Babe Ruth Shined Brightest at Baseball’s First All-Star Game

Joe Guzzardi on Jul 9, 2021

Ward would have a tough time recognizing the 2021 All-Star Game as a baseball event. which has more in common with a three-ring circus sideshow than baseball.

Under MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s direction, the Coors Field’s proceedings are a week-long carnival. Some activities require a ticket, Manfred’s favorite type of corporate-sponsored, income-generating events: The Sirius XM Futures Game; the Celebrity Softball Game featuring, as the MLB website promises, “some of the biggest stars in Hollywood;” the Gatorade Work Out Day, and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby. More money-driven events follow.

On game day, “Baseball’s biggest stars walk in style in The Red Carpet Show.” Denver is the next best thing to being among Hollywood’s glitterati at the Academy Awards.

Finally, the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard, a baseball game of sorts, will begin. The millionaire participants, some of whom earn bonuses for being elected, will make cameo appearances, play for an inning or two, then give way to replacements. For reference, of the 16 position players who started the 1932 inaugural game, 14 played all nine innings.

Manfred has killed baseball’s long-standing traditions with his silly rule changed and his overhaul of the All-Star Game. Dinosaur fans are at the crossroads – go with the Manfred flow and await the inevitable further debasement of the beloved national pastime, or find another, more pleasurable way to while away the long summer months.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers’ Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.