The Very First All-Star Game in 1858?

As we begin the 2007 baseball season I thought it would be interesting to tell you a little history about the very first All-Star Game in 1858. "But wait... I thought The first Major League All-Star Game was played on July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago?" Read on!

"Every once in awhile there is a new and important find that becomes available to the collecting community and is exceptionally important to the development of the game of baseball. On June 23rd just such an item will come up for auction at the SCP Sotheby's live auction in New York City. The pieces are two hand scripted Official Scoring Reports that were used to score the match between the New York All Stars and the Brooklyn All Stars in 1858.

These Official Reports date from the second pivotal game of the very first All Star Game series held at the Fashion Race Course in Queens on August 17, 1858. The hand written Official Scorers Reports are enormously significant for two main reasons. First not only were the Fashion games the very first time ballplayers played in an All Star capacity but it was also the first series where patrons actually paid for the privilege of seeing a game of baseball. As such these gems represent the very awakening of the National Pastime as a business."

from: Baseball Almanac