C’mon Bud, Let’s Bring the Fun Back to the All-Star Game | The Golden Sombrero Baseball Blog | MLB, Fantasy, College & High School Baseball News

C’mon Bud, Let’s Bring the Fun Back to the All-Star Game

The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1933; organized in conjunction with the city’s World’s Fair by Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward. The American League won 4-2 behind the stellar play of Babe Ruth, who not only hit the first home run in an All-Star Game history but also robbed the NL’s chances of a comeback in the eighth inning by pulling back Chick Hafey’s otherwise certain yard ball from over the fence, a la a young Ken Griffey, Jr. The game was intended to be a one-off event, held alongside other historic displays of America’s industrial progress, such as Cadillac’s first V-16 limousine and incubators containing live babies. However, the showcase was such a smashing success that the MLB, ever-capitalizing on potential revenue, decided to make it an annual affair.

Today, the Midsummer Classic has grown to include such other cash-generating spectacles as the Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game, the Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game, Gatorade Workout Day and the State Farm Home Run Derby, among various other corporately branded proceedings. The five day celebration concludes with what is supposed to be the exhibition of baseball’s greatest current talents, the All-Star Game itself. The only problem is that Major League Baseball has tried to turn what was once a relaxed, fun-filled atmosphere for players and fans alike into a crucial must-win match-up by granting the winning league home-field advantage in the World Series. This dubious decision was made by Commissioner Bud Selig following his almost equally inexplicable judgment to end the 2002 All-Star Game in a tie following eleven innings of paired play.

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