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MLB deserves props for making All-Star Game count

Mark Herrmann

July 13, 2008

This time they're right. The people who run Major League Baseball can be faulted on many scores, but not on this one. Good for them to remind everyone that, you know, they do keep score in the All-Star Game.

Kudos for rewarding the winning league with home-field advantage in the World Series. Props for reminding everyone, "This Time It Counts."

OK, maybe we won't go overboard for the slogan, but the idea is worth keeping at least until the next time it rains indoors, which was the second most bizarre thing that happened in Milwaukee on July 9, 2002.

That was the night of the 7-7 All-Star tie. Take it from someone who was there, it was not pretty. Worse than watching the roof leak at Miller Park, which was being showcased during baseball's ballyhooed Midsummer Classic, was seeing the bewildered look on the face of proud Milwaukeean Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball.

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Chaos reigned that night as managers Joe Torre and Bob Brenly ran out of pitchers, shrugged and basically said, "Let's call it a night." Chaos is not the way any sporting event is supposed to end.

It was clear then that Selig and his deputies either had to find a way to tweak the All-Star Game or just stop having it. What had made baseball's Classic work right from the start in 1933 - and spawned all-star games in every sport everywhere - is that it is dressed up as a regular game. Stellar players in regular uniforms under regular rules.

The thing is not worth holding if it is just a photo opportunity, which is how players began treating it. They would take a couple of hacks, shower and jump into their limos by the fifth inning.

Nor is this spectacle worth anything if managers turn it into a grade-school pageant in which the only thing that matters is that everyone feels good because they were on the nice, big stage. You'll not hear an ounce of criticism of Torre's splendid, Hall of Fame Yankees years from this peanut stand - except on this issue.

The 2002 All-Star Game was his low ebb because he was too darned concerned about making sure all the players liked him.

Brenly deserves a hit, too. The previous day, he had crowed that he knew all the ropes. He said he would keep a durable pitcher in reserve in case the game went long. But then he went out and burned his whole bullpen, and before you knew it, the roof caved in on the sport's reputation.

Good for MLB and the Players Association for agreeing in 2003 to make sure that would never happen again.

The Classic will enter Yankee Stadium on Tuesday with much more credibility than it had six years ago.

Many people scoff at the tie-in with the World Series. Some call it a gimmick. Some say it is terribly arbitrary. But what does it cost?

What's more arbitrary than awarding home field on the basis of whether this is an even- or odd-numbered year (which is the way it always had been done)?

This is better.

"I think people like it. Fans feel like they're rooting for something," said Marla Miller, senior vice president of special events for Major League Baseball.

Billy Wagner, one of the Mets' two All-Stars, said: "I like what it implies. But we all know that it's a little different than when Pete Rose was running over a catcher.

"Is Lance Berkman going to run over the catcher so maybe Billy Wagner and the Mets can host the World Series?" he said, referring to an All-Star from the Astros, a non-contending club.

"And it's a little bit more of a hitter's parade now. You're not going to say, '[Derek] Jeter is up. I'm going to knock him on his butt.' You're just not," Wagner said, meaning that no modern All-Star wants to see his or anyone else's career blown to smithereens the way American League catcher Ray Fosse's was after Rose crashed into him to end the 1970 All-Star Game.

Good points. To be sure, we're not naive enough to believe National League manager Clint Hurdle will belt out a "win one for the Gipper" stem-winder Tuesday. Still, the subtle message "this means something" means something.

Baseball is a game of little checks and balances. You want to bunt a runner over? Fine, but you're going to be out. Want to make a substitution? Great, but the starter can't come back. Want to make a mockery of the All-Star Game? Be our guest, but someone will mock you when they are on the road in October.

Good for baseball people, for making Tuesday night in the Bronx count.

Now, if only they would start the game early enough so people could stay awake and see how it turns out.