Source: Mets to host 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field
The original home run apple from Shea Stadium is now displayed in front of Citi Field. (Apr. 4, 2010) Credit: John Dunn
The All-Star Game is finally returning to Queens next season after a 48-year hiatus, only this time to Citi Field, and Major League Baseball will make the official announcement Wednesday at a City Hall news conference, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The fact that Citi Field would host the 2013 Midsummer Classic was the worst-kept secret in baseball as plans had been in the works for nearly two years. Commissioner Bud Selig said a month ago during an Associated Press Sports Editors meeting at MLB headquarters that an announcement on the 2013 game at Citi Field would be forthcoming.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mets chairman and CEO Fred Wilpon and Selig are scheduled to be at this morning's news conference to make the official announcement.
"It's great for the city," Mets third baseman David Wright said before Tuesday night's game against Milwaukee. "I got a chance to participate in the one that closed out Yankee Stadium, a tremendous stage for an All-Star Game. I think, deservingly so, it will give a chance for kind of the world to see the stadium, see the new place and kind of show it off a little bit."
New York last had the All-Star Game in 2008, during the farewell season of old Yankee Stadium, and the logistics of pulling off such an event in the city have become even more complex since that time.
The All-Star Game is usually played on the second Tuesday in July -- that would be July 9 in 2013 -- but MLB also schedules the Futures Game, for top prospects, on the preceding Sunday and the Home Run Derby for Monday night.
In 2008, MLB had a five-day Fan Fest at the Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's West Side and also arranged for a pregame "Red Carpet" parade that went up Sixth Avenue from Bryant Park to Central Park. The 2013 event should have similar festivities, which likely is what involved more protracted discussions with city officials.
Shea Stadium hosted the 1964 All-Star Game in its first year of existence and never again.
"I'm very happy for the people here at Citi Field," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "It's a beautiful ballpark. It will be a tremendous stage for the Midsummer Classic. It will be held in one of the nicest ballparks in the country."
