Major League Baseball All-Star Game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007) |
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 respective 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 one week later). The game is usually played on a Tuesday, with no regular season games scheduled for the Monday immediately preceding the game and the Wednesday immediately following the game. These are the only 2 calendar days on which no games in the major professional sports leagues of the United States are scheduled (as the other 3 major sports are in their off season.)
Since 2003, the pennant winner of the league winning the All-Star Game has been awarded home field advantage for the upcoming World Series. The most recent All-Star game (2007) was played at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California, home of the San Francisco Giants. The American League won the game, which secured home field advantage in the 2007 World Series for the sixth straight season (including all five seasons under the current format).
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.
Contents |
[edit] The ballparks
The game's venue is chosen by Major League Baseball and traditionally alternates between the two leagues every year. This tradition has been broken twice. The first time was in 1951, when the Detroit Tigers were chosen to host the annual game as part of the city's 250th birthday. It was broken again in 2007, when the San Francisco Giants were the host for the 2007 All-Star Game. That scheduling also set up the 2008 game to be held in the scheduled final season at Yankee Stadium.
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. In the first two decades of the game, there were two teams that shared ballparks, Philadelphia and St. Louis. This led to some shorter-than-usual gaps between the use of those venues: The Cardinals hosted the game in 1940, and the Browns in 1948. The Athletics hosted the game in 1943, and the Phillies in 1952.
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. Two All-Star Games over the next three years will be held in stadiums not hosting their first Midsummer Classic: in 2008, when the game will be held at New York's Yankee Stadium, and in 2010, when Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California will host the game.
To date, only three franchises have never hosted a game: the Florida Marlins (although scheduled to host the game in 2000, Major League Baseball later chose Atlanta), the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Washington Nationals franchise hosted the game when they were the Montreal Expos, and All-Star Games have been played in D.C. hosted by both incarnations of the Washington Senators.
In the 33 years between 1975 and 2007, the Chicago White Sox (1983 and 2003), Cleveland Indians (1981 and 1997), Pittsburgh Pirates (1994 and 2006), San Diego Padres (1978 and 1992), Milwaukee Brewers (1975 and 2002), Philadelphia Phillies (1976 and 1996), San Francisco Giants (1984 and 2007), Seattle Mariners (1979 and 2001) and the Houston Astros (1986 and 2004), have all hosted the All-Star Game twice, during which time the New York Mets (last hosted in 1964), St. Louis Cardinals (1966), and Kansas City Royals (1973) have not hosted it. With the exception of Philadelphia and San Diego, the other seven franchises who hosted twice in that time period did so between two stadiums: an original one usually scheduled for demolition, and then a new venue built in its place.
[edit] The rosters
[edit] Selection of managers and coaches
Normally the managers of the All-Star game are the same managers who faced each other during the previous year's World Series. The coaching staff for each team is selected by its manager.
This honor is given to the manager, not the team, so it is possible that the All-Star manager could no longer be with the team with which he won. This happened in 2003, when Dusty Baker managed the National League team despite having moved from the National League champion San Francisco Giants to the Chicago Cubs. This has also included situations where the person is no longer actively managing a team. For the first All-Star Game, intended as a one-time event, Connie Mack and John McGraw were regarded as baseball's venerable managers, and were asked to lead the American and National League teams, respectively. McGraw came out of retirement for that purpose. More recently, in 1979, Bob Lemon managed the American League team after having been fired by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
There have been some exceptional cases where the usual rule was abandoned.
After the 1964 season and the World Series, the managers, Johnny Keane of the St. Louis Cardinals and Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees, both left their teams and found new jobs in the other league -- 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 Gene Mauch of the Phillies and Al Lopez of the White Sox were chosen to be the managers for the 1965 All-Star Game.
There was no World Series in 1994 due to the players' strike. In 1995, Buck Showalter of the New York Yankees and Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos were chosen as managers for the All-Star Game on the basis of their teams finishing with the best win-loss records in their respective (National and American) leagues during the previous season.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the managers scheduled for the 2008 game would be Terry Francona and Clint Hurdle, of the American and National Leagues respectively.
