Baseball All-Star Game Can’t Match Past Luster

by Randy Shaw, 2007-07-09

As local media frenzy builds over tomorrow night’s baseball all-star game at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, the event no longer deserves its massive hype. Back in its heyday, the All-Star Game was the only time when fans could see stars like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays on the same field. It also gave fans the rare opportunity to actually watch many baseball heroes who they could otherwise not see, as few games were televised and game highlights on news shows were limited to local teams. Until 1970, the All-Star game was played while most adult fans were at work and kids were in summer camp; this gave the day a uniqueness that was lost when the game became yet another evening sports event. Interleague play and ESPN’s nightly repeat of game highlights has made fans familiar with today’s baseball stars from all teams. As a result, the game has lost the sense of mystery and excitement that once surrounded this annual (and until the 1960’s, biannual) tradition.

Unlike the Oscars---whose hosts, movies and stars regularly change within an unchanging context--- the Baseball All-Star game to be played July 10 in San Francisco is fundamentally different from its origins. Today’s stars---such as Rodriquez, Bonds, Jeter and Suzuki---are as talented as those of the past, but their daily exploits are seen over and over across the nation on nightly television highlight shows.

No fan needs to turn on the All-Star game to see Bonds and Jeter on the same field---this occurred a few weeks ago when the Yankees played a series in San Francisco. Nor does anyone need to watch the game to get their first glimpse of a hot new pitcher or homerun hitter---devoted fans with money can watch almost every game as it occurs, and others can catch the highlights of everything these budding stars have done.

It was not always so. Back in the 1960’s, many fans were excited for weeks over the annual opportunity for Willie Mays to show the American League---and all of baseball---that he was the best. Mays was not often seen on television in the 1960’s, as the Giants never made the postseason during his prime years of 1963-1970, which coincided with massive growth of television viewing.

Bay Area residents likely had more opportunities to see Mays on television than those living outside the city, like myself. During the 1960’s, the only time we ever saw a Giants game televised in Los Angeles was when they played the Dodgers; Mays rarely appeared in the national game of the week.

With a statue of Willie Mays’ outside AT&T Park, and the warm praise always given to him by Barry Bonds, today’s younger fans may not realize that past Giant fans had an understandable chip on their shoulder regarding their superstar. Mickey Mantle continued to get the backing of baseball’s New York City media capital through 1965, and Mays never seemed to get the national exposure and advertising opportunities that a star of his magnitude deserved.

That’s why Mays fans looked so eagerly toward the Baseball All-Star Game. Mays typically batted lead-off and was frequently one of the stars of the game. It could well be argued that Mays’ All-Star game feats did more to impress the nation as to his skills than anything he did---out of television’s range---from 1963-70.

The baseball all-star game also gave a national viewing audience for two other superstars who were rarely seen on television---Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente. Like Mays, the lack of post-season play for these small-market stars meant that many fans rarely saw them play in their heyday.

As much as I looked forward to the All-Star game, I was unable to watch it on television until 1967, when it began in late afternoon in Anaheim. The other games began during the summer camp day, so I had to follow Willie’s exploits on the radio.

Unfortunately, the 1967 game featured a record-number of strikeouts (30). The hot Orange County sun and glare made hitting so difficult that it took 15 innings for Reds star Tony Perez to finally end the game on a homerun, 2-1. While excited when the game began, watching one strikeout after another got boring.

But unlike recent games, where stars are removed so that nearly everyone can play, the 1967 game had Mays get four at-bats and Clemente and Aaron six apiece.

This should help younger people understand why, forty years ago, and for decades before, the All-Star game was designed to highlight legendary All-Stars. It was future Hall-of-Famers battling each other, not Tuesday night’s game featuring a bunch of guys whom most fans could not identify in police lineup.

And since star players rarely changed teams or leagues in their prime (Frank Robinson was the rare exception), the lineups of All-Star teams were not that different from one year to the next. This created a sense of rivalry and continuity absent from the post-free agent era games.

The first night All-Star game was in July 1970. President Richard Nixon attended to commemorate the occasion, two months after launching a US invasion into Cambodia that would turn that nation into a “killing field.” Nixon prided himself on being a big sports fan, but his presence, like that of George W. Bush, diminished any sporting event.

Is it not progress that the game is on when more can watch, and that today’s fans can watch great careers evolve on a daily basis through sports highlight shows rather than through occasional glimpse at All-Star Games? No and Yes.

When baseball had its World Series and all-star games on during the day, it riveted attention on these events as it never has since. It would probably be more fun and communal to catch parts of the game with co-workers in between work---and July is not exactly a hard-work month---than for millions to watch in their homes and apartments after work.

As for the highlights, I would have been desperate to see footage of Mays, Aaron and Clemente each night, and feel that much of these players’ historic performances have been lost. The highlights actually put baseball in the same position pro football was forty years ago, where fans had a chance to see most NFL stars through weekly television coverage.

Fans love interleague play, but it does take the novelty away from the All-Star Game. But this makes little difference, given that the game no longer serves its primary original purpose, and is now similar to the NBA All-Star game (one is preceded by a slam-dunk contest, the other by a Homerun Contest) in its hype and lack of meaning.

But for all the changes in lineups and starting times, one fact about the All-Star game remains fixed: Reggie Jackson’s 1971 homerun off the light tower in Detroit was the most powerful blow ever hit in a baseball game, and nobody who witnessed that pre-steroids launch would disagree.

Send feedback to rshaw@beyondchron@org