As I Watch the All-Star Game...

You may already know, I love baseball! I am an O's fan. I am a die-hard American League kinda girl (unless the Yankees are playing in the World Series, then the game is not watched!)

What you may not know, is that I have my own bookkeeping business. I opened the business when my kids were young, so that I could stay home and hopefully keep my mind somewhat sharp. (silence in the peanut gallery, please!)

Put the two together and here is what you get.....

In English, Please: All Star Game and the Stock Market

Mark Lieberman, Senior Economist
FOXBusiness Looking for an inside track for your stock portfolio? How about the Major League Baseball All-Star Game Tuesday in St. Louis?

In the 76 years of the all star game – 40 National League wins and 37 for the American League – the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone up an average of 133.8 points. [For four years, from 1959 through 1962, there were two all star games played each year.]

Although the National League has the edge on the field, a narrow edge to be sure, the American League has the clear edge on the trading floor.

In the years in which the National League wins, the average gain in the Dow has been 90.3 points, but when the American League wins the average gain has been 180.9 points – even though the American League won the 2008 contest when the Dow plunged 4,488.3 points.

Over the history of the All Star game, when the NL wins the Dow rose 25 times and fell 13 times (that counts 1959 and 1960 once each since the National Leaguers won both games each year).

When the American Leaguers won, the Dow increased 25 times and fell 12 times, counting 1962 for each league since they split the games that year.

In 1961 the NL won the first game but the second game that year wound up in a tie – as did the 2002 game.

The years in which the American League wins have seen more extremes. In addition to the record 2008 drop in the Dow, the American won in 1999 when the Dow had its largest gain – 2,315.7 – and in 2003, the only other year in which the Dow improved by more than 2,000 points (2,112.3).

The Dow has increased by more than 1,000 points on seven times and the American League won in five of those years. The best year for the Dow when the NL won was in 1996 when the index increased 1,331.1.

The American League “dominance” doesn’t extend to politics, by the way. There have been 19 All-Star Games played in presidential election years with the National League winning 13 (counting the two played in 1960 – won by the Nationals – only once) and the American League six. In the 13 years with National League victories, Democrats were elected seven times; in the six election years in which the American League won, the parties split the elections – including the 2008 contest won by Chicago White Sox (American League) first fan Barack Obama. The American League won the previous two presidential election year contests when former Texas Rangers [AL] owner George W. Bush was selected.