The All-Star Game didn’t determine home-field advantage in the World Series when Pete Rose was a regular participant in the ’60s and ’70s, but he recalled league pride placed a definite emphasis on winning the game.
That meant the best players played most of the game, if not the entire game. Rose routinely got four at-bats when he was a starter. Carl Yastrzemski made six trips to the plate (getting four hits) in the famous 1970 All-Star Game, when Rose had his defining moment in taking out catcher Ray Fosse in the 12th inning to score the winning run for the National League.
“You weren’t going to tell Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente that they were getting one at-bat and then taking a hike,” said Rose, a 17-time All-Star. “They wanted to play the whole game.”
Rose and Fox play-by-play man Joe Buck think the current All-Star Game needs to revert to that old approach, especially with more than pride now on the line. Buck will be on the call for the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Cincinnati. Rose will be on hand as an analyst working Fox’s pre- and postgame shows.
Buck is a strong advocate of linking the All-Star Game to home-field advantage in the World Series. However, he argues both leagues need to go a step further and play their stars for most of the game. He is not a fan of managers trying to get everyone in the game, as has been the case in recent years. No player had four at-bats in last year’s All-Star Game, and the American League had only two players with three.
“How crazy would it be to just play this game to win? Is that a bad thing?” Buck said. “As someone who has called these games, it seems like I’m always going, ‘Hey, there’s a new right fielder; hey, there’s a new second baseman; hey, there’s a new shortstop.’ It just becomes silly.”
The ratings suggest that some viewers agree with Buck. The numbers were fairly steady when Major League Baseball initially tied home-field advantage to the All-Star Game, beginning with the 2003 game at U.S. Cellular Field. However, the ratings dipped from a 9.3 in 2008 to all-time lows with three straight games below 7 from 2011-13. The ratings rebounded to 7.5 last year thanks in part to Derek Jeter’s last All-Star appearance.
Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports’ senior vice president of programming and research, stressed that the All-Star Game remains one of television’s top-rated shows during the summer. Yet he concedes the game “does wrestle with what it wants to be.”
“The game is forced to wear several hats,” Mulvihill said. “On the one hand, you’d love to see Bryce Harper get five at-bats Tuesday. But if you’re a Padres fan, and maybe you’re a kid, and Justin Upton doesn’t get to play, you’re going to be disappointed. It’s a difficult challenge to determine what’s in the best interest of the game.”
Buck, though, thinks the choice is obvious. The ratings might improve if fans knew the best players were going to play deeper into the game.
“I think the fans would buy in more,” Buck said. “If a player is upset by not playing, too bad. Play better next year. … I’d like to see it be more of a game. More like it counts.”
Rose’s return: Rose’s presence should help Fox’s ratings Tuesday. Even though he still is banned from baseball, he and other former Reds greats will be honored in pregame ceremonies.
Rose joined Fox’s studio crew for baseball this year, presumably with the OK of Commissioner Rob Manfred. Rose is tackling the assignment the same way he played baseball: all-out and hard-hitting.
“I enjoy going into the green room and watching as many games as I possibly can,” Rose said. “To be able to go into American homes on a regular basis and talk about what I just watched and argue with Frank Thomas and Chris Myers, it’s just a lot of fun. I watch baseball games every night, and I care about the game, I love the game, and I want the game to be successful.”
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