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The first All-Star game in Major League Baseball was played on July 6, 1933. The game was an effort to make professional baseball more popular, and it remains a beloved event on the MLB calendar today. According to History.com, attendance at professional baseball games fell 40 percent between 1930 and 1933. That decline likely had little to do with the game of baseball and much to do with the Great Depression, which ultimately proved to be the longest depression of the twentieth century. The Great Depression began in 1929andlastedadecade,and the fallout from the depression was felt in every corner and industry, including professional baseball. Many once-ardent baseball fans, who helped to establish record attendance in the 1920s, could no longer afford tickets during the Great Depression. Arch Ward, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, was tasked with devising a sporting event that could be held in conjunction with the 1933 World’s Fair. Ward ultimately proposed a game featuring baseball’s biggest stars, and fans were even encouraged to vote for who would play in the game. Several eventual Hall of Famers, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx, were voted into the game, which was played atComiskeyParkinChicago. Nearly 48,000 fans attended thegame,whichendedwitha 4-2 American League victory. Baseball owners and executives took note, and the game has been played nearly every year since 1933, with only war and a global pandemic preventing the league from hosting its annual Midsummer Classic.
