By Bob Markus

There is a famous scene near the end of the movie "Sunset Boulevard" where Gloria Swanson, portraying the delusional and faded silent screen star Norma Desmond, is slowly descending a staircase when she hears a reporter say:"That's Norma Desmond; she used to be big." "I am big," asserts Desmond. "It's the pictures that got small."

The same may be said of the All-Star Baseball game. Except the game is not quite as big as it used to be. And it's the players who've gotten small. While everyone acknowledges that baseball's midsummer classic is the best of all the All-Star games and the only one in which the averge fan cares who wins, the game has long since lost its place among the elite sports happenings of the year. In my view there are several reasons for this. One is interleague play. One of the All-Star game's basic appeals was that, the world series aside, it provided the only opportunity to find out how a Willie Mays would do against an American league pitcher like Billy Pierce or Camilo Pasqual or how Sandy Koufax might fare against Mickey Mantle or Al Kaline. Now the cloak of mystery has been lifted. With interleague play Albert Pujols has battled, in qames that count, all or most of the pitchers he was likely to see Tuesday night.

A second reason is expansion. Back in the days of two eight-team leagues, a fan quite likely would know the starting lineup of every team and he certainly would know the super stars. Now there are 30 teams and unless you are a die-hard fan or have a brain like Einstein's you are unlikely to know more than a few players on most teams. It was much easier to keep track of players back in the day when they didn't move around more than a belly dancer in a Greek restaurant.

Although I've been a baseball fan all my life, I have to confess that I could not have told you who Adrian Gonzalez was, what team he played for, or even that he played at all. In short, I had never heard of Adrian Gonzalez. Likewise, until he started this season as hot as a Florida summer, I had never heard of Kansas City pitcher Zack Greinke. There were several "All-Stars" in Tuesday's games with whom I was only vaguely familiar. I know that most of you readers are probably more up on the modern game than I am. But it isn't as if I had stopped following baseball completely after retiring from my job as a sports writer. I do still read the sports pages every morning and I follow both the Marlins and Cubs on TV whenever my wife isn't watching Turner Classic Movies or re-runs of "Dexter." Still, there are simply too many players to keep up with. In addition--and please don't interpret this as being racist--there are so many Hispanic named players that I can't keep them straight. I have trouble distinguishing Carlos Beltran from Carlos Delgado. As for all the Rodriguezes, Ramirizes, and Gonzalezes, fuhgedaboudit.

I once entered a sports-themed quiz contest on a cruise and could tell you that Roberto Clemente was the only player in big league history who ended up with exactly 3,000 hits. I easily answered questions about Jack Nicklaus and Martina Navratilova. But when asked to name that season's Philadlephia Phillies starting infield, I could come up with only one.

With the rule, introduced in 2003, that the winning league in the All-Star game gets home field advantage in the World Series, the All-Star game should be more relevant than ever. Somehow, it doesn't seem that way. Still, despite all the above, the All-Star game somehow retains the power to provide enthralling baseball. In fact, two of the games on my list of the top 10 alltime All-Star games were played in the last three years.

The list: No. 10--1995. The N.L. gets only three hits, but all three are solo homers by Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza and Jeff Conine, giving the N.L. a 3-2 win in Arlington, Tex.

No.9--1971. There are six home runs in the A.L.'s 6-4 win in Detroit but the one that is still remembered is Reggie Jackson's epic blast off the light towers in right field off Dock Ellis. The other homers are by Johnny Bench, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson and Harmon Killebrew, Hall of Famers all.

No.8--1946. How in the world, you are asking, could a 12-0 blowout by the American League be on this list? There's a two word answer. Ted Williams. The returning war hero, playing before his hometown Red Sox fans, had four hits, including two homers. The home run that's remembered to this day is the second one, off Rip Sewell's famous Ephus ball. For you youngsters, the Ephus ball, a.k.a. the blooper pitch, came to the plate on a high, slow arc and dropped down over the plate like a pitch in a slow-pitch softball game. According to legend, Williams challenged Sewell to throw the pitch and the veteran Pirates pitcher obliged. Williams whiffed on it, but Sewell then announced that he was going to throw it again. This time Williams launched it into orbit.

No.7--1955. Stan Musial's walkoff homer in the 12th gives the N.L. a 6-5 victory. The game is the first All-Star gme played in Milwaukee's County stadium, following the Braves' move from Boston.

No.6--1934. In only the second All-Star game, Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell strikes out a murderer's row of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in succession. All five were future Hall of Famers. Despite Hubbell's sensational turn on the mound, the N.L.loses, 9-7. Losing pitcher is Van Lingle Mungo, a fact that I mention solely because it is my favorite baseball name and how else would I get to use it?

No.5--2006. With the N.L. leading 2-1 in the ninth and seemingly on its way to breaking a long All-Star game losing streak, Trevor Hoffmman is called upon to seal the victory. He retires the first two batters easily on comebackers to the mound. Then, a Paul Konerko single, Troy Glaus double and Michael Young triple make the A.L. 3-2 winners.

No.4--2008. Michael Young does it again, this time waiting until the 15th inning before driving in the winning run on a sacrifice fly. The 4-3 American league victory is its 12th in a row and takes a record 4 hours, 50 minutes to complete.

No.3--1950. Ralph Kiner ties the game with a ninth inning homer and a more unlikely source, Red Schoendienst, wins it for the National league with a homer in the 14th. Unfortunately, Ted Williams suffers a broken elbow catching a fly ball against the wall in Comiskey Park.

No. 2--1970. Pete Rose knocks the ball out of catcher Ray Fosse's glove with a vicious rolling block to score the winning run for the N.L.on Jim Hickman's single in the 12th. There is still debate on whether Rose went too far in his quest for victory. It is a seminal play in Rose's career.

No. 1--1941. Ted Williams, that man again, hits a walkoff three run homer off Claude Passeau to give the A.L. a 7-5 comeback victory in Detroit. The Pirates Arky Vaughan earlier had hit two home runs.

There have been other epic events along with some oddities. In 1961 diminutive relief pitcher Stu Miller was blown off the mound in Candlestick park by a sudden gust of wind. In 1981 the game was held a month late, Aug. 9, because of a players strike that had begun in June. The All-Star game, played in Cleveland, was the first game following the settlement of the strike and attracted a record crowd of more than 72,000. When Derek Jeter was named MVP of the 2000 All-Star game in Atlanta, he became, believe it or not, the first Yankee to be so honored. In 2007 Ichiro Suzuki hit the first inside the park homer in All-Star history.

What about Tuesday's game? By the time you read this you likely will know the result. Know this too. The All-Star game like the old gray mare may not be what it used to be. But for baseball fans--even ones who don't know which team Carlos Pena plays for (or Tony Pena for that matter)--the All-Star game is still must see TV.