

Along with the Bambino, fans elected the likes of Lefty Grove, Jimmy Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin to the roster. Ballots were printed in 55 newspapers across the country, and fans cast several hundred thousand votes for their favorite players, with Babe Ruth drawing 100,000. Eventually, the persuasive editor’s lobbying won over the baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the game was set for July 6, 1933.Īs the date drew near, Ward wrote story after story in the Tribune, hyping the game and encouraging the public to participate. By donating all proceeds to a charity for retired players, he argued, they could show the country that Major League Baseball was not, as some had suggested, embracing a culture of “decadence” while ordinary Americans suffered financial ruin. With his boss on board, Ward made his case to the presidents of both leagues and the various team owners, assuring the skeptics among them that the event would help pull baseball out of its slump. Ward was so certain the game would be a hit that he told McCormick to take any losses out of Ward’s own paycheck. As an added twist, fans would have the opportunity to vote on the lineup.
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McCormick turned the matter over to his sports editor, Arch Ward, who proposed a one-time “Game of the Century” that would pit the finest players of the American and National Leagues against each other at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. cities to have teams from the five major American professional team sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer). Jones, a former player, led the team to recover from its ninth-place finish to a respectable third-place finish. The team was able to improve on their 492 record from 1929 and finished with a 941 record under first-year head coach Ralph Jones.

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Many teams also experimented with discounts and other innovations designed to woo back fans, including free admission for women, grocery giveaways and the first night games in baseball history. The 1930 season was the Chicago Bears ' 11th in the National Football League. Owners of baseball teams across the country economized by shrinking their rosters, firing their coaches and slashing wages. Fans who could still afford tickets migrated from the more expensive box seats to the bleachers, which cost 50 cents. Originally billed as a one-time “Game of the Century,” it has now become a permanent and much-loved fixture of the baseball season.īetween 19, attendance at major league baseball games, which had skyrocketed during the 1920s, plummeted 40 percent, while the average player’s salary fell by 25 percent. The brainchild of a determined sports editor, the event was designed to bolster the sport and improve its reputation during the darkest years of the Great Depression. On July 6, 1933, Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game took place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Sports: A City for Sports Fans Chicago Cubs - baseball Chicago Bears - football Chicago Bulls - basketball Chicago White Sox - baseball Chicago Blackhawks.
