1933 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

The first official MLB All-Star exhibition game on July 6, 1933, was held at Comiskey Park (1910–1990) and was part of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair during the city's centennial. The 1933 MLB All-Star Game was the idea of Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, after the Mayor of Chicago, Edward J. Kelly, had first approached the Tribune's publisher for a major sport event.[4] The game was intended to be a one-time event to boost morale during the Great Depression. Ward decided that the fans would select the starting nine players and the managers the other nine players for each of the NL and AL All-Star teams. The Tribune called it the "Game of the Century", and 55 newspapers across the country printed the fans' ballots in their papers.[5] The Tribune estimated the game's attendance on July 6, 1933, at 49,000. The proceeds ($45,000, net gate receipts) from the game went to a charity for disabled and needy major league players. The All-Star Game would afterwards be known as MLB's "Midsummer Classic".

The legendary baseball player Babe Ruth of the Yankees highlighted the game by hitting a two-run home run to right field in the bottom of the third inning and catching a fly ball up against the scoreboard in right-center field in the top of the eighth inning. Ruth was greeted at home plate by the AL/Chicago White Sox batboy John McBride and teammate Lou Gehrig. Twenty of the game's thirty-six All-Stars including Ruth would later be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. Both the game's managers, five out of six coaches, and two out of the four umpires on the field that day would also be future Hall of Famers. Two AL All-Stars were White Sox players, starting third baseman Jimmy Dykes and starting center fielder Al Simmons. Yankee Lefty Gomez was the winning pitcher for the American League.

The NL team wore specially made gray uniforms and navy blue caps with "National League" in navy blue felt letters on the front of the jersey, a large navy blue felt number on the back and "NL" in white letters printed on the navy caps. The AL team members each wore their home uniform. The NL members were allowed to keep their All-Star uniforms and caps. In 1934, each NL member used their home uniform and cap.

The game's official AL baseball was changed to an official NL baseball and the AL home plate umpire was replaced by a NL home plate umpire after the top of the 5th inning.[6] 60 baseballs autographed by All-Star players were given out before the game started.

Personnel in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

• 1933 All-Star Game Box Score, July 6 at Baseball-Reference.com
• 1933 All-Star Game at Baseball Almanac
• July 6, 1933: A Dream Realized - Comiskey Park hosts first All-Star Game; Babe Ruth homers - Society for American Baseball Research (SABR Games Project)