MLB All Star Game Betting Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
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Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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 manager (the 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 after about 55% of the season has been completed), and since 2003 it has been used to determine home field advantage for the upcoming World Series (which has been taken clear advantage of by the American League, since the National League hasn't won an All-Star game since 1996, and therefore hasn't had World Series home field advantage since 2001).
The most recent All-Star game was played on July 11, 2006, at PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.
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.
Choosing the venue
The venue is chosen by Major League Baseball and traditionally alternates between the two leagues every year (this tradition was first broken in 1951, when the Detroit Tigers were chosen to host the annual game as part of the city's 250th birthday at Briggs Stadium, and will be broken again in 2007, when the San Francisco Giants will be the host for the 2007 All-Star Game). 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. 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.
To date, only three franchises have never hosted a game: the Florida Marlins, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the Washington Nationals hosted the game when they were the Montreal Expos). In the last thirty years the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and Philadelphia Phillies have all hosted the All-Star Game twice, during which time the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and Kansas City Royals have not hosted it.
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 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 to the first spot in the batting order.
Uniforms
From the first All-Star game, players have worn their respective team uniforms rather than wearing uniforms made specifically for the game. (There was 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.)
From the 70's through the early 90's, players, if their team had one, 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.
If a player's league's All-Star team is the away team a player's actual team doesn't have a grey/light blue away jersey, said player wears his alternate colored jersey & white/colored pants. Today, every player wears his actual team jersey for the All-Star game, and players no longer use their alternate jerseys in the All-Star game.
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.
Ties
At Fenway Park in Boston on July 31, 1961, the first All-Star Game tie in history occurred when the game was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.
The 2002 All-Star Game ended in controversy when both teams ran out of pitchers in the 11th inning, and in response Commissioner Bud Selig declared the game to end in a tie.
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. 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. The game could still be called 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.
Major League Baseball All-Star Games (1990-present)
| Year | Winning League | Score | Venue/Host team | MVP/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | American | 2-0 | Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs | Julio Franco, Texas (AL) |
| 1991 | American | 4-2 | SkyDome, Toronto Blue Jays | Cal Ripken, Jr., Baltimore (AL) |
| 1992 | American | 13-6 | Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego Padres | Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle (AL) |
| 1993 | American | 9-3 | Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore Orioles | Kirby Puckett, Minnesota (AL) |
| 1994 | National | 8-7 (10 innings) |
Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh Pirates | Fred McGriff, Atlanta (NL) |
| 1995 | National | 3-2 | The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas Rangers | Jeff Conine, Florida (NL) |
| 1996 | National | 6-0 | Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia Phillies | Mike Piazza, Los Angeles (NL) |
| 1997 | American | 3-1 | Jacobs Field, Cleveland Indians | Sandy Alomar, Cleveland (AL) |
| 1998 | American | 13-8 | Coors Field, Colorado Rockies | Roberto Alomar, Baltimore (AL) |
| 1999 | American | 4-1 | Fenway Park, Boston Red Sox | Pedro Martínez, Boston (AL) |
| 2000 | American | 6-3 | Turner Field, Atlanta Braves | Derek Jeter, New York (AL) |
| 2001 | American | 4-1 | Safeco Field, Seattle Mariners | Cal Ripken, Jr., Baltimore (AL) |
| 2002 | TIE insufficient players |
7-7 (11 innings) |
Miller Park, Milwaukee Brewers | None |
| 2003 | American | 7-6 | U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago White Sox | Garret Anderson, Anaheim (AL) |
| 2004 | American | 9-4 | Minute Maid Park, Houston Astros | Alfonso Soriano, Texas (AL) |
| 2005 | American | 7-5 | Comerica Park, Detroit Tigers | Miguel Tejada, Baltimore (AL) |
| 2006 | American | 3-2 | PNC Park, Pittsburgh Pirates | Michael Young, Texas (AL) |
| 2007 | TBD | July 10 | AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants | TBD |
| 2008 | TBD | July 15 | Yankee Stadium, New York Yankees | TBD |
| 2009 | TBD | July 7 | Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals | TBD |
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