Phil Mushnick has had enough of the Midsummer Classic.
The Post’s sports media columnist and resident curmudgeon calls for the All-Star Game to end in his latest missive:
Once the second-most anticipated games to the World Series, the team owner-assigned Guardians of the Game — “Commissioners” engaged as Chief Financial Officers — have allowed the All-Star Game to recede from view as a must-watch rivalry between two distinct leagues, rooting interests firmly attached, to a summer night’s desultory waste of time watching indistinguishable “teams.”
(…)
As kids, we were thrilled to see Mickey Mantle play in his Yankees uniform. Today, MLB would dress him in AL team pajamas.
How did this All-Star Game best serve next year’s? How did it serve to stanch the bleeding of viewers for a business addicted to TV money?
It only served its further demise. Perhaps next year’s Midseason Classic will include a mid-game witch burning, “Brought to you by Zippo, the official lighter fluid of Major League Baseball.”
Look, Mushnick is not wrong. There are many things wrong with the All-Star Game and it has lost its luster. The (ugly) made-for-the-sake-of-being-sold team uniforms are a disgrace. And baseball is run by some of the dumbest, greediest people alive.
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That said: It is really not all that bad in the grand scheme. The world changes and it is never going to be as good as it was 50 years ago. If MLB can be shamed into letting players wear their own jerseys again, all will be fine.
The All-Star take headlines a classic Mushnick column, by the way. He also rips Rutgers football, touches on the culture war and makes fun of Mike Francesa. All we needed was a crack about John Sterling and we would have had Mushnick bingo.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
