For me, my favorite All Star Games will always be 1992 in San Diego (the first one I watched closely when Ken Griffey Jr. won the MVP) and 1994 in Philadelphia when Tony Gwynn slid in heroically and scored the winning run.

I was 10 and 12 respectively in those years. And that’s the age when the All-Star Game is a really neat event. Now, it’s just something to do at night in between workdays. Yeah, it’s cool to see some of the power on power match-up’s you’ll never see again; but when I was a kid pal’ing around with all the other neighborhood kids, this game was the gem of our entire summer. It was practically a holiday.

The game has more remarkable talent, and more remarkable young talent then I ever remember. It should be showcased. But tonight’s game will likely be a 4-2 or 3-1 type sleeper with just a small vacuum of big moments. Teams aren’t going to light up either of these pens or collection of arms for a 14-12 donnybrook, which would really get me excited here in my middle age.

But it’s my favorite sport, and it’s the Midsummer Classic damnit! And I’m allowed to be excited for it.

And I really do remember this like it was yesterday, laying on the old yellow carpet that is long since removed at my parents. I couldn’t believe my eyes! The Kid did it!

Like a great shot in 18 holes of golf, that was what kept me coming back to the All Star Game. I was hooked.

It’s so hard to believe; but an entire half season has passed us by. It’s kind of sad.

The All Star Game brings about a time honored tradition we’ve always enjoyed though; even though we admitted to our wife today that it’s kind of painful and a bad game if we’re being honest. It’s really more than all that. We’ll get into why we love the All Star Game Tuesday like we always do on Tuesday.

For now, it’s just reflecting on the sad fact that the season is half over. It sucks! I haven’t even began to read about NFL football or think about training camp because I’m engrossed more than ever in baseball season.

So, in some ways get ready for the most boring four days in your life. The Home Run Derby and Midsummer Classic are more of a formality or a distraction than a contest. And when the teams come back on Friday it’s like sands in the hourglass. The leaves will be on the ground before you know it.

Baseball Tonight held the All Star selection show sponsored by eSurance live from Nationals Park in Washington before tonight’s ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast between the Giants and Nationals. Here are a few notes from the show:

• The first selection they announced was Bryce Harper. It’s clear ESPN has a good relationship with Harper and want to make him a star. I didn’t realize that he wasn’t baseball’s leading vote getter, he just led the NL. We voted one time. Harper had 13.9 million votes.
• Josh Donaldson was the leading vote-getter in all of baseball and probably deservedly so with no one at his position to pull votes from him.
• There were over six billion votes, destroying the previous high total in any year which was 3.2 billion. I miss the paper ballots, but it’s clear we have moved to an online world.
• Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar, Salvador Perez, and Lorenzo Cain were voted in as Royals starters.
• The only other team to place multiple starters on either roster was the Miami Marlins with Dee Gordon and Giancarlo Stanton getting enough of the vote to be elected.
• Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt, and Miguel Cabrera were voted in.
• Matt Holliday who is a solid player; but has been injured for half of the year is probably the only guy you could label undeserving.

The remainder of the rosters get filled out tomorrow night. Baseball is making this a multiple night spectacle, as they should.

MLB All Star Game voting is underway, and this is the time of the year that in the seventy years prior; you and your family or friends would get the great paper ballot at the game. Nothing that great lasts forever. Baseball has decided it wasn’t proper use of their resources to do that anymore.

Balloting is only online now. We took a stab at our first ballot for old times sake today. Spoiler alert: there are personal favorites in here. And why the hell not. Some fan base will send someone who is hitting .245 to the game, so I’m going to vote for my guys.

Here are the guys I want to see in Cincinnati in July:

We were fortunate to have a good friend in Minneapolis the last few days, Corey; who has written for the site before. Next year we figure to be part of the entire All-Star experience from start to finish in Cincinnati, or die trying. For now – enjoy the awesome camera work on these original photos you can’t see anywhere else. This is the famed rainbow that appeared during the home run derby before Todd Frazier starting taking his first round cuts. So I just learned that these guys are known as ‘Minnie’ and ‘Paul’, and they’re exactly 500 feet from home plate. It was mentioned during the game that they have never been reached. Yasiel Puig during All-Star workout day. Here are the contestants of the Home Run Derby. The Captain taking some cuts during batting practice of All Star workout day. A great shot of Jeter during the parade. When you think back to the 2014 All Star Game in the Twin Cities, you’ll think of two main things: Jeter…. And Mike Trout. Who looks like he’s signing a ball for a fan here in the middle of the parade. What a great dude. Lots of respect for Miguel Cabrera, who admitted over the past few days that he isn’t fully healthy. Giancarlo Stanton rides alone. Andrew McCutchen didn’t go without accumulating some stats in this All-Star Game, he singled to lead off the game. You know, the play that Jeter almost made right off the bat. Here’s another one of our favorites Jose Abreu, aka Big Cuban Stud. Jose Bautista in his salmon-colored sports coat. One of the most talked about arms in the game today, Clayton Kershaw. Up close and personal. Paul Goldschmidt Yasiel Puig had a ROUGH couple of days in Minneapolis. This is a great and symbolic shot, really. Puig is such a kid that you figure he was in awe of everything and having such a great time (kid in a candy store) the focus just wasn’t there. And that’s okay. He will have more All Star Games.