[edit] American League Managers Since 1997
- Joe Torre - 1997
- Mike Hargrove - 1998
- Joe Torre - 1999 - 2002
- Mike Scioscia - 2003
- Joe Torre - 2004
- Terry Francona - 2005
- Ozzie Guillen - 2006
- Jim Leyland - 2007
- Terry Francona - 2008 (scheduled)
[edit] National League Managers Since 1997
- Bobby Cox - 1997
- Jim Leyland - 1998
- Bruce Bochy - 1999
- Bobby Cox - 2000
- Bobby Valentine - 2001
- Bob Brenly - 2002
- Dusty Baker - 2003
- Jack McKeon - 2004
- Tony LaRussa - 2005
- Phil Garner - 2006
- Tony LaRussa - 2007
- Clint Hurdle - 2008 (scheduled)
[edit] Selection of players
As of 2007, the rules call for each team to consist of 32 players (squad size for regulation games is 25 maximum, 24 minimum, until September 1). These players are currently selected through 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 teams that have large fan bases, such as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.[1]
- 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.
[edit] History of player selection methods
From 1935 through 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 unfairness, fan voting was discontinued. Players, coaches, and managers were given the sole authority to elect starting position players, for the next dozen years.
Between the lack of fan input and over-exposure due to the double All-Star Games during 1959-1962, interest in the game was thought to be waning. As part of the rise of the MLB Promotion Corporation's attempts to modernize marketing of baseball, fan balloting for the starting eight was restored for the 1970 game.
Sometime in the 1960s, the distinction between left-fielder, center-fielder, and right-fielder was dropped, and it was provided that the top 3 vote-getters in the outfield category would start regardless of position. Prior to that the situation included remarks like "If you had Clemente, you couldn't have Aaron", and so on.
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 Gillette 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.
Until 2003, reserves and pitchers were chosen by the manager. Player voting was re-introduced in 2003 because the managers were criticized for picking players from their own team over more deserving players from other teams.
One continuing controversy of the player selection process is the rule that each team has to have at least one representative on its league's All-Star roster. Opponents of the rule contend that the purpose of the game is to spotlight Major League Baseball's best players, and that some superior players are left off the roster in favor of possibly less deserving players from weaker teams. This argument is strengthened by the greater urgency of winning the game, due to the rule that the winning league attains home field in the World Series. Supporters of the rule point out that this rule spreads interest in the game, and prevents large-market teams from totally dominating the squad and possibly resulting in, for example, an All-Star Game consisting solely of Yankees and Red Sox playing a team consisting solely of Dodgers and Cubs.
A number of compromises have been suggested in the media, such as limiting the number of representatives a particular team could have, requiring only that a certain percentage of teams be represented, or expanding the size of the All-Star rosters to mitigate the issue. However, Major League Baseball has not indicated that it is considering altering or eliminating the rule in any form.
[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 for Reds fans to vote 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. In one incident in 1999, Nomar Garciaparra gained over 14,000 votes thanks to an automated computer program.[2] Major League Baseball assures its fans that they have taken precautions to guard against this. Similarly, popular players who are injured often garner many votes despite their inability to play in the game.
The 1988 Game was surrounded by tacit accusations against Oakland A's fans of stuffing the ballot box in favor of catcher Terry Steinbach, whose qualifications as a starter were questioned by some sportswriters.[3][4] [5] Steinbach wound up being named the game's Most Valuable Player.
In 2006, eight of the nine starting players for the American League team at one point in the balloting were members of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, two of the most popular teams in baseball.
[edit] Designated Hitter
In 1989, the DH position was allowed in the All-Star Game for the first time.
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 top of 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 (barring injury) to at least one batter before being replaced.[6]) The same thing happened in San Diego in 1989 when the American League batted around allowing starting pitcher Kevin Brown of the Texas Rangers to bat in the top of the first inning.
There is some debate as to allowing the designated hitter in every All-Star Game, since many pitchers (even All-Stars) are not adept at hitting.
