Seems like no matter how hard Commissioner Bud Selig tries to build interest in the Major League Baseball All Star game he still comes up short.

There was a lot of hype leading up to the game this year, with debate over whether Omar Infante belonged in the game and whether rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg got screwed when he was left out.

But at the end of the day, despite all the hoopla, the game’s broadcast produced the lowest television ratings in history. Back in the mid-1960s and 1970s, the game used to produce ratings scores in the mid 20s and share ratings in the mid-50s.

(A ratings point represents one percent of the total households in the United States watching a given show. Share measures the percentage of television sets in use tuned into a program. So 20-plus percent of households with televisions used to watch the All Star Game and more than half of the televisions in use during the game were watching it.)

In 2002, the All Star game slipped to single-digit ratings for the first time and those figures have not returned to double digits in the years since. Tuesday’s game, according to the Los Angeles Times, drew just a 7.5 rating for a paltry 12 million average viewers.

I think there are a few reasons for this. First, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think it is ridiculous for this exhibition game to determine home field in the World Series. When fans vote for the rosters it should be an exhibition, not a game that determines who hosts a potential Game Seven.

I know my feelings on that are not unanimous, but it still remains ridiculous to me that a game potentially decided by an at-bat between a Pirates’ closer and a Royals’ batter in the late innings could decide who hosts a deciding World Series game between the Yankees and the Phillies, hypothetically. And I think the majority agree.

Second, if you are going to institute that ridiculous rule, which was passed in a panic after negative publicity surrounding an All Star Game tie several years back, then at least remove the equally ridiculous requirement that every team get a representative in the game. This isn’t grade school and it isn’t socialism. If you must turn the game into a gimmicky way of determining homefield, at least make sure the truly best players are at the game.

Finally, after making sure the best players are there, keep them in the game. Take 1965, for example. Hank Aaron batted five times. Several others batted four times. Juan Marichal started for the National League and pitched three innings. The game didn’t have anything like World Series on the line. But the guys played for pride back then. Despite being an exhibition, it was more than an exhibition.

I didn’t watch last night’s game but I read the accounts this morning. Alex Rodriguez and Infante were the only position players who didn’t play. David Ortiz had to run for himself and, sure enough, he was forced on a base hit to the outfield.

And so it goes. Washington’s closer, Matt Capps, got the win. Los Angeles closer Jon Broxton got the save. Yankees starter Phil Hughes took the loss. The National League’s dominant pitching led to its first win in the All Star Game since 1996, when I was a junior in college. By most accounts the 3-1 game was actually a pretty decent contest.

Yet the fewest number of people ever cared enough to turn on the television to watch it. Take a hint, Mr. Selig. Gimmicks are not the answer.