The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball's All-Star Game

When I was younger, I used to read The Sporting News Baseball Dope Book to keep abreast of the progression (with statistical history and records) of the MLB All-Star Game. However, The Dope Book was discontinued long before the release of "The Midsummer Classic," and it did not have play by play. I purchased "The Midsummer Classic" primarily because it had very detailed play-by-play of the games, particularly ones I was interested in from prior years. As an encyclopedia, this book is top notch. Its box scores have expanded information, and it is very thorough on rosters, including changes and replacements. "The Midsummer Classic" also gives the year-by-year performances of every All-Star player and pitcher and contains a very drawn-out section on records. The thorough game summaries are detailed and well written, and their opening paragraphs highlight developments that set the stage for the games. In dramatizing the games and providing color, however, "The Midsummer Classic" falls short. The few photographs included are in black and white, and they show the stars in only small sizes, minimizing the drama of the action. (Well, at least I can report that the editors got Pete Rose crashing into Ray Fosse at home plate in 1970.) Extra elements such as anecdotes, profiles, themes, or other things that would give perspective are missing. There are no special figures, charts, boxes, or varied text sizes or fonts that might showcase interesting players, facts, and events. Although I do miss whatever color and creativity could have been part of the picture, I definitely value this book for its abundance of detail. It certainly is the absolute book of record for 20th century All-Star Games.

Baseball Almanac ([website]) has the most extensive collection of All-Star related data on the Internet. This book has even more! Incredible research, great sources, tons of data, and an annex that by itself is worth the price of the book. Four stars instead of five due to a few inconsistencies between the rosters, lineups, & boxscores, but a must have resource for the hardcore baseball fan interested in our Midsummer Classic.

I collect baseball reference books and this one is right on the shelf closest to my desk by my Total Baseball, my Baseball Encyclopedia and my Baseball Biographical Encylopedia. It contains wonderful leaderboards of all-star information and play-by-play of every all-star game. For instance, the area describing Pete Rose's mad dash home to win the game has the full inning summary: Torre grounds out, Clemente grounds out, Rose singles, Grabarkewitz singles (Rose to 2nd) and Hickman singles (Rose scores). Every inning of every All-Star game has this level of detail. Nowhere else is this information available.My only complaint is the lack of pictures. While it kept the cost of production down, it does seem to be a feature you would want to have.

This book presents each All-Star game (1933-2000) with textual background, box score, rosters & starting lineups, complete play-by-play, and a photo or two. The book has great reference value. The text, though, is fairly wooden : useful but gracelessly flat - a real disappointment considering the colorful and often dramatic subject matter. Still, a highly recommended purchase for all baseball fans, not just historians.