[edit] Uniforms
From the first All-Star Game, players have worn their respective team uniforms rather than wearing uniforms made specifically for the game, with 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. [7] [8]
From the 1970s through the early 1990s, players were allowed to wear their alternate uniforms for the All-Star Game. These were 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, in 1979, Pete Rose wore the alternate Philadelphia Phillies red/violet jersey with the standard light blue away pants & in 1985, he wore the Cincinnati Reds alternate red jersey with standard grey away pants along with his fellow Reds teammate Dave Parker. In 1983's ASG, 3 California Angels players were selected to the ASG (Bob Boone, Doug DeCinces & Fred Lynn), which DeCinces and Lynn wore their regular California Angel home uniform, while Boone wore his alternate Angel uniform (black Angel jersey with red-white-red stripes on the shoulder portion of the jersey with the standard white pants). Also in the '83 game, even though he was the lone Oakland Athletic representative, Rickey Henderson wore his alternate Oakland A's uniform (yellow jersey with "Oakland" highlighted in green with the standard white home pants). From 1986 till 1996, less players started to wear their alternate jerseys. In the 1994 game, Cleveland Indians outfielders Kenny Lofton & Albert Belle wore their alternate navy jerseys. Chicago White Sox pitcher Jason Bere wore his alternate black jersey, while the other White Sox players wore their standard grey away jerseys. The 1996 game was the final one to feature alternate jerseys being worn, which was done so by Belle, Lofton, White Sox infielder Frank Thomas, Cleveland Indians manager Mike Hargrove, Indians first baseman Jim Thome and Indians pitchers Jose Mesa and Charles Nagy.
If a player's league's All-Star team is the away team and a player's actual team doesn't have a grey/light blue away jersey, the player wears his alternate colored jersey & white/colored pants. Today, every player wears his standard team jersey for the All-Star Game, and they no longer use their alternate jerseys.
The players also wore their teams' batting practice jerseys from 1980 until 1997, when MLB made specific NL and AL All-Star batting practice jerseys. MLB also made specific batting practice caps for the 2007 game & will continue to do so for the upcoming years. For special events during the week of the game (including the Home Run Derby) players will often wear jerseys representing the two leagues. The colors are based on those of the host city's team. For example, in 2007 San Francisco hosted the All-Star game. Home Run Derby participants wore orange and black jerseys which are the colors of the San Francisco Giants.
[edit] Uniform Errors
In 1972, Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres wore the wrong uniform for the All-Star Game in Atlanta. The National League was the home team, but Colbert donned his road uniform with "SAN DIEGO" on the front instead of his home uniform with "PADRES" on it.
For the 1985 All-Star Game in Minnesota, Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers had forgotten to bring his uniform with him. He had to purchase a similar one at a concession stand at the Metrodome. He then added his uniform number 1, but not his name, to the back of the jersey.
In the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards, outfielder Marquis Grissom forgot his uniform and had to borrow a Padres' jersey from Tony Gwynn, pants from Mark Grace, and he bought a Montreal Expos hat from a souvenir stand.
Colbert and Whitaker did get forms of redemption. Colbert ended the 1972 ASG by scoring the winning run for the NL in the bottom of the 10th inning. Whitaker, in the ASG of 1986 (the year after his uniform goof), hit a 2-run homer to put the American League ahead to stay at the Astrodome in Houston.
[edit] Game notes
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
In 1945, with severe wartime travel restrictions in effect, the All-Star Game scheduled to be played at Boston's Fenway Park was deferred until the next season.
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. The experiment was abandoned on the grounds that having two games watered down the appeal of the event.
At Fenway Park in Boston on July 31, 1961, the first All-Star Game tie in history occurred when the game was stopped after the 9th inning due to rain. The only other rain-shortened game had been in 1952, but it had a winner.
The 1967 game lasted 15 innings, the longest MLB All-Star game in innings as of 2007.
The middle portion of the 1981 season, including the scheduled All-Star break, had been erased due to the players' strike. To promote the resumption of the season, the game (in Cleveland) was moved from its original July date to Sunday night, August 9. Second half regular-season play began the next afternoon with a game in Wrigley Field in Chicago. The 1981 game is the only MLB All-Star Game to be played on a weekend.
The 2002 All-Star Game, held in Milwaukee, ended in controversy in the 11th inning, when both teams ran out of substitute players available to pitch in relief. At that point, Commissioner Bud Selig, coincidentally a Milwaukee native and former owner of the Brewers, declared the game to end in a tie. The crowd booed and the media were highly critical of this unsatisfying conclusion.
