Is anyone familiar with the history of the MLB All-Star Game and the selection process?
In what year was the All-Star game first held?
What was the original and subsequent processes for picking the starters (most particularly, what year did fans start to select the all-stars)?
When did the process start using the “punch cards” currently employed? Was there any period of time where the fans voted, but a process other than the punch cards was used?
I guess I’m really trying to build a chronology of selectors (sports writers, fans, managers, whoever) AND selection method (punch card versus something else). A search for “baseball all-stars” on the net gets lots of hits, but nothing that focused on this.
Thanks.
The first All-Star game was held in 1933 and the Amercan League won. That’s all I know about that. 
Oh, check this site out for some good All-Star history.
The current system, in which fans select All-Star teams by using punch cards, was instituted in 1969.
There HAD been fan voting in the past, but that was abolished in… I THINK it was 1957 or so. There was one season in which fans from Cincinnati stuffed the ballot boxes, and elected virtually the entire starting lineup of the Reds to the All-Star team. The EXACT details elude me, but I think they elected 7 Reds, plus Hank Aaron. Baseball commissioner Ford Frick then stepped in, forced the National League to put Stan Musial and Willie Mays in the lineup, then abolished fan voting.
Bowie Kuhn brought back fan voting in 1969.
Astorian’s right on most of the details of the Cincinnati ballot-stuffing incident, except that it was Stan Musial at 1B who was the sole non-Red selected by the fans.
There’s a pretty good capsule summary of All-Star Game history at http://www.hickoksports.com/history/mlballst.shtml . It includes the fact that there was a second game from 1959-1962 with the proceeds going to the newly-established pension fund for major leaguers. Also, the Baseball Almanac has an All-Star Game history page with some additional details.
The All-Star Team selections have been conducted as follows:
1933-1934: Managers and fans (haven’t found details on how this was done)
1935-1946: Managers selected entire roster
1947-1957: Fan balloting (starting position players) and All-Star team manager (pitchers and reserves)
1958-1969: Balloting of managers, players, and coaches
1970-present: Fan balloting (starting position players) and All-Star team manager (pitchers and reserves)
I’m not sure when the current practice of requiring at least one player from each team to be selected was instituted – it’s been the case as long as I can remember.