Each year, the MLB All-Star game adds a special touch, and this year was no exception.

For the second consecutive year, the New York Yankees provided that special touch.  Last year, it was the impending retirement of Yankees All-Star closer Mariano Rivera, and this year it was the impending retirement of Yankees All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter. Both were clutch players who always had a knack for coming through with the big save or big hit.

Jeter, who is 40 and the Yankees’ captain, has won five World Series during his 20-year Yankees career. He was playing in his 14th and final All-Star game Tuesday night at Target Field in Minneapolis, home of the American League Minnesota Twins.

His performance was typical of the star he is. He went 2-for-2 in the American League’s 5-3 victory and led off the game with an opposite field double to right. He also singled to right, raising his career All-Star game batting average to .481. He has gone 13-for-27 in his 14 All-Star appearances during his career. He received two standing ovations, the first prior to his first at bat and the second when he was removed from his shortstop position in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Now that this year’s midsummer classic is in the books, let me give you a few thoughts I had of the efforts turned in by the American League and National League All-Star teams.

Outfielder Mike Trout of the American League’s Los Angeles Angels on Anaheim drove in two runs with a triple and a double and was named the games most valuable player. It was Trout’s triple that drove Jeter in with the game’s first run in the first inning.

There is one All-Star game rule that I have a problem with. For many years, it was simply an exhibition game pitting the biggest American League stars against the biggest National League stars. But a few years ago, soon-to-be-retiring Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig decided to let the winning teams league champion have home field advantage in each years World Series.

With that rule in place, the All-Star managers should be able to pick the best position players and pitchers and not be hindered by the requirement that at least one player has to be selected from each league team. With the fans selecting the starters, it often becomes a popularity contest.

Let the All-Star managers pick the best 25 players and keep the fans out of it all together, I say. I have no problem with the fans being involved if it is a true exhibition game as it was for many years, but now that home field advantage in the World Series is on the line, the managers should choose all the position players and pitchers.

Personally I don’t thing the World Series home field advantage should be determined by each year’s All-Star game winner. Since it is, there should be a better way of picking the two All-Star teams.