Reflecting on the MLB All-Star Game- Past and Present

[SabresRule]

Major League Baseball's All-Star Game will take place in roughly two weeks from tomorrow at Yankee Stadium, fittingily in its last year (I still can't believe that's actually true).

A week ago, HD MM and I had a mini-discussion on whether the All-Star Game is as grand and as special as it used to be.

We each had a valid point- he brought up how much there is at stake (home-field advantage), while I pointed out that Interleague play watered down the mystique and feeling of old, not to mention the not-as-big-as-they-used-to-be TV ratings.

With this in mind, I ask you these questions:

1. Is the All-Star Game in baseball still as grand and great as it used to be, or do you feel it's no longer that way?

2. What are some of YOUR favorite MLB All-Star Game memories?

3. Do you think the game still resonates the way it did back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s?

4. How does baseball's All-Star Game compare to those in other sports?

 

[BillD1984]

1. Is the All-Star Game in baseball still as grand and great as it used to be, or do you feel it's no longer that way?


Not for me. But I think it has to do with my age more than anything else. I looked forward to that Tuesday night in July as much as Christmas morning....when I was a kid.

2. What are some of YOUR favorite MLB All-Star Game memories?


A. 1983- Fred Lynn of the Angels hits a grand slam in the old Comiskey Park to lead the AL to a win FINALLY over the NL.

B. 1979???- The Pirates Dave Parker's defense in RF saves the game for the NL in Seattle's Kingdome.

C. 1986- Roger Clemens of the Red Sox (Yes, I was a fan of his THEN) dominates the best of the NL in Houston's Astrodome (in the shadows of the Rocket's hometown of Katy, Texas)




3. Do you think the game still resonates the way it did back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s?

No. But again, I think that has more to do with my age more than anything else. I still LOVE it though.

4. How does baseball's All-Star Game compare to those in other sports?


IMO, not even close. Defense is a foreign concept to those other All-Star games. I feel like this what makes those games virtually unwatchable.

 

[SamCdbs]

1 - No. Too many games on TV. In the old days, there really were no games on TV other than Saturday afternoons and Monday nights, and maybe 10-20 Reds games per year in my area. The plethora of games, plus the move of players from league to league, and "interleague" play, have diminished the ASG.

2 - Rose's slide. No body would do that today. What a great player.

3 - No. This is pretty much the same question as #1.

4 - 100000 x better. #2 would be the NHL, when it uses the North America vs. Europe format. Why does not the NHL use this every year, and play in domes? Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Tampa Bay, would be a wonderful rotation. The NBA does not interest me, but that is a personal choice. The Pro Bowl is a joke and a fraud. College football ASGs have declined into nothingness in the last 10 years, for reasons that escape me.

 

[SabresRule]

B. 1979???- The Pirates Dave Parker's defense in RF saves the game for the NL in Seattle's Kingdome.

You actually got the year right. I saw the question marks.

 

[BillD1984]

2 - Rose's slide. No body would do that today. What a great player.

You're right, but poor Ray Fosse. He was never the same after that. But that was Charlie Hustle for you and what a player is right (and not phoney either).

 

[BillD1984]

You actually got the year right. I saw the question marks.

Thanks, I knew it was around then.

 

[Ramy]

1988 When the All-Star game came back to Riverfront Stadium. I wasn't around during the first one in 1970.

 

[mdonnelly]

Think it was 1971 in Detroit, Reggie Jackson had a WonderBoy moment, hitting a ball into the lights 520 feet out.

 

[CopyChief]

1. Is it as grand? Nah, but these days, what is? Some of it is my age, certainly (as another poster has said). Another is that it's so overhyped. The utter ridiculousness of the winner of the game determining the World Series home-field advantage still blows my mind. This is supposed to be a fun diversion, a chance for baseball to exhibit its best and brightest. It's not supposed to count. I guess there's no room for fun anymore.

Honestly, though, I've never found All-Star style games to be all that enthralling, in any sport. Sure, sports are all about talent and such, but beyond that they're also about team chemistry. The all-star games are often not crisply played because these guys aren't used to playing together.

Sure, with so much talent on the field you're bound to have a good play or two, a real example of hustle and some great pitching. But none, even in the best of times, that I've found particularly memorable.


Does the game resonate the way it did in the 50s and 60s? Well, in the broadest sense, no I don't think it does. In a day of 24 hour news and sports coverage, it's early July and some folks are already talking about playoff contenders and who's going to have a fire sale in the second half. The grind of summer is on, and players are more concerned with avoiding injuries than putting on a show for a game that theoretically doesn't count.

On a practical standpoint, it "resonates" or counts more now, because of the whole home field advantage thing in the World Series. Like I said, I just don't agree with the line of reasoning that it should matter beyond an exhibition.

As to other sports -- baseball's All-Star game is still the granddaddy. No other can compare, mostly because of the nature of the sport. From a popularity standpoint, baseball's all-star game will always win, too. It's a matter of timing. There's not a whole lot of competition in the sports/entertainment field in the second week of July.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Think it was 1971 in Detroit, Reggie Jackson had a WonderBoy moment, hitting a ball into the lights 520 feet out.

I was there! Hardest hit ball I ever saw in my life, line drive into the right field light tower. That ball was still rising when it hit the tower. Oddly enough he didn't get credit for clearing the roof, since the ball fell back down to the playing field.