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 that won the All-Star Game, for 2003 to 2004. Since then, the agreement was extended twice, in 2005 and 2006.[9] 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. To avoid future ties due to lack of eligible players, managers have been instructed to hold back, and have voluntarily held back, a few select position players and pitchers. This has resulted in some disappointment and controversy when those players are never actually used in the game.[10] Such a catch-22 has resulted in calls to allow limited re-entry of players who have been replaced during the game (in addition to catchers, which is already allowed), thereby giving the freedom to use all the players on the roster without restricting teams into a situation where no players are available.[11]
A tie game could also be deemed 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. However, there is an offday for all teams the day after the All-Star game. If necessary, the game could be finished in the morning or afternoon on Wednesday.
[edit] Reversals of fortune
The All-Star Game has seen several "eras" in which one league tended to dominate. During the 1930s and 1940s, the American League won the majority of the games. Starting in 1950, the National League reversed that trend and by the end of the 1970s was winning nearly every one of the games. In the late 1980s that trend reversed again, and by the 2000s the Americans were winning nearly all the time, including a 10-game winning streak (excluding the 7-7 tie in 2002) during 1997-2007.
With that oscillation of periods of dominance, as of the 2006 All-Star Game, the cumulative run totals for all 77 games played was 652, evenly split between the leagues at 326 runs apiece.[12]
[edit] Individual notes
It would be reasonable to expect that the talented players in these games could be candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame eventually. Of the eighteen players who started the 1934 game, only one, Wally Berger, is not in the Hall of Fame.
Brooks Robinson (1966) and Carl Yastrzemski (1970) are the only players to be named All-Star MVP while playing for the losing team.
In 1983, Fred Lynn became the first player to hit a grand slam in an All-Star Game.
In 2007, Ichiro Suzuki became the first player to hit an inside the park home run in an All-Star Game.
[edit] Other events connected with the game
Since 1985, the Home Run Derby, a contest between home run hitters, has been played on the day before the All-Star Game.
Since 1999, the All-Star Futures Game has been held during All-Star Week. 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.
Since 2001, the Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game pits teams with a mixture of former stars from the host team's past, as well as celebrities from music, film, and television. This game is held the day before the Home Run Derby.
[edit] Major League Baseball All-Star Game results (1933-present)
Main Article: MLB All Star Game Results
78 All-Star Games have been played, with the National League winning 40 and the American League winning 36, with 2 ties. (Ironically, the official website MLB.com has incorrect tallies.[13]) The National League has the longest winning streak of 11 games from 1972-1982. The American League currently has a league-best 11-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. This included a stretch from 1963-1982 when they won 19 of 20.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Newman, Mark (2007-04-18). Voting under way for 78th All-Star Game. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ Darren Rovell. "Cyber-stuffing remains threat to All-Star voting", ESPN.com, 2001-06-27. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. (English)
- ^ Sporting News - Your expert source for MLB Baseball, NFL Football, NBA Basketball, NHL Hockey, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball and Fantasy Sports scores, blogs, and articles
- ^ All-Star Voting Dismays a Fan - New York Times
- ^ The Atlanta Journal, July 13, 1988 Page: D/1
- ^ Retrosheet Boxscore: American League 9, National League 4
- ^ Lamont, Buchanan (1951). The World Series and Highlights of Baseball. E. P. Dutton & Co., page 120.
- ^ Okkonen, Marc (1991). Baseball uniforms of the 20th century: The official major league baseball guide. Sterling Pub. Co, page 7. ISBN 978-0806984902.
- ^ Associated Press. "All-Star Game to affect '06 World Series", SportingNews.com, 2006-06-20. Retrieved on 2006-10-24. (English)
- ^ Associated Press. "Pujols Angered at LaRussa for All-Star Benching", ESPN.com, 2007-7-11. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. (English)
- ^ Associated Press. "Pujols Reversal: All-Star DNP No Big Deal", ESPN.com, 2007-07-12. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. (English)
- ^ Paul Hoynes. "All-Star Chatter", Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2007-07-11. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. (English)
- ^ "All-Star Results" from Major League Baseball History on MLB.com, 2007.
[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
- 165 Home Runs in All-Star Game History
- Youngest Players to Homer in an All-Star Game
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
