MLB's All-Star blockbuster

Hype never sleeps and MLB's All-Star break is the latest victim. My disdain for over-the-top, breathless coverage limits my ability to sit through the hoopla. Here are some links that cover the spectacle:

• "For the annual midseason matchup Tuesday night of American League and National League stars, Fox has gotten record TV ad prices, Major League Baseball (MLB) sponsors have spent millions on promotions and fans are paying $150 to $725 for seats, the highest prices in the game's 79-year history.
  AD TRACK: More coverage of the marketing world
  For more than a year, MLB and Fox have been hyping the event as a historic last All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium, which closes after this season when the team moves across the street. It was home to the first World Series in 1923 and 33 since...."It's about scale, history and tradition," says Tim Brosnan, MLB head of business development." Funny, I thought it was about money.
• "Baseball's Home Run Derby is a fake, manufactured-for-TV event that lasts way too long."
• "In a staggering performance in Monday night's All-Star Home Run Derby, Hamilton banged balls off the back wall in right, deep into the upper deck, and, most impressively, off the Hess sign in center field. He shattered the record for home runs in the first round, with 28, and at one point, he hit 13 out in a row.
  "Obviously, I've never experienced a groove like that before," Wonder if he's ever faced a mound opponent like this: "Hamilton's 71-year-old batting practice pitcher, Clay Counsil, threw 54 pitches in the first round, and in a television interview conducted moments afterward, Counsil asked, "We have to go again?" I tried to watch a replay of the spectacle on ESPN, Berman bellowed 'You talk about...' and my finger hit the mute. I've boycotted Berman and Vitale for years, had hoped for better results.
• Fortunately, some actual baseball coverage can be found:"Baseball is always a wonderful conversation, and what better way to talk about the game than with All-Stars at the All-Star Game?
• "As baseball's elite prepare to play the final All-Star game in the storied stadium that opened in 1923, a look back shows how many key events have occurred there." Nice trip down memory lane, although that last paragraph could have been glossed over.

Photo/Newsday