All-Star Game Question

[HomeRunHomer]

I know the season just started and we're not even close to the All-Star Game, but I want to say something.

One of the things I have heard over the years is how before Interleague, the All-Star game was something different. It was like the greatest thing every summer, at least I've heard.

Any of you old enough to remember those days?

[dgarza]

I think it's pretty much the same.
But if anything hurt the All Star Game, it was the year it was called at a tie.

[soberdennis]

I think it's pretty much the same.
But if anything hurt the All Star Game, it was the year it was called at a tie.

I agree. There is only one all-star game I ever watch. It is the MLB one. The ones in other sports just don't interest me. Interleague play did not hurt the game. Interleague play helped baseball. The game will remain the Midseason classic.

[Brian McKenna]

Can't imagine how the All-Star game in by-gone decades could compare with the financial success of recent ones -- two-day affairs, jam packed both days, two days of TV coverage.

[parlo]

Can't imagine how the All-Star game in by-gone decades could compare with the financial success of recent ones -- two-day affairs, jam packed both days, two days of TV coverage.

Thats two days of TV coverage on ESPN. The ratings share is not what it once was. Before cable, there were only three networks and the game had much bigger ratings.
Also, in the 1970s, many people didnt have the opportunity to see many games.
You would see your home town team, and Game of the Week, and Monday Night Baseball. If you lived outside of a teams television market, you only had two games available a week. One of them was a Saturday afternoon game. There wasnt the exposure there is today.
I remember the All Star game being a big deal because you got to see players you normally wouldnt see too often.

[EdTarbusz]

I think it's pretty much the same.
But if anything hurt the All Star Game, it was the year it was called at a tie.

I think what really hurt the All Star Game was free agency. When I was a kid, the games superstars rarely shifted leagues when they wetre in their prime. The ASG was really about the AL vs the NL. The ASG seemed more about who would win, rather then getting everybody in and players screwing around.