The All Star Game

[DOUGHBOYS]

The All Star game is tomorrow night.
Ted Williams said this is the game they made for Willie Mays.
He was right. The All Star game used to be a double sided weapon.
A showcasing of players such as Mays, but also to see what league had the most dominant of stars.
The game mattered very much to past players.
To them, the other league, was the OTHER league.
If a player were a Yankee, he was a Yankee first and an American Leaguer second.
The other league was just somebody to worry about in the World Series.


I'd like to say the first All-Star came as the result of a player or Manager thinking that 'our players are better than theirs!'
But it didn't.
The All-Star game idea wasn't even born from a person within baseball.

In 1928, the economy was humming.
The twenties were a time of pre-prohibition.
The twenties were a time where America had just helped bring Germany to its knees in World War one.
The twenties were a time of prosperity and partying.
Movie houses were being built. Cars were becoming the norm over horses. Baseball had gone from a dead ball to a live ball.

A plan was hatched in 1928, to have a huge World's Fair in Chicago. To fund the endeavor, there was a $10 million dollar bond issued on October 28, 1929. The bond was mostly shared by the most prominent of Chicagoans.
The next day, the stock market crashed.

The effort of building the World's Fair kept many of the locals employeed. Organizers worried that the whole thing could become a farce, that funds for the Fair could run out and Chicago become a laughing stock for the rest of the country.
In March of 1933, one of the biggest backers of the Fair, Mayor Anton Cermak was assassinated while shaking hands with the President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt.
Some surmised that the attempt was really made on Roosevelt and the target was missed. Most believed however, that this was just Chicago politics. Ho hum.
The new Mayor, Edward Kelly, inherited the task of having the Fair go off without a hitch.
He called on the owner of the Chicago Tribune, who in turn called upon Arch Ward, the sports editor for the Chicago Tribune.
Ward was more than just a sports editor.
He was a man with grandiose ideas. He was a promoter.
Before becoming a sports editor, he was a publicist at Notre Dame and helped in making a legend out of Knute Rockne.

Ward knew that baseball was America's passion. He was the one that came up with idea of having 'A Dream Game' to coincide with the World's Fair.
This 'Dream Game' became billed as something else later.
No, not the All Star game. It was called, 'The Game of the Century'.
Most of the profits from the game would go to former ball players that had fallen on bad times.
The Managers would be the two most well known Managers of that time, Connie Mack and John McGraw.
Infusing self interests, Ward suggested that the votes come from subscribers of the Chicago Tribune.
It was finally decided that fans around the country would vote through the largest newspapers in their area.
The only stipulation being that McGraw and Mack had last say in case a non-worthy player were voted in.
Fans responded.
Over a half million ballots were tabulated by 56 newspapers.
Tickets for the game were sold out in two days.

The Yankees had humiliated the Cubs in the previous years World Series. Babe Ruth had his 'Called Shot'.
Chicago fans were itching to see him play again.
Six members of the Yankees made the squad. Four started.

Connie Mack, the American League Manager, took his role very seriously.
He told the players before taking the field that he only planned on using three pitchers and that the starting lineup would most likely play the whole game.

National League Manager McGraw, used the opposite tact. He wanted to play all his players.
In the end, both were true to their word.
McGraw used all of his position players.
Mack only used his starters, except for a defensive replacement for Ruth in the ninth inning.
Although Mack's drive to win the game may have seemed unfair to those not participating, it's not as bad as it looks.
There were only 18 players on each roster.
With a defensive replacement for Ruth and a pinch hitter for a pitcher used, there were only three position players who did not get to play.
Those three who were 'not good enough' that day, are all in the Hall of Fame.
Jimmy Foxx, Bill Dickey, and Tony Lazzeri.
The Babe hit the first homer in All Star play, and the American League would win the game 4-2.

The game was a hit for the fans who paid their way into Comiskey Park.
A chance to see the best players from every team on one field was a sight to behold.
The game contributed in making the World's Fair a hit.
Fans clamored for more, and it was decided that there would be another game the next year.
The next year saw the most lopsided vote for a position in history.
Charley Gehringer, the Tigers second baseman received 120,700 votes.
Tony Lazzeri would garner only 2,600 for second place.
After Carl Hubbell struck out Hall of Famers Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons, and Joe Cronin consecutively, the All Star game would be cemented as an annual affair.







One bit of All Star trivia....
There was no MVP of All Star games till 1962.
Still, it is surprising that with how many Yankees voted to All Star games through the years, only one Yankee has won an MVP award.
Derek Jeter in 2000.