The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is an annual exhibition baseball game between the best players from the National League and the American League. The All-Star Game usually occurs in mid-July and marks the symbolic half-way point in the Major League Baseball season.

The first All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago and was the brainchild of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune.

The venue is chosen by Major League Baseball and traditionally alternates between the two leagues every year. (This tradition will be broken in 2007, when the San Francisco Giants will be the host for the 2007 All-Star Game. Pittsburgh Pirates will host the 2006 event.) 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 tend to get the nod. In 2005, Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, hosted the "Midsummer Classic", as the All-Star Game is popularly nicknamed.