As Motor City Bengals editor Matt Pelc noted Thursday, the Detroit Tigers have had 244 players represent them in the oldest, most competitive game of it’s type in all of professional sports.
The All-Star Game was born as a promotion idea. After the boom years of the 1920’s baseball was taking a financial beating from the Great Depression while the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair organizers were searching for an event to help boost attendance.
Arch Ward, sports editor for the Chicago Tribune proposed a one-time “Game of the Century” featuring the best players the American and National Leagues had to offer.