MLB All-Star Game Tickets


The MLB All-Star game is commonly called the "Midsummer Classic," and is played every year between the National League and the American League.

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The game is played annually in mid-July, at about the half-way point of the season. The game is used to determine who will have the home field advantage for the World Series. The very first All Star game was played in 1933 in Chicago at the World's Fair. The Chicago Tribune's sports editor came up with the idea as a one-time event which has grown into a yearly competition. Deciding where the game will be played is done by MLB, and alternates between the National and American Leagues yearly.

There are only three franchises whose representatives have never won a game: the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Florida Marlins. Between the years of 1935 and 1946 each All-Star squad's manager chose the players that would be on each team. Fans began voting in 1947. The player selection process has changed numerous times, as when fans were voting, the fans of the Cincinnati Reds dominated the ballots submitted in 1957, and put one of their own in every position. Players, coaches and managers elected players in starting positions until 1970. It has since been given back to fans.

In 1945, the All-Star game was scheduled to be played at Fenway Park in Boston, but was cancelled due to wartime travel restrictions. From 1959 to 1962, each season had two All-Star Games to raise money for players' pension funds and other things. There is only one player of all those that started in the 1934 All-Star Game that have not made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Wally Berger.

The first player to be chosen for the All-Star team that was chosen due to a fan write-in was in 1970, with Rico Carty. Carty was quoted as saying, "Thanks to the fans for making this possible, and thanks to Gilette for making this all necessary." The second player chosen this way was Steve Garvey, and in that 1970 All-Star Game he became MVP. The only time a game was played on a weekend was in 1981, when the game was moved to a Sunday night in Cleveland. The second half of the game was played in Wrigley Field the next day. In 1957, fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box, and seven of the eight players on the All-Star team came from the Reds.

The All-Star Game in Major League Baseball has been played since its start in 1933 at Chicago's World Fair. The game was created by then sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, Arch Ward. Though the intention was a one-time gig, the game has expanded to a yearly event. In fact, from the years of 1959 to 1962, a fund-raising second game was played each season to contribute to players' pension funds and other causes. The very first tie in the game came in 1961 at Fenway Park. Rain stopped the game in the ninth inning.

In 2002, the game ended when both teams had run out of pitchers in the 11th inning. This caused a controversial declaration of a tie by the Commissioner Bud Selig. Home field advantage used to alternate between the two leagues. After that game as an added incentive to have a winner, the advantage for the World Series was awarded to the league who won in 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the same thing was awarded. There is still no guarantee that a tie could not happen again in such a manner, and would cause a "suspended game," with a rescheduled finish to break the tie.