Although Bud Selig successfully presided as commissioner over Major League Baseball for more than two decades, it was his shrugged-shoulder look at the end of the 2002 All-Star Game that fans remember him most for.
It was because of that 2002 exhibition, which ended somewhat anticlimactically in a 7–7 tie after 11 innings—amid a seas of boos—as both teams ran out of pitchers, that Selig decided to make it a more serious affair.
Selig, who introduced successful innovations like the wild card playoff system as well as interleague play, decided to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner of the All-Star Game. (Previous to that the leagues alternated home-field advantage.)
Of course, the game was originally supposed to be a not-so-serious affair for the fans and this year’s game in Cincinnati—at the Great American Ballpark—should be a reminder of why that is.
