I've cleared my schedule and I've got snacks but I'm not expecting much from tonight's All-Star Game.
It's been exactly 50 years for me of watching the All-Star Game. For decades, my expectations were high. It was a highlight of the summer for me. And even when I got older and not as attached to the players, and MLB started tinkering with the format, I'd still remain enthusiastic and look on the bright side because of tradition and all of the games I enjoyed in the past. And it was still stars and baseball.
But I'm just not feeling it anymore. Last year's game was it for me. I tried to stay quiet but people close to me know I hated the in-game interviews -- especially multiple interviews going on at the same time -- and I really disliked the HR derby to decide the winner.
I know I'm shouting into the void. It's clear that many enjoy the changes. But I look at it as the usual failing of successful businesses, from Topps to MLB. Bigger and more is not always better.
This blog is filled with odes to the All-Star Game, from my favorite games to my favorite All-Star card designs and All-Star cards. But today I've got my least favorite All-Star cards. It seems appropriate for how I'm feeling.
No order to this, just cards I'm not crazy about.
For much of the 2000s, an All-Star card has meant merely slapping that year's ASG logo onto the photo and calling it a day. Some years at least the logo is large enough to make an impact, but Topps made the 2013 All-Star logo tiny. Does not look All-Star-ish. Looks like a regular card.
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Not your traditional All-Star card. This is an All-Star set and by "set" I mean regular base cards that Topps stamped with the All-Star logo. It doesn't reflect on the player at all. Austin Barnes was not an All-Star.
The years when MLB made players wear pregame jerseys that represented the host team was not a highlight for me. I don't want my Dodgers to look like Marlins. (Maybe the ASG is still doing this? I'm paying less attention).
Even worse, my Dodgers looking like Padres. I made plenty of noise about this card when it came out. Still don't like it.
In 2025, Topps made the Update All-Star cards foil. It was bad enough that Topps turned All-Star cards into inserts but then they changed them to look like completely different cards. I know some collectors like that they did this. To each their own.
This card feels like it doesn't belong with the other ones, and I do like it better. I just know when I saw these 1974 Topps All-Star cards for the first time, I didn't like that two All-Star players were sharing one card. I grew up in the one All-Star/one-card era and the '74 cards seemed like they were slighting the All-Star.
I've mentioned many times my dislike of yellow as a prominent design choice on cards. Don't like these 2006 ASG cards for that reason.
Even worse the year before. Yellow strips right through the photo.
And that's all I've got. Overall, I like the majority of the All-Star cards I have, because the focus of my collection is from the late 1960s into the early 1990s.
To me that was the best time for All-Star Games, too. I will try to remember those times and enjoy the moments tonight that resemble those times. There is still a baseball game in there somewhere. I'll root for the NL like I always do. But I hope this time they win in the way games are won for the vast majority of history.
All right, apologies for two negative posts in a row. The next one will be positive. And about modern cards, too!
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