Is the All-Star Game Broke?

Can’t we all agree to just relax and like the All-Star game? This year’s game went 15 innings and lasted four hours and fifty minutes before the AL won 4-3, the 12th win by the American League in 13 years. The American League was down to their last pitcher, who went 108 pitches only two days before. It was speculated that manager Terry Francona was about to call the game. Only in 2002 when the game ended with a tie did the AL not win since 1996, and some say that’s when the All-Star game broke. Played at his hometown in Milwaukee Commissioner Bud Selig decided that game should end in a tie when both teams ran out of players, but that all future All-Star games should “count”. It was decided that the winner of the game would get home field advantage for the first two games of the World Series. The slogan “this one counts” which has been bandied about the last six years has been endlessly mocked for the exhibition game which, by all counts for the first 73 years used to not count for anything but a good time.

I’ve always loved the All-Star Game. I love it more than the 4th of July. It’s a better celebration of the summer than fireworks and cook outs, mainly because it always falls within a day or two of my birthday and it signals the non-official middle of the baseball season. I remember when I was thirteen (the beginning of my first flirtation with baseball back in the late 80s) getting a small 15 inch television for my birthday and setting it up in my room to watch the game on a sultry summer night. I admit that I don’t watch it every year, if there’re more important things to do then there are more important things that I’ll do, but I enjoy knowing it’s there. I like that everyone who isn’t an All-Star gets a three day break in the middle of a very long season to go home, relax and see their families. I enjoy that for those who watch the game, you get to see the best of the best all together on the same field, even if those over skilled players usually cancel each other out, making the game low scoring and often threatening extra innings. I love the home run derby, having a stand full of people show up for the night before the game just to watch a handful of heavy hitters go long with perfectly pitched fastballs.

I understand the criticisms too. The All-Star players, especially the pitchers, deserve a three day break also. The potential for someone to get hurt during an exhibition game could devastate a contending team for no reason. The AL has won the last 12 games, so it’s unfair to keep giving them home field advantage in the World Series. Also that that advantage will only matter to the two teams who make it to the series in October, but the other 28 teams still have to play the game to the bitter end. That having at least one player from every team represented means that other great players from leading teams have to sit out so an average player from a losing team can be there. That even now the home run derby is thought to affect batters arms.

These are all valid points, but they highlight one of the disappointments in the sport for the modern era. Too much emphasis is put on winning it all. What happened to enjoying the thrill of the game? And is there anything more thrilling than watching a team of All-Stars go head to head for one night, players that may never compete against each other throughout the whole season? It’s true that of 162 games, every game is important to a team. We’ve seen many instances of the last few years where at the end of the season a team makes it to the playoffs simply by winning one game more than the next team. But baseball started as an exhibition game, it developed with no thought of a championship or huge money prize at the end of the season. Teams used to play an extra lot of exhibition games. If Chicago was driving to New York to play a series, they would stop an extra day Ohio and play a game just to give the fans a chance to see their players.

In a season where 162 games count and teams race through September to the finish , wouldn’t it be reassuring to have a game or two where the purpose is to just sit back and watch a few good players hit and pitch? Maybe if you were lucky that year, you got to sit in your home stadium and watch the best players of both leagues compete, just for the hell of it.