Major League Baseball All-Star Game - Venues

Venues

The 2011 All-Star Game was played at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks; the 2012 All-Star Game was played at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, home of the Kansas City Royals. It has been officially announced that the 2013 All-Star Game will be played at Citi Field in Queens, New York, home of the New York Mets and the 2014 All-Star Game will be played at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the Minnesota Twins.

The venue for each All-Star Game is chosen by a MLB selection committee. The chosen venue may be based on the opening of a new field, a historical occasion, or to commemorate a significant year. The New York Mets successfully bid for the 2013 All-Star Game in their home ballpark, Citi Field, which was opened in 2009; the Mets have not hosted the All-Star Game since 1964, the longest drought in All-Star history. The Minnesota Twins successfully bid for the 2014 All-Star Game in their home ballpark, Target Field, which was opened in 2010; the Twins have not hosted the All-Star Game since 1985. The Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals are bidding for the 2015 game.

The first All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, at Comiskey Park and was the brainchild of Arch Ward, then sports editor for the Chicago Tribune. Initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one. Ward's contribution was recognized by Major League Baseball in 1962 with the creation of the "Arch Ward Trophy", given to the All-Star Game's most valuable player each year.

The game's venue traditionally alternates between the two leagues every year. This tradition has been broken twice. The first time was in 1951, when the American League's Detroit Tigers hosted the annual game as part of the city's 250th birthday. It was broken again in 2007, when the National League's San Francisco Giants were the host for the 2007 All-Star Game. That scheduling set it up so the 2008 game would be held in the scheduled final season at the American League's Yankee Stadium (New York). As of 2009, an American League stadium is scheduled to host the all-star game in even-numbered years and a National League stadium in odd-numbered years.

The "home team" is the league in which the host franchise plays its games. The criteria for choosing the venue are subjective; for the most part, cities with new parks and cities who have not hosted the game in a long time – or ever – tend to get the nod. In the first two decades of the game, ballparks in Philadelphia and St. Louis were home to more than one team. This led to some shorter-than-usual gaps between the use of those two ballparks: Shibe Park (later known as Connie Mack Stadium) in Philadelphia and Sportsman's Park (the third ballpark with that name; later known as Busch Stadium, the first of three stadiums with that name) in St. Louis. In Philadelphia, the A.L.'s Athletics hosted the game in 1943, and the NL's Phillies in 1952. In St. Louis, the National League's Cardinals hosted the game in 1940, and the American League's Browns in 1948.

To date, only two franchises have never hosted a game: the Miami Marlins (although scheduled to host the game in 2000, Major League Baseball moved the game to Atlanta), and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Washington Nationals franchise hosted the game when they were the Montreal Expos, and All-Star Games have been played in D.C., hosted by both incarnations of the Washington Senators (now the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers).

Of the remaining 28 franchises, the New York Mets have gone the longest period without hosting since their sole hosting duty in 1964, but this streak will come to an end in 2013. The Dodgers will then become the team with the longest active hosting drought (1980).

Eighteen teams have all hosted an all-star game at least twice since the Mets last did: Atlanta Braves (1972 and 2000), Chicago White Sox (1983 and 2003), Cincinnati Reds (1970 and 1988), Cleveland Indians (1981 and 1997), Detroit Tigers (1971 and 2005), Houston Astros (1968, 1986, and 2004), Kansas City Royals (1973 and 2012), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (1967, 1989, and 2010), Milwaukee Brewers (1975 and 2002), Minnesota Twins (1965, 1985, and 2014), New York Yankees (1977 and 2008), Philadelphia Phillies (1976 and 1996), Pittsburgh Pirates (1974, 1994, and 2006), San Diego Padres (1978 and 1992), San Francisco Giants (1984 and 2007), Seattle Mariners (1979 and 2001), and St. Louis Cardinals (1966 and 2009), and Washington Senators/Texas Rangers (1969 and 1995).

New stadiums that have not hosted the All-Star Game in markets that have hosted it previously are: Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PETCO Park in San Diego, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., New Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York and Target Field in Minneapolis. Target Field will host the All-Star game in 2014, however.

Following the all-star game at Yankee Stadium in 2008 (the stadium's final season), the stadium joined Cleveland's old Cleveland Stadium, also known as Municipal Stadium prior to its demolition, as the only stadiums to host four Major League Baseball All-Star Games.