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The mid-summer classic is one of the highlights of the Major League Baseball season. I like the fact that it unites players from different teams who aren’t used to playing together for one game per year. The All Star Game is on a different level statistically, and it is historically sound as opposed to the rest of the season and post season, which have had their schedules change since expansion. In other words, you can compare All Star Game records more reliably than all other statistics which have been tainted by schedule changes. All Star Game records are impressive Hall of Fame credentials.
The pageantry of the All Star Game is important too, and in recent years MLB has created “All Star Weekend,” including many sub-events such as Fan Fest, Futures Game, Home Run Derby and an accordant number of promotions, including a wonderful parade up 6th Avenue in New York last year. One highlight I focus on is when the line-ups are announced. You know that part is as it always was. Imagine the Babe, the Hammer, Willie, Reggie, Thurman (NOT Fisk), Rickey and all your favorites gathering for a special game in the sandlot one day per year, and that’s the All-Star Game.
The marketing has made it a bit harder to concentrate on the game. Who has enough attention/interest to participate in all the promotions? I vote every year and actually have a collection of old ballots, but if I participated in every promotion MLB has sent me on email, it would be a real commitment. Despite the distractions, I am very much looking forward to watching the game and all the ads tonight.
A Sampling of MLB’s All-Star Promotions and supplemental programming includes People magazine “All-Stars Among Us”; State Farm Home Run Derby; Ted Williams MVP Vote (Stub Hub) and the online game MLB Dugout Heroes. Corporate sponsorship of the event will include Holiday Inn, Bank of America, Chevrolet and Pepsi. At the live events especially, many of these are tied in to charities (Sheryl Crow and Stand Up to Cancer), as detailed in a recent NY Times article. According to representatives from GM and Holiday Inn, they receive 3-5 times the revenue they invest in MLB!
As Ernie Banks might say, “Let’s play two.”
