Associated Press
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Phillies looking to host All-Star Game again in future
ST. LOUIS - Dave Montgomery will be at the All-Star Game. And while he's in town, the Phillies president will make a point of running into Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer.
The purpose: To get a sense of when Philadelphia might next host an All-Star Game, an event that brings international attention, not to mention a lot of money, to the city that stages it.
Montgomery is well aware, of course, that the Phillies hosted the game at Veterans Stadium as recently as 1996 and that there are several franchises who could stake a claim ahead of Philadelphia.
At the same time, since then the Phillies have opened Citizens Bank Park. And not every team whose turn might come up in any sort of informal rotation system bids on one of baseball's crown jewels. Besides, it never hurts to ask.
"We're anxious to do it, although it's not yet our turn," Montgomery said recently. "I thought when I'm in St. Louis I'd sidle up to [DuPuy] and ask him, 'What's the status? What's the feeling?' "
By any rational logic, eight National League teams should be given consideration ahead of the Phillies (baseball traditionally alternates the host teams by league, although commissioner Bud Selig decreed that San Francisco (2007) would follow Pittsburgh (2006).
Arizona has never hosted an All-Star Game. That will change in 2011. It's already been announced that the Diamondbacks will throw the party 2 years from now. The only other NL team that hasn't held one is the Florida Marlins, who are scheduled to open a new stadium in 2012.
Four teams have built new stadiums since the All-Stars last convened in their cities: New York Mets (1964), Washington Nationals (then the American League Senators, 1969), Cincinnati Reds (1988) and San Diego Padres (1992).
There also are a pair of teams that are playing in the same stadiums but haven't had the game since before the Phillies: Dodgers (1980) and Cubs (1990).
At the same time, the process has never been simply about taking turns. The Pirates, for example, held the game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1994 and again at PNC Park in 2006.
Any number of factors can go into deciding where to award the game. Teams with new stadiums obviously get a close look. Historical tie-ins help; having last year's game in New York for the final season of Yankee Stadium was a no-brainer. And there are times when a struggling franchise might use it to try to jump-start attendance. Florida and Washington might fall into that category and, to a lesser extent, so could Cincinnati and San Diego.
Montgomery brought up an interesting point. Noting that Philadelphia was named the host city in 1976 to coincide with the bicentennial celebration, he said that he hoped the Phillies would also be the All-Star city in 2026.
"I won't be around for that. I mean, I hope I'll be alive for it, but I won't be working," he said with a laugh. "But I believe the game should be in Philadelphia [for the celebration of America's 250th birthday]."
Interestingly, if MLB keeps all the teams in order, that would be just about when the Phillies' turn would next come up. Which is why Montgomery might not push that hard to jump the line.
"We haven't been panting for it, for lack of a better word," he said. *
