On Tuesday, July 14th, Major League Baseball hosted its 80th All-Star game in St. Louis, Missouri. On hand were some of the St. Louis Cardinals legends, guys like Lou Brock, Red Schoendeinst, Bruce Sutter, Ozzie Smith, Bob Gibson and Stan Musial.
But undoubtedly the biggest name at the All-Star game was the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Obama, who threw out the first pitch of the game, also went up to the broadcast booth to talk on-air with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. In addition to Obama being there, Major League Baseball created a video that included speaking roles of all five living American Presidents, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.
<!-- my page break -->By including the five most important men of the last 30 years of this country's history, MLB was trying to send a message. It was trying to spread the message across that MLB is still a great organization, and that no matter what happens, baseball still sends a positive message across America.
That ideal has obviously been questioned as of late due to the apparent issue of steroids that has been dominating the sport. Stars such as Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs within the last six months. The overwhelming amount of steroid users has been giving baseball a terrible name as of late, and has obviously been the source for much criticism.
In this case, it makes a lot of sense for MLB to look to the most powerful men of this country's history to give a reassuring vote to Major League Baseball.
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