ALL-STAR GAME PREVIEW : MISCELLANY

HOW IT ALL BEGAN: The current All-Star series began when Arch Ward, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, persuaded league owners to go along with his proposal for a game between stars from the American and National leagues, to be played in Chicago during that city’s Century of Progress Exposition in 1933.

PICKING A STAR: All-star managers (who, except for the first game, have been the manager of the previous year’s pennant winners) shared with fans the selection of players for the first two games. From 1935 through 1946 the manager selected his entire squad. Since 1947, he has chosen pitchers and all other players except the eight members of the starting lineup. The fans chose the starters in 1947-1957; after an incident of ballot-box stuffing by Cincinnati partisans in 1957, the major league players, coaches and managers made the choice in 1958-1969; in 1970 the selection of starting lineups was returned to the fans.

THE FANS LOVED HIM: Rod Carew leads the way with a total of 32,366,682 all-star votes from the fans. Carew played in 15 games, representing both the Minnesota Twins at second base (1967-1969 and 1971-1978) and the California Angels at first base (1980-1981 and 1983-1984). The career .328 hitter wasn’t quite as popular at the plate, hitting only .244 in his 41 all-star at bats with 2 runs batted in and 8 runs scored.

A look at the starting lineups chosen by the fans and starting pitchers chosen by Los Angeles manager Tommy Lasorda and Oakland’s Tony La Russo. Test your All-Star knowledge, go back to the beginnings, find out the fans favorite and recall the longest played All-Star game, 15 innings, 22 years ago in Anaheim. Finish with a look at some of the greatest moments in All-Star history.

Source: Major League Baseball, Total Baseball and The Encyclopedia of Baseball