Fifty years ago today, Major League Baseball played the All-Star Game in Milwaukee. The National League won, 6-3 (yay!). Bill Madlock and Jon Matlack shared the MVP award. (Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3).
At the break, the Dodgers had played 92 games or 56.8% of their schedule. This season -- 50 years later -- the Dodgers reached the All-Star break having played 97 games or 59.9%. Yet I read a social media complaint just a week or two ago about how the All-Star Game -- the supposed "midsummer classic" -- takes place too late because more than half of the season has passed.
The All-Star Game hasn't shown up at the halfway point of the season in a very long time. (And we're not even close to halfway through summer).
The ASG regularly pops up on either the second or third Tuesday of July. It's been that way for decades. It doesn't matter when the season starts, or how many games have been played, the second or third Tuesday of July is when the ASG exists.
I just went through the schedule for all the All-Star Games, from the 1933 start to tonight's scheduled game in Atlanta. Out of 87 All-Star Games (I excluded 1959-62 when there were two games each year), just 14 have not happened on the second or third Tuesday in July.
When the schedule was 154 games and the season started later in April, there was a better chance of the All-Star Game showing up around the halfway point. With the addition of more teams since the 1960s and an expanded schedule, that hasn't been the case for decades. You'd have to hold the All-Star Game in late June if you wanted to stick to that halfway marker (the Dodgers' 81st game this year was June 25 in Colorado).
I thought it would be interesting (at least to me) to look at those 14 All-Star Games that did not show up on the second or third Tuesday in July.
(Sorry, this is a TCDB image and 1998 Topps names scan crappily). This was the first All-Star Game held in the Mountain Time Zone and remains the highest-scoring All-Star Game (the AL won 13-8 with Cal Ripken supplying a key two-run double). It's the last time an ASG was played on a date other than the second or third Tuesday in July. I don't know why it was early that year.
Still, the Dodgers had already played 87 games by this point, and probably every team was around the same number.
This is the most recent All-Star Game played on a day of the week other than Tuesday. The game was held on July 6 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first All-Star Game, which also took place on July 6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
The All-Star break did not begin until Tuesday that year because Independence Day was on Monday and MLB played a full slate of games. The AL won the All-Star Game this year, 13-3, thanks to Fred Lynn's grand slam. I am on record as disliking this game a lot.
Except for one time when two games were played between 1959-62, this is the only All-Star Game played in August. It wasn't played in July because a baseball strike wiped out the entire month's slate. This game was MLB returning to play for "the second half" with the only Sunday All-Star Game in history.
I remember this game well and was thrilled with Gary Carter leading the National League to a 5-4 victory.
1973 - July 24, Royals Stadium, Kansas City
1972 - July 25, Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta
For three straight years, the All-Star Game was played on the fourth Tuesday of July. It also kicked off 11 straight National League victories so maybe they should still be taking place on the 4th Tuesday!
Steve Garvey, Bobby Bonds and Joe Morgan were the MVPs of those three games. Teams didn't start the season until mid April at this time, but by late July they were still all past the halfway point.
This All-Star Game was played on Wednesday after heavy rain postponed the game from Tuesday, July 22. The game was played in the afternoon on Wednesday, the most recent ASG to not take place in prime time.
Willie McCovey hit two home runs in the NL's 9-3 victory and won the MVP award.
This game, known for Johnny Callison's three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the National League the victory, occurred pretty close to the halfway mark in the season. The Cardinals, for example, who would go on to win the World Series that year, had played 79 of their 162 games.
1942 - July 6, Polo Grounds, New York (first Monday in July). The All-Star Game was delayed by rain and almost didn't make the league's 9:30 p.m. curfew. Most teams hadn't even played half their games.
1938 - July 6, Crosley Field, Cincinnati (first Wednesday in July). During the 1930s, the ASG landed on every day of the week except Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
1937 - July 7, Griffith Stadium, Washington (first Wednesday in July)
1936 - July 7, Braves Field, Boston (first Tuesday in July)
1935 - July 8, Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland (first Monday in July)
1933 - July 6, Comiskey Park, Chicago (first Thursday in July). The first All-Star Game is also the only All-Star Game to take place on a Thursday.
I don't know how interesting that was to you all, but, once again, my curiosity is satisfied. Until probably the mid-1960s, the All-Star Game was somewhat near the middle of the season, but it hasn't been since then.
Personally I hope they never change it. I like it being the second or third Tuesday in July every year. I can plan time-off around it, and three times during my life the ASG has landed on my birthday!
I will be watching once again. Thank goodness everyone will be wearing their team's uniforms this time.
Comments
Not sure how I feel about the “tie-breaker”. It was fun to watch, but to me, it still felt like a tie game.