Baseball at the 1956 Summer Olympics

The game was played on 1 December 1956 from 12:30p.m. at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Due to the field being set up between the running tracks, right field was only , so special ground rules were put in place, stating that a ball hit over the running track on the full will be declared a home run, where one that bounces (or rolls) on or over the track shall be declared a ground rule double. This rule was put in place to stop baseball cleats damaging the track for the events after the baseball. As the visiting team, the Americans batted first, scoring two runs off three hits. Australia did not strike back until the bottom of the second inning, when Chalky White of South Australia hit a solo home run off Vane Sutton. Sutton made up for his error in the top half on the third inning, with a grand slam to send the score out to a commanding 6–1. The Americans again put the pressure on Australia in the fifth inning as two errors led to another two runs to the US, putting them in a comfortable position. The game was eventually called at 2:40p.m., after six completed innings and a final score of 11–5, with the Americans batting first. , was on the U.S. team Very few fans were present at the start of the game, but thousands more had arrived by the sixth inning. ==Game score==

====== Manager: Col. Leonard Weissinger, USAFCoach: SSgt. Walter Koziatek, USAF • 2nd Lt Ken Cochran (C) • PFC Ken Lowe (C) • 1st Lt W. Bruce Holt, (1B) • Lt Floyd Lasser (1B) • PFC Alvin Pfeffer (2B) • Pvt George Zucca (SS) • 2nd Lt John Riley (3B) • 2nd Lt Ben Dolson (UTIL) • SNA Tom Black, (LF) • A2C Jesse Finch (CF) • PFC Richard Griesser (RF) • TSgt Vane Sutton (SP) • CPL Joe Belak (RP) • 1st Lt John Clement (RP) • 1st Lt Anthony Denicole (P - DNP) • SN Joseph Poglajen (P - DNP) • A2C Garethe Methvin (P - DNP) • PFC Rudy Martinez (P - DNP) ====== Manager: Reg Darling • Robert Teasdale (C) • Barry Wappett (C) • Colin Payne (1B) • Ken Smith (2B) • Max Puckett (3B) • Neil Turl (SS) • Norman Tyshing (LF) • Ken Morrison (CF) • Norman White (RF) • Eddie Moule (SP) • Peter Box (RP) • Max Lord (RP) • Ross Straw (P) • Peter McDade • John Langley • Neville Pratt • Trevor Cooke The Australian team included two future members of the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame, Ross Straw (inducted 2005) and Norman White (inducted 2011). American outfielder Dick Greisser was a future Collegiate All-American, and would go on to be inducted into the University of Arizona Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. ==See also==