Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the "Midsummer Classic" is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by fan vote for the starting position players and by the manager (the managers from the previous year's World Series) for pitchers and reserve players. The All-Star Game usually occurs in early to mid-July and marks the symbolic halfway point in the Major League Baseball (MLB) season (though not the mathematical halfway point; in most seasons, the game actually takes place after about 55% of the season has been completed), and since 2003 it has been used to determine home field advantage for the upcoming World Series (which has been taken clear advantage of by the American League, since the National League hasn't won an All-Star game since 1996, and therefore hasn't had World Series home field advantage since 2001). The most recent All-Star game was played on July 11, 2006, at PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.
The first All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, and was the brainchild of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune. Initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one. Ward's contribution was recognized by Major League Baseball in 1962 with the creation of the "Arch Ward Trophy", given to the All-Star Game's most valuable player each year.
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[edit] Choosing the venue
The venue is chosen by Major League Baseball and traditionally alternates between the two leagues every year (this tradition was first broken in 1951, when the Detroit Tigers were chosen to host the annual game as part of the city's 250th birthday at Briggs Stadium, and will be broken again in 2007, when the San Francisco Giants will be the host for the 2007 All-Star Game). The "home team" is the league in which the host franchise plays its games. The criteria for choosing the venue are subjective; for the most part, cities with new parks and cities who have not hosted the game in a long time--or ever--tend to get the nod. The last All-Star Game to be played in a stadium that was not hosting its first All-Star Game was the 1999 game in Boston's Fenway Park.
To date, only three franchises have never hosted a game: the Florida Marlins, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the Washington Nationals hosted the game when they were the Montreal Expos). In the last thirty years the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and Philadelphia Phillies have all hosted the All-Star Game twice, during which time the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and Kansas City Royals have not hosted it.
The designated hitter rule is applied based on the league in which the host team plays. In an American League ballpark, both teams use a designated hitter to hit for the pitcher. In a National League ballpark, lineups schedule the pitcher to hit, though pinch hitters are almost always used. The last instance in which a pitcher took his scheduled at-bat was in 2004, as the American League lineup batted around in the first inning, enabling AL starter Mark Mulder to bat. He was not eligible to be replaced by a pinch hitter, as the starting pitcher in any game must pitch to the first spot in the batting order.[1]
[edit] The rosters
The manager for each league's team has for many years been the manager of the previous year's league champion. This honor is given to the manager, not the team, so it's possible that the All-Star manager could no longer be with the team with which he won, as happened in 2003, when Dusty Baker managed the National League team despite having moved from the champion San Francisco Giants to the Chicago Cubs. This has even included situations where the person is no longer actively managing a team: in 1979, Bob Lemon managed the American League team after having been fired by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.[citation needed] The coaching staff is selected by the manager.
Each team consists of 32 players. These players are currently selected though the following process:
- Fan voting: Baseball fans vote on the starting position players for the All-Star Game, with ballots distributed at Major League Baseball games before mid-season and, more recently, on the Internet. When the game is played at an American League park, the designated hitter for the AL team is also selected in this manner. This method has been recently criticized because most of the starting players from the American League are from the New York Yankees, or the Boston Red Sox because they have a larger fan base.
- Player voting: Pitchers and one back-up player for each position are elected by the players. If the top vote-getter at a position has also been selected via fan voting, the second-place finisher in this category is selected.
- Manager selection: The managers of the 30 MLB teams and the Commissioner's Office will fill the roster up to 31 players.
- Final vote: After the lists of 31 players for each league is announced, fans will vote for one additional player, chosen from a list of 5 players provided by the manager and the Commissioner's Office.
- Replacements: After the roster is selected, the manager and the Commissioner's Office will replace players who are injured or who decline to participate.
Between 1935 and 1946, the manager of each All-Star squad selected the entire team. Fans were given the opportunity to vote on the eight starting position players starting in 1947. In 1957, fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box (see below), and elected a Red to every position except first base. Commissioner Ford Frick stepped in and removed two Reds from the lineup. As a response to this fiasco, fan voting was discontinued, and players, coaches, and managers were given the ability to elect starting position players until 1970.
