Tuesday, baseball's All Star Game returns to our nation's capital for the first time since 1969.  That year, the game became a Wednesday matinee after monsoon-like rains washed out the prime-time spectacle.  That specific game holds a special place in my heart and soul because it was the genesis of my almost 50-year love affair with our nation's pastime. The 1969 game was also special because it followed that the greatest scientific and technological achievement in American – indeed, in world – history: the rocketing of two men on the face of the moon.  Like Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Carl Yastrezmski, and Hank Aaron, Neil Armstrong, and "Buzz " Aldrin were heroes to many American boys and girls. America and Americans celebrated proudly and patriotically the incredible journey and riveting landing on the moon's desolate surface.  It was bipartisan, too – American exceptionalism at its finest. As far the...(Read Full Post)