At last, tonight's the night for the 2011 MLB All-Star Game, the 82nd in the series.
82nd? It hasn't been going for 82 years, you're saying. The first one was in 1933, 78 years ago. But from 1959-62, baseball decided to play two All-Star Games, to help benefit the then fairly new players' pension fund. Here's Jeff Sullivan's take on it from last week and here are some more details about one of those games, the second All-Star Game played in 1962 at Chicago's Wrigley Field.
Tonight's telecast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox, but expect almost the entire first hour to be taken up by ceremonies, the National Anthems of the USA and Canada, and tons and tons of commercials. Last year's first pitch didn't occur until 8:50 p.m. Eastern. Starting pitchers are Roy Halladay of the Phillies and Jered Weaver of the Angels; announcers are Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. For the latter, there's always the mute button.
Make sure you check out our home page for our All-Star Game 2011 liveblog which will launch soon.