One of the most controversial aspects of the player selection process is a rule that each team has to have at least one representative on its league's All-Star roster. While this rule made sense in baseball's pre-expansion days, when there were only eight teams in each league, many now consider it to be outdated since there are now almost twice as many Major League teams in existence. Opponents of the rule contend that the purpose of the game is to spotlight Major League Baseball's best players, and many superior players get left off the roster in favor of less deserving players from weaker teams. Supporters of the rule maintain that if the rule were dropped, a small number of powerful teams could end up dominating most of the available roster space. Supporters say that this gives fans from every team a reason to watch the game, whereas if the game were dominated by players from only a few top teams many fans might not watch because they wouldn't have a familiar player to follow.
A number of compromises have been suggested, such as limiting the number of representatives a particular team could have, or requiring that a certain percentage of teams be represented. However, Major League Baseball has not indicated that it is considering altering or eliminating the rule in any form.
[edit] Year-by-Year Teams
http://baseball-almanac.com/asgmenu.shtml
[edit] Uniforms
From the first All-Star game, players have worn their respective team uniforms rather than wearing uniforms made specifically for the game. (There was one exception: In the first game, the National League players wore uniforms made for the game, with the lettering "NATIONAL LEAGUE" across the front of the shirt.)
From the 70's through the early 90's, players, if their team had an alternate uniform, were allowed to wear their alternate uniforms for the All-Star game. This was commonly worn by players from the Oakland Athletics. For example, in the 1975 game Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers wore their alternate green jerseys along with their regular white pants while Gene Tenace and Bert Campaneris wore their alternate yellow jerseys along with their regular white pants. Vida Blue also wore his yellow jersey, but he wore instead the Oakland A's alternate yellow pants while Claudell Washington was the only Oakland Athletics player to wear his regular white jersey and regular white pants. The AL All-Stars were wearing their regular white jerseys since they were the home team, except for Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer, who wore his alternate orange jersey and Cleveland Indians outfielder George Hendrick who wore his alternate navy jersey. Also if the NL/AL all stars were an away team and a player's retrospective team dosen't have a grey/light blue away jersey, they wear their alternate colored jerseys & white/colored pants. Today, every player wears their retrospective team jerseys for the all star games, but they no longer use their alternate jerseys for those games.
From 1980-1996, the players also wore their retrospective batting practice team jerseys, until 1997 when MLB made up specific NL and AL All-Star batting practice jerseys.
[edit] Ties
At Fenway Park in Boston on July 31, 1961, the first All-Star Game tie in history occurred when the game was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.
The 2002 All-Star Game ended in controversy when both teams ran out of pitchers in the 11th inning, and in response Commissioner Bud Selig declared the game to end in a tie. To provide additional incentive for victory, Major League Baseball reached an agreement with the players union to award home-field advantage for the World Series to the league who won the All-Star Game, for 2003 to 2004. Since then, the agreement was extended twice, in 2005 and 2006.[2] Previously, home field advantage in the World Series alternated between the two leagues each year.
Even under the new rules, there is no guarantee that a repeat of the 2002 situation might not occur. The game could still be called a "suspended game" in which case it would become a tie if no make-up date was scheduled. It would be extremely difficult to find such a make-up date: Major League Baseball would have to postpone one or more days of the regular season and/or schedule the make-up date on the travel day between the regular season and the Division Series.
[edit] Oddities
- In 1945, with severe wartime travel restrictions in effect, the All-Star Game scheduled to be played at Boston's Fenway Park was canceled.
- There were two All-Star Games played each season from 1959 to 1962. The second game was added to raise money for the players' pension funds, as well as other causes.
- Of the eighteen players who started the 1934 All-Star Game, only one, Wally Berger, is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- After the 1964 season and World Series, the managers, Johnny Keane of the St. Louis Cardinals and Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees, left those teams (Keane was hired to manage the Yanks and Berra became a player-coach with the New York Mets.) The Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds had finished in a second-place tie in the NL; the Chicago White Sox had finished second in the AL. Cincinnati's manager Fred Hutchinson had died in the off-season, so Phillies' manager Gene Mauch and White Sox' manager Al Lopez became the managers for the 1965 All-Star Game.
