By Sam Leventhal
The inception of the All-Star game was held in Major League Baseball in the midst of the 1933 season. This game was meant to be a one-time event featuring some of the baseball’s most historic players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Fox with the intention of boosting citizen morale during the height of the Great Depression.
Today, the All-Star game has become a tradition. It is an event that everyone looks forward to every season in just about every professional league. It encompasses the best talent that a league has to offer its fans as they go head-to-head in a showcase matchup.
Here at the Legacy Leagues, our mission is to help you build your legacy and leave your mark in the game that you know and love, which is why we are excited to announce that we are hosting a “mid-summer classic” of our own during our inaugural season.
Here is how the first Legacy Leagues All-Star Game is going to work:
Our All-Star game will consist two, eight-man rosters that will be voted on by Legacy Leagues officials. Of the 16 total All-Star spots, ten will be reserved for one member from each of the ten teams in the league, while the remaining spots will be awarded to the next six players to receive the most votes.
The top two players who receive the most votes will serve as a captain for each of the All-Star teams, and will get to pick their eight-man squad out of the pool of All-Stars during our Legacy Leagues All-Star Draft. The Draft will broadcast live on our Facebook page between the last week of the regular season (Aug. 2) and the start of the playoffs (Aug. 9).
The All-Star game will take place right before the Championship Game on Aug. 16 at 8pm. Due to this timing, the players who are named All-Stars will have a similar decision to make of those NFL players who are selected to be in the Pro Bowl: any player that plays for one of the two teams that make the Championship Game will have to decide if they want to play in the All-Star Game right before they would have to play in the Championship.
If a player chooses to defer, then a substitute All-Star selection will be put in their place. This substitute selection will be picked from a group of players that were “runners-up.” Don’t worry, any player that chooses to skip or cannot physically play in the All-Star game will still be recognized as an All-Star for this season, and will still have that honor on their resume.
In addition to being named an All-Star for the Summer 2016 season, here is a list of other awards we will be giving out: Burns Tire Most Valuable Player, Regular Season Scoring Champion, Defensive Player of the Year, 5th Man of the year, All-Legacy Leagues 1st Team Honors, All-Legacy Leagues 2nd Team Honors, All-Legacy Leagues Defensive Team Honors, and Finals Most Valuable Player Award Honors.
The team that wins the Championship (Aug. 16, 9pm) will be awarded the Napa Auto Parts Championship Trophy during our live trophy presentation ceremony, and will be the first Legacy Leagues team to cut down the nets during the celebration.
The entire playoff and All-Star schedule is below (all games at Insports in Trumbull):
- Tuesday, August 9: 7-seed vs 10-seed, 8-seed vs 9-seed at 8pm; 3-seed vs 6-seed, 4-seed vs 5-seed at 9pm; winner of the 7/10 game vs the 2-seed, winner of the 8/9 game vs the 1-seed at 10pm
- Thursday, August 11: semifinal #1 at 8pm, semifinal #2 at 9pm
- Tuesday, August 16: All-Star Game 8pm, Championship game 9pm
