By Donald Laible

The 95th MLB All-Star Game on July 15 in Atlanta promises to add memorable moments to the games’ already highlighted history.

Votes have been counted. The starters for both the American and National Leagues are set. On July 2, MLB completed Phase 2 of counting fans’ votes. The top two vote-getters in Phase 2 at all positions other than starting pitchers were up for grabs.

The two players that scored the most votes in Phase 1, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani, were guaranteed to be in their respective leagues’ starting lineups. The reserves for both squads will be announced on July 6. Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts will direct the National League’s 32-player team (20 position players and 12 pitchers). The Yankees’ skipper Aaron Boone will do likewise for the American League.

Since the inaugural All-Star Game, or at times referred to as the Midsummer Classic, in 1933, there have been ample amounts of  special achievements registered by the game’s best players.

Baseball fans have a thirst for seeing the most talented members of all 30 MLB clubs be paired off in what accounts for “two super units” of All-Stars. Back in 1933, at Chicago’s Comiskey Park (then home to the White Sox), both NBC and CBS Radio Networks carried the game live.

The highlight of the All-Star Game came in the third inning when Babe Ruth of the American League Yankees delivered a two-run home run off of St. Louis Cardinals’ hurler Bill Hallahan. With future Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer on first base when Ruth stepped into the batter’s box, the runs scored and secured an American League victory. The Yankees’ Lefty Gomez was the winning pitcher of the 4–2 final score.

From the first league-challenging-league clash in Chicago, over time, the All-Star Game has grown in popularity. During a four-year stretch, from 1959–1962, MLB presented two All-Star Games per season. But, it wasn’t until 1962 that an MVP was selected for each game.

With 1962 being the final season where two All-Star Games were on tap, Maury Wills of the Dodgers was selected as the MVP in the game played at Griffith Stadium in Washington on July 10, 1962. Weeks later, on July 30, 1962, at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Leon Wagner representing the Los Angeles Angeles of the American League was selected MVP.

Since 1962, 21 All-Star Game MVP selections have gone on to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. San Francisco Giants’ Willie Mays was the first player to be selected twice as an All-Star Game MVP.

The very first MLB All-Star Game played indoors came during the 1968 season in Houston, Texas, taking place in the Astrodome—then in its fourth year of existence. It was the first to be played at night since 1944. Not until 11 years later, in Seattle at the Kingdome, did the game be played under a domed roof. The National League won the July 1979 All-Star Game in the Mariners’ home by a score of 7–6.

Heading into this month’s All-Star game, the American League holds a 48–44–2 lead over the National League.

Another interesting nugget of history surrounding the MLB All-Star Game is what took place on July 7, 1937, at Griffith Stadium, as the Washington Senators hosted the event. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended the All-Star Game, and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. President Richard Nixon was present at the All-Star Game in 1970. President John F. Kennedy attended the 1962 All-Star Game. And in 2009, at the MLB All-Star Game being played in St. Louis, Missouri, President Barack Obama was in attendance.

The 41,000-plus fans expected to be at Truist Park for the July 15 All-Star Game will be anticipating numerous long balls being belted, given that the night before is the much anticipated T-Mobile Home Run Derby. With 10 games to go before the All-Star break, Judge already has slugged 31 home runs and rung up 70 RBIs.

If he has a solid night at the plate, and Judge is selected the game’s MVP, he could then look forward to future All-Star Game appearances with a different twist. Should Judge go on to collect MVP honors a second time down the road, he would join four others who have done just that. Steve Garvey, Mike Trout, Cal Ripken Jr., and Mays have all won two MLB All-Star Game MVP Awards.

Perhaps one of the truly amazing gatherings of all-stars came at the 1971 game in Detroit, Michigan. The American League’s 6–4 win at Tiger Stadium was an extra special display of baseball greatness that night. Of the two leagues’ rosters, there were 15 future Hall of Famers in uniform.

Strikeout pitching, long home runs punched, flashy catches around the diamond, with so much exceptional talent loaded in two dugouts for one game, greatness is bound to burst in abundance in Atlanta on July 15.