All-Star Sports During The Great Depression

Around the time of the Great Depression in the 1920’s, the number of fans who attended Major League Baseball games plummeted. In order to entice fans to attend games, many teams created promotional events like grocery giveaways, free admission for women, and discounted tickets. Even with these events, the most successful idea was the first Major League Baseball or MLB All-Star game on July 6, 1933. The All-Star game occurred in the middle of the season between the American and National Leagues. The location of the first All-Star game was in Chicago, Illinois at Comiskey Park (History n.pag.). Another significant event was the East West Negro All-Star game on September 10, 1933, which was also held in Chicago. Due to the lack of interest

in Baseball during the Great Depression, the Major League Baseball officials created the first All-Star game in 1933 between the National and American leagues, which in turn influenced the beginning of the East-West Negro All-Star Classic.
The sport of baseball was forever changed, when the first All-Star game was played between the American and National leagues.

The Great Depression was a decline in the American economy that detrimentally affected the spending habits of American citizens. Due to the Great Depression, the number of fans attending regular season baseball games decreased from ten million to six million. A man named Archibald Burnette Ward instituted the idea of an All-Star game. This game would feature the two teams that consist of the Major League, which were the American and the National leagues. Although Ward’s main profession was a sports writer, he changed the fate of baseball with what is now known as the “Mid-Summer Classic Game”. Ward’s proposal changed the fate of baseball by sparking interest of fans, even though money was scarce for the people of American at the time (Aron n. pag.). Overall, the idea of composing an All-Star game between the two leagues that made up Major League Baseball was influential for the future and popularity of the sport for years to

come.
With the new idea of an All-Star game, the league would create a reoccurring event that still exists in present day. For the first two years of the All-Star games, the teams were picked by the team’s managers as well as the fans. The two managers for the All-Star game were John McGraw for the National League and Connie Mack for the American League (Geisler n.pag.). The managers picked the most valuable players across the league, including Babe Ruth from the New York Yankees. Ruth changed the face of Baseball with his third inning homerun that ultimately brought in the winning two runs. Ultimately, the American League won the first All-Star game with a score of four to two. The performances displayed in the game allowed sixteen out of thirty men among the two teams to land their earned spot in the Hall of Fame (Hersh n. pag.). With the help of Babe Ruth and other valuable players across the league, the first All-Star game was successful.
Since the year 1933, the Major League Baseball commissioners have made the All-Star game an annual event that takes place in different locations each year in the United States.

The rise in popularity of the All-Star game started because of the excitement revolving around the idea of an interleague game that never occurred previously. Therefore, the game caught fans attention because it was the only time the American and National league played against each other, not including one game at the end of the season. In order to play an interleague game, each respected league must win their league’s pennant. With that in mind, fans became eager for the new, different type of competition amongst Major League Baseball (Bauer n. pag.). Without the first successful All-Star game in 1933, the game may not have become a beloved annual event of

baseball.
Since the Major League Baseball’s All-Star game was successful, the East-West Negro League created a similar annual event. Just like the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the East-West Negro game took place on September 10, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. This game was significant for the Negro community because it symbolized equality amongst white and black baseball players. With this in mind, fans were also excited due to the undeniable talent that the Negro League consisted of. Interestingly, more people attended the Negro All-Star game than a double-header at Wrigley field. The difference in attendance was about eight-thousand people, which proves the talent and significance of the East-West Negro All-Star game. Even though the game did not seem significant at the time, the Negro game could be the reason behind the integration of the white and black league within the following years (Margalus n. pag.). With the help of undeniable talent and interest of the game, about twenty thousand fans came to support the Negro All-Star game, just a few weeks after the MLB All- Star game.
All in all, the Great Depression became a time of inspiration and creativity for baseball officials with the creation of the MLB All-Star game as well as the Negro All-Star game. Even at a difficult economic time period for Americans, the two respected league’s All-Star games created an annual event that fans and media were excited to occur each year. These two events were significant to the creation of an integrated league with one All-Star game that occurs across the United States each year. Consequently, each All-Star game significantly impacted the sport of baseball for years to come, due to the integration of baseball and the excitement that revolves around the annual All-Star Game or the “Mid-Summer Classic”.