The Los Angeles Dodgers will be finally be hosting the MLB All-Star Game for the first time in 40 years, and commissioner Rob Manfred seems to be nodding back to his predecessor as to why it took so long.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday after it was announced that the 2020 All-Star Game would be played at Dodger Stadium, Manfred hinted that those before him bore responsibility for the lengthy layover since the last time that the Dodgers hosted in 1980. Here is what he had to say, per JP Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group.
Why hasn’t Dodger Stadium hosted an all-star game since 1980? Rob Manfred says “I can only take responsibility for the last three years. Everything before that was on someone else.”
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) April 11, 2018
The obvious choice for who Manfred may be hinting at is ex-commissioner Bud Selig, who began serving in 1992. Selig’s aversion towards former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt (justified or not) was certainly no secret.
True, the Dodgers have one of the oldest stadiums in the MLB today, and that may be another potential explanation for why it took so long for them to host another All-Star Game. But with the Los Angeles mega-market always playing host to a huge number of special events across all sports, it at least raises some questions, and Manfred seems to think the answers lie with previous regimes.
