Award. The game was played “out-of-turn” because the city of St. Louis was celebrating their bicentennial and the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium. This was the fourth Midsummer Classic to gointo extra innings. The first three were: the 1950 All Star Game [14 innings], the 1955 All-Star Game [12 innings], and the 1961 All-Star Game [10 innings]. Sources vary by adegree up or down, but one thing is certain the temperature at game time was over 104 degrees Fahrenheit on the playing field.