You’re An All Star

The build-up to last night’s MLB 2012 All Star Game featured numerous classic moments from All Star Games of the past.

Some of the clips included the infamous Pete Rose-Ray Fosse collision at home plate in the 1970 game, the Reggie Jackson home run over the roof of the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit in 1971 (featuring the very old school A’s pre-1972 unies) and the great Dave Parker throw from the outfield to home plate in the 1979 game from the Kingdome in Seattle.

There were also mentions of more recent All Star Games as well. And any mention of recent All Star Games will naturally include the ‘tie game’ from Milwaukee in 2002.

That 2002 tie prompted the creation of these modern mantras:

• This Time it Counts
• The Road to the World Series Starts Here
• I Play for the (insert league) League

Essentially, what MLB Commissioner Bud Selig wanted to ensure, starting with the ’03 game, was that managers and players would take the game more seriously so the fans would get a better game. By putting home field advantage in the World Series on the line, he argued that would be the case.

With the conclusion of last night’s edition of the Midsummer Classic, his ‘experiment’ is now 10 years old. I kind of like the idea of deciding home field advantage this way, as opposed to the old system where-by home field advantage just alternated between leagues.  As a Cardinals fan in the 80s, I felt like that alternating system burned them in ’87 against Minnesota. The Cards won all three games at home but lost four in the crazy Metrodome. Then, rooting for the Bravos in ’91, it was hard to swallow when they won all three games at home but the Twins won four games at home to capture the title.

Nothing gave the Twins home field advantage in either case other than serendipity.

There are mixed feelings on this topic. For every person in favor of ‘This Time it Counts,’ there is one on the other side of the fence arguing that the MLB All Star Game is merely an exhibition game and that an exhibition game should not decide home field advantage.  

And it’s no small matter, either. The team with the home field advantage has won seven of the last 10 World Series, including the Giants two years ago and the Cardinals last year. So, you can see, there’s a lot at stake here.

It does not seem that there are plans for any change on the horizon, either, so fans on both sides of the fence are just going to have to deal with this reality for the forseeable future.

As for whether or not it has made a difference in the game or not, the All Star Game has definitely been a more competitive game in recent years. That, of course, was not the case last night. After Chipper Jones’ rousing pre-game speech, it looked like the N.L. players were fired up and were ready to play a ballgame. It also looked like the A.L. team was shell-shocked after the N.L. scored five runs in the first inning.

There isn’t much of anything that anyone could do to fix that.

JG

Question of the Day: Do you think the MLB All Star Game should decide home field advantage in the World Series?

(Source: mlb.mlb.com)

Originally posted 7/11/2012