While some in the national media are sneering at the alleged “No Stars” Game, Major League Baseball, the staff, the players (current and former stars), and the hordes of volunteers have made this All-Star Game one for the ages. Because it was never about the stars. It’s the fans, not the big names on the field, that make this game special, something these columnists just don’t get.
I’ve read several columns deriding the summer classic for the “lack” of star power, missing big some names, using an almost sneering tone that suggests the game should be canceled, and that “it was better in the old days,” citing Pete Rose’s home plate collision, Dizzy Dean’s toe, and Reggie Jackson’s home run, that “their All-Star Games” were somehow better than today’s.
To investigate this midsummer classic, I decided to go “undercover” and serve as a fan experience worker. This year, I learned a lot at MLB’s incredibly well-run fan experience.
After the labor strikes, baseball decided that it had to create larger-than-life “stars” to save the game. As a result, we saw players who felt they had to use performance-enhancers to keep up with those expectations, rival players, and monstrous contracts. That scandal did more damage to the sport than any strike. We felt cheated after all the hype and excitement.
Those grinches in the press box, and on Reddit sites and blogs, from their air-conditioned confines, make the same mistake the animated Grinch does about Christmas, thinking the holiday is only about the presents and decorations. Those are the big names in the game. They forget that it’s about the fellowship, sharing, and togetherness, and that’s the fan experience.
I’ve logged more than five miles a day around the Capitol One Cobb Galleria Baseball Experience, helping fans ask interview questions on MLB’s program to Dusty Baker, Rollie Fingers, and Dan Uggla. I’ve helped make sure legions of fans can get that coveted autograph from Terry Pendleton and Glenn Hubbard. Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman invited me into their dugout before the HR 3x3 Derby to talk strategy, and hear about our LaGrange College Baseball Team, its ex-MLB coach David Kelton, and college graduate Katie Hearn, who works for the Atlanta Braves. I’ve timed kids running themselves ragged from third to home, trying to beat three seconds. And the kids in the Virtual Reality Home Run Derby act like they’ve made it to the big leagues themselves. There are proud parents too, capturing it all on video.
MLB moved the game from Atlanta a few years ago over voting concerns. I wrote a column suggesting that the All-Star game register people to vote. My prayers were answered in Atlanta!
I’ve met fellow volunteers who range from college students (including Seth Horne, a wheelchair-bound Sports Management major living the dream) to men and women old enough to be my parents. One fell trying to get player autographs at the Derby. As several fans rushed to help her, she gave one a baseball and begged “please get their signatures for me!” They players obliged.
Anyone watching the packed Home Run Derby in Truist Park saw a contest that would wow the late Pete Rose. My wife put down her book, my oldest kid paused drawing, my youngest stopped playing his video game, and even our cats watched the TV screen as Seattle Catcher Cal Raleigh won the event, as his dad pitched and 15-year old younger brother served as catcher, in an epic battle against Junior Caminero of Tampa Bay, while Oneil Cruz, Byron Buxton and Matt Olson put on a show too. It’s not just about attracting stars. Stars were created at that epic event.
That’s because it’s about the game, not the names. MLB now gets it, and so do the fans.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.
