As a youngster, I eagerly looked forward every summer to baseball’s All-Star Game. To me, it was the ultimate. It was baseball at its best.
        Back then, the All-Star Game really meant something --  at least to this young teenager, glued to the couch in the carefully-darkened living room (believe it or not, they played the game in broad daylight in those days), a bowl of freshly-popped popcorn within easy reach, intently watching every pitch, every hit, on our little black-and-white TV.
        I taught myself to keep score watching the All-Star Game during the 1950s. I even made my own score sheets. I placed my first wager on the 1956 Mid-summer Classic. As I recall, I lost a whole dime.
        I was covering the All-Star Game in 1970 when Pete Rose barreled into catcher Ray Fosse in the 12th inning to win the game. I was at Tiger Stadium in ‘71 when Reggie Jackson bounced a home run off the light tower. In case you have forgotten, in addition to Jackson, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew and Roberto Clemente  -- all future Hall of Famers -- all homered in the game, too.
        Unfortunately, they don’t make All-Star Games like that anymore.
        And the games don’t seem to matter nearly as much.
        In fact, despite baseball’s contrived gimmick of awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the league that wins the mid-summer gala, the All-Star Game doesn’t matter at all.
        Of course, every player wants to be an All-Star once in his career. After that, most would rather have the three or four days off.
        Thanks to ESPN, we now see the best plays and the best players from both leagues on TV night after night.
        And with the arrival of the abomination known as inter-league play, watching the stars from one league battle the stars from the other league is no longer a novelty.
        The All-Star Game is now nothing more than a glitzy dog-and-pony show. And a very costly one at that.
        Last year, as the manager of the American League  All-Star team, Jim Leyland received four complimentary tickets to the game.
        This year, as an A.L. coach, he is only entitled to two freebies. So, in order to take his wife and two kids to the last All-Star Game that will ever be played at old Yankee Stadium,  he had to spend $650 to buy a ticket for his teenage son.
        “If I had had to buy him a ticket to the home run contest, that would have been another $525,” Leyland said. “But I’m going to get him sit in the dugout and watch that with me.”
        No doubt, 16-year-old Patrick Leyland will be thrilled.
        Me? I don’t plan to watch either event. They just don’t matter anymore.