With all due respect to the WNBA All-Star Game, which was played Sunday in Chicago, the NBA and NHL All-Star games and the NFL’s Pro Bowl, the only All-Star Game that offers great offense and great defense is Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. Even ESPN’s Bob Ryan, my writing partner on ‘‘In Scoring Position: 40 Years of a Baseball Love Affair’’ and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, agrees. (But he does claim to remember great
defensive battles in the NBA’s midseason exhibition.) The first All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park on July 6, 1933. It was the brainchild of Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune. It was designed to lift the spirits of the country mired in the Great Depression. I like to hope the game continues to lift the spirits of those who watch and enjoy baseball.
