I’ve probably watched every Major League Baseball All-Star Game on television since the 1960s. Until this year. That’s because I finally saw the Midsummer Classic in person last week at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. It was one of the biggest baseball events remaining on my bucket list. I have been to a World Series game. I’ve been to Cooperstown twice. I’ve made the trek to Spring Training in Florida twice, and I’ve been to the College World Series in Omaha. The All-Star Game was overdue.

Of course, the rosters of both teams contained some of the biggest names in the game today, especially the position players. Returning all-stars included several of the game’s best hitters--Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman, and Vlad Guerrero Jr. All of these players will eventually be on Hall of Fame watch lists.

Then there were the up-and-comers, including Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz, Adley Rutschman, Riley Green and Bobby Witt Jr., all of whom figure to return in future All-Star Games.

Sadly, I missed seeing Ronald Acuna Jr., Jose Altuve, and Mookie Betts, who were named to the All-Star teams, but did not play due to injuries.

On the other hand, there was a shortage of veteran all-star pitchers on the rosters. Except for Braves pitcher Chris Sale, there was no one else of the caliber of Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom, and Shane Bieber, all of whom have dealt with injuries this season. It was Sale’s eighth All-Star selection, but the rest of the two staffs consisted of pitchers who were making their first or second All-Star appearance. The newcomer everyone wanted to see was Pittsburgh’s sensational Paul Skenes, who was only the fifth rookie to start an All-Star game.

The pre-game’s first-pitch honors were carried out by Hall of Fame members from the Texas Rangers—Nolan Ryan, Ferguson Jenkins, Ivan Rodriguez, and Adrian Beltre, who was inducted on July 21. Beltre looks like he could still suit up for a game and smack yet another hit.

Skenes didn’t disappoint the capacity crowd of nearly 40,000 during his All-Star debut. Although he didn’t strike out any American Leaguers he faced, he overpowered Steven Kwan, Gunnar Hendeson and Aaron Judge on weak infield contact.

Ohtani got the National League on the scoreboard first with a three-run bomb in the third inning. It’s amazing how he can rise to the occasion, as he frequently does in regular-season games. The Americans immediately bounced back in the bottom of that inning when Juan Soto smacked a two-run double, and David Fry’s single scored Soto.

Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, a first-time All-Star, broke the tie in the fifth with a two-run home run, which earned him MVP honors for the game. And that was all the scoring for the game. The AL made the most of their five hits, winning 5-3, their 10th victory in the last 11 games.

Both teams practically emptied their bullpens, as a total of 20 pitchers were used in the game. Not surprisingly, there were 15 strikeouts in the game.

I attended the game with my son Lee. Judging by the jerseys and caps that fans were wearing, we were surprised to see that the vast majority of the crowd attending the game appeared to be local Texans. We expected to see more of a national crowd.

We remarked how hideous the All-Star uniforms looked, especially the American League’s use of a bright orange color on the jerseys and caps. I’d prefer the players to wear the uniforms of the teams they represent.

As part of our journey to attend a game in every current major-league stadium, we had previously attended games at Globe Life Field, so that part wasn’t a new experience for us. The exterior of the stadium lacks the classic look of the best baseball stadiums, but the playing field and other amenities inside the stadium are first-class and a fitting environment for an All-Star Game.

I think one of the advantages MLB’s All-Star Game has over its counterparts in football and basketball is the fact that the competition among the teams and players is legitimate. The All-Star Game is played with the same intensity as regular-season games. Pitchers are not serving up batting practice-like pitches in the game. Runners are sliding hard into the bases. Batters are running out double-play ground balls. The best example came in the first inning when Skenes did his best to strikeout the American League’s leading slugger, Aaron Judge.

Lee and I have eight more stadiums to visit before we complete all 30. We’ll knock one more off our list in August, as we are scheduled to see Minnesota and Cleveland play at Target Field in Minneapolis. But that experience will be hard to beat the All-Star Game, where it was a real treat to see the game’s best players of 2024 assembled.