In the MLB, every year there is an annual All-Star game played between the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The teams are made up of 32 players on each team. The players make the All-Star game based on fan voting. Every MLB team has at least one player from their team that makes the All-Star game to represent them. Pitchers are chosen by the All-Star game manager in their league. The winnner of the National League the previous year is the All-Star game manager the following year for the NL. Same is for the American League. Last year the Tampa Bay Rays were the AL champs so this year, their manager, Joe Maddon will manage the AL. The NL champs were the Philidelphia Phillies so this year the NL manager will be Charlie Manuel. The winning team of the All-Star game, either the AL or the NL will be awarded home field advantage for their team that makes the World Series.

Each MLB season at the end of the year a Most Valuable Player is awarded to one player from the American League and one player from the National League. This is the most coveted individual award in baseball.  The award is given based on votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America.  The award is almost always given to a player who is not a pitcher because pitchers have their own award the CY Young.  The last time a pitcher was awarded the MVP was in 1992, and that was to Dennis Eckersley who was then an Oakland Athletics pitcher. 

Perhaps the most obvious thing that seperates an All-Star from a MVP is that each year there are 64 All-Stars and only 2 MVP's. Also every team has to have at least one All-Star, and only two out of thirty-two teams have the player that wins the MVP. The MVP award is based on the whole season, unlike the All-Star award that is just voted on during the first half of the season. Sometimes the All-Star team can consist of many players that don't belong. Some players are voted onto the team by fans just because they are fan favorites. For example, this year, through friday, May 29th, Manny Ramirez had the fourth most votes among NL outfielders even though he is currently on his 50 game suspension for violating the league's drug policy. I personally think that is just because he is a fan favorite and has made the All-Star game twelve times already. Through the 29th of May, Manny was 77th in the MLB in homers, and not even in the top 100 in runs batted in (RBI's). Adam Dunn, a National League outfielder who is in the top 3 in home runs this year and top 5 in RBI's is not even one of the top ten vote getter's for NL outfielders. That is why the MVP award is a much bigger honor, because only two players get it a year and because it is voted on by baseball writer's, not fans who can sit at a computer for hours and keep filling out ballots for their favorite players. Finally, what makes a MVP so special is that he is the player that comes through in the clutch and is the most valuable player in either the AL or the NL. He plays great all year and helps his team win, even if he may not be a fan favorite.