Index-Tribune Sports Editor
Of all the all-star games held in North America’s professional men’s sports leagues – including the NFL, NBA, NHL and the newest member, the MLS, Major League Baseball still has the best all-star format, mainly because baseball is the only sport that doesn’t rely on a clock to determine the length of a game.
And baseball isn’t nearly as physical when it comes to body contact, while the NFL offers a variety of athletic skills but is also referred to as a violent sport, defined as “acting with or having great physical force.” Which explains why pro gridders don’t want to put their bodies on the line just for an all-star appearance.
Then there’s the NBA, which annually experiments with different ways to make the all-star game more compelling, while it basically resembles more of an offensive skirmish. That also could be said for the NHL, though it’s improving its product. Meanwhile, the MLS seems fine because, well, soccer is soccer.
Basically, an all-star event is supposed to offer a true athletic competition between the leagues, so fans can watch with a degree of passion. But over the years its become more of a red-carpet demonstration of celebrity athletes going through the motions with no real desire for which side wins or loses.
Now I’m probably going to sound like another old-timer, complaining about missing the good old days when money didn’t control everything about pro sports. But I do remember a time when the NBA all-star games were played full-tilt with a desire for one league to beat the other. And real competition was even more evident in the MLB, with all-stars from the National and American Leagues wanting nothing else but to win.
If you want to talk about pure baseball desire and passion, check out what the late great two-time, all-star MVP, Willie Mays, had to say about the all-star game, or watch a highlight of the also great Pete Rose, scoring a run by smashing through catcher Ray Fosse at home plate.
The 2026 edition of MLB’s All-Star Game was recently held in Philadelphia and, of course, I watched it because that’s what I do, and have done for more than six decades. I haven’t missed an MLB mid-summer classic since I first saw it on a small TV screen in 1960, and my all-star viewing streak has reached 69.
But my all-star viewing commitment has slowly started to waver since the MLB came up with interleague play, which has grown from just a few games to a full schedule, where all the teams from both the National and American Leagues play each other all season.
So, what used to be a rivalry between both leagues has been watered down, because all the teams now play and know each other. And that takes the unknown and the mystery out of interleague opponents, when in the old days the only way the National League and American League teams knew each other was through newspapers and TV.
I’m all for progress, but sometimes making a change can water down a good thing, like an all-star event.
Ciao!
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