How modern media killed the All-Star Game
Growing up in an American League city, years before endless television coverage of everything, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente were mysteries to me -- except for one day. The All-Star Game was so special because, for a few hours, I got to see talent and flair that simply did not exist in the slower, more predictable American League.
My hometown team stole Frank Robinson from Cincinnati and Frank delivered four World Series and two championships in six years to Baltimore. Almost all of the other transcendent stars of the late 1960s and '70s were in the National League.
When the Yankees went bad in the mid-'60s, the National League began to dominate the All-Star Game, once winning eight straight and then 11 straight. But it was never about the outcome for me. It was just about seeing Mays lead off, get on and start running, Aaron’s incredible swing and Clemente’s unparalleled arm. You just wanted to see what you had only imagined.
And that, unfortunately, is the problem with the modern All-Star Game. There is nothing left to the imagination. If you live in an American League city, you are not going to be surprised by Kris Bryant’s swing. You have seen it on MLB, ESPN and Fox, watched on your smartphone or laptop.
The players are still great even if it’s about as hard as it has ever been to get a hit, so dominant has pitching become. And my generation certainly was spoiled by living during a time when many of the game’s greatest legends played. Whatever the reason, I just don’t sense the same sense of anticipation for the All-Star Game.
In addition to the absence of the unknown, it might also be our 24/7 world in which there is little time for reflection because the next event is rushing toward us even as the most recent event is being analyzed to death.
There was a time when the joy was in the journey. That time, sadly, has passed. Now, it’s all about the destination.
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’’
F. Scott Fitzgerald was not contemplating the All-Star Game when he wrote his epic final line in "The Great Gatsby.’’ Still, somehow, his line came to me when I was.
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