- Rico Carty was the first player ever selected to an All-Star team as a write-in candidate by fans, in 1970, the first year that voting was given back to the fans. Upon getting elected, he was quoted as saying "Thanks to the fans for making this possible, and thanks to Gilette for making this all necessary."
- Steve Garvey was the second player ever selected to an All-Star team as a write-in candidate by fans, in 1974. He was later the MVP of that game.
- The 1981 game in Cleveland was moved from its original July date to Sunday night, August 9. It was the first non-exhibition game played after the end of the players' strike, with second half play beginning the next afternoon with a game in Wrigley Field in Chicago. The 1981 game is the only game to be played on a weekend.
- In 1995, because of the players' strike in 1994, the managers of the unofficial league champions (by best record), who were each rewarded as winners of the Manager of the Year Award, were awarded the right to manage the 1995 teams -- Montreal's Felipe Alou and the Yankees' Buck Showalter.
[edit] Stuffing the ballot box
In 1957, fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box and elected 7 Reds players to start in the All-Star Game. They were:
- Johnny Temple, 2B
- Roy McMillan, SS
- Don Hoak, 3B
- Ed Bailey, C
- Frank Robinson, LF
- Gus Bell, CF
- Wally Post, RF
The only non-Red elected to start for the National League was St. Louis Cardinals' first baseman Stan Musial. While the Reds were known to be a great offensive team with many outstanding position players, most baseball observers agreed that they did not deserve seven starters in the All-Star Game. An investigation showed that over half of the ballots cast came from Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Enquirer had printed up pre-marked ballots and distributed them with the Sunday newspaper to make it easy to vote early and often. There were even stories of bars in Cincinnati not serving alcohol to customers until they filled out a ballot.
Commissioner Ford Frick decided to appoint Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves to substitute for Reds players Gus Bell and Wally Post. In addition, Frick decided to strip the fans of their voting rights. Managers, players, and coaches picked the entire team until 1969, when the vote again returned to the fans.
To guard against further ballot stuffing, since 1969, each team has been given the same number of ballots to hand out. In 1998, that number was roughly 400,000 ballots. Since the dawn of the internet age, online voting has again raised fears of ballot stuffing. Potentially egrigious acts of ballot stuffing have resulted due to online voting. In once incident in 1999, Nomar Garciapara gained over 14,000 votes thanks to an automated computer program.[1] Major League Baseball assures its fans that they have taken precautions to guard against this.
[edit] Other All-Star Weekend events
Since 1985, the Home Run Derby, a contest between home run hitters, has been played on the day before the All-Star Game. Also, a celebrity softball game is held the day before the Home Run Derby. The teams are usually a mixture of former stars from the host team's past, plus some celebrities from music, film, and television. Since 1999, the All-Star Futures Game has been held during All-Star Weekend. The two teams, one consisting of young players from the United States and the other consisting of young players from all other nations, are usually chosen based on prospect status in the minor leagues.
[edit] Major League Baseball All-Star Games (1933-present)
77 All-Star Games have been played, with the National League winning 40 and the American League winning 35 (there were 2 ties). The National League has the longest winning streak of 11 games from 1972-1982. The American League currently has a league-best 10-game unbeaten streak (including the tie in 2002), and has dominated the game since 1988 (losing only 3 times and tying 1). They previously dominated from 1933-1949, winning 12 of the first 16. The National League dominated from 1950-1987, winning 33 of 42 with 1 tie.
[edit] Confirmed Future Sites
- Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals will host an All-Star game in one of the years between 2010-2014, as confirmed by Bud Selig.[3]
[edit] See also
- List of Major League Baseball All-Star Game broadcasters
- Major League Baseball All-Star Games in Pittsburgh
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07130NLS2004.htm
- ^ Associated Press. "All-Star Game to affect '06 World Series", SportingNews.com, 2006-06-20. Retrieved on October 24, 2006. (in English)
- ^ http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060322&content_id=1359278&vkey=news_kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kc
[edit] External links
- BaseballLibrary.com - All-Star Game
- All-Star Games by Baseball Almanac : A Midsummer Classic Analysis
- Major League Baseball : Events : All-Star Game
- The Sporting News: History of the MLB All-Star Game
| 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | |||
| 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 |
| 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
| 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
| 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
