Don't tell Ray Fosse that the All-Star Game didn't really "count" until 2003.
The longtime Cleveland Indians catcher was on the wrong end of one of the most infamous -- and painful -- plays in All-Star history when Pete Rose obliterated him in a collision at home plate in order to score the winning run in 1970. Fosse's fractured and separated soldier surely counted.
Dating back to July 1933, when Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward orchestrated a star-studded charity game at Comiskey Park, the most talented -- and most popular -- players in the majors have gathered on one summer day for one star-studded game. While generations of the game's best and brightest stars have shone on the All-Star stage, pride was the only thing on the line until the 2002 affair ended in an embarrassing tie. The following year, MLB adopted a "This Time It Counts" slogan and awarded home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning team.
Home-field advantage or not, don't tell Fosse or Joe Morgan that the All-Star Game didn't really count until 2003.
"That slogan was and is an insult to all the great All-Stars of the past. It's a slap in the face to Pete Rose, who bowled over catcher Ray Fosse for the winning run in a classic All-Star moment," Morgan wrote for ESPN.com after the 2003 game. "It's a slap in the face to Willie Mays, who played 13 innings once to help the National League win. It's a slap in the face to the late Ted Williams, who played entire All-Star Games to try to help the American League win. All of a sudden it counts now? It always counted to the players who were true All-Stars."
Here are 19 memorable moments from the history of the All-Star Game that certainly counted for the players involved and the fans who marveled at them.
