CNBC's Alex Sherman joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss highlights from his interview with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in Atlanta.

Atlanta

The MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta serves as a backdrop for discussions about the league's current challenges and future direction. In an interview with CNBC, Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed concerns about competitive balance among teams and the ongoing debate over implementing a salary cap, noting that owners have yet to reach a consensus on proposals for the next bargaining round.

Manfred also commented on the tradition of the All-Star Game, stating that while other leagues have experimented with new formats, MLB remains committed to the American League versus National League structure. The commissioner acknowledged the need for better promotion of emerging stars and greater use of social media and streaming platforms to engage younger audiences. The interview also touched on the controversial policy regarding Hall of Fame eligibility for players with lifetime bans after their death.

MLB All-Star Game tonight: Here's what you need to know

The MLB All-Star Game is tonight in Atlanta. CNBC's Alex Sherman spoke to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred about the state of the game and the potential for a salary cap. The owners have not decided, voted, reached a consensus on what they're going to propose in the next round of bargaining. I will say this. At the end of the day, sports sell competition. We do have fans in a significant number of our markets who are really concerned about the issue of competitive balance and the competitiveness of the teams in their markets. And it's something we're going to have to pay attention to. And Alex Sherman joins us now. I don't know when you want to talk about it, but my memories of All-Star Games when I was younger and what it is now is not the same. And I actually heard a big discussion on one of the sports talk shows about, and one of the guys had played in the All-Star Game. He said that he used to, with his father, gather around waiting a week before for the All-Star Game. The managers on either the AL or the NL would say, we have to win. We are not going to be beaten by the American League. It doesn't feel, people are more interested in the home run derby now, aren't they? There's sort of an All-Star Game epidemic across sports, actually. I mean, the NBA has been in constant crisis with what to do with their All-Star Game. They've tried 50,000 different things around the whole weekend. And in fact, now they're moving toward a USA versus the world, basically blowing up the whole game starting next year because the NHL had a lot of success with that in their All-Star Game, which was something that they moved to. I actually asked Rob Manfred, would you guys consider doing a USA versus the world? And he said, no, there's still all this tradition wrapped up in the AL versus NL. We're not ready to go there yet, though he did admit they've had some discussions with it. But yeah, look, I mean, I think if you look at the attendance for the Savannah Bananas, I don't know how familiar you are with the Savannah Bananas. It's about 60 minutes. You know, people are selling out these stadiums to watch these guys do flips and things, and we're entering a social media viral clip with the trying to get younger audiences in that, you know, I think maybe to some degree the All-Star Game is old. It has sort of this, like, nostalgia. One of the best players there? Well, I mean, that's another part that I spoke with Rob Manfred about is the star generation. And I think Major League Baseball has a little bit of an issue there where you could ... it goes both ways. I do think that there is a big influx of new talent that is coming into the league, and you'll see some of that showcased tonight. But I don't think Major League Baseball has done a great job of making those new players into stars like some of the other leagues have. You have Cal Raleigh, who has 38 home runs at the break, who just won the home run derby last night. Does anybody know who Cal Raleigh is? No. No. That is not a household name. No. Right. That's a great baseball player name. Yeah, a great baseball player name, and a great baseball player. But nobody would know. He has 38 home runs at the break. That's one less than Barry Bonds had, and that's the all-time record. Does anybody have any idea that that's happening? So Major League, it's incumbent upon Major League Baseball. Because Major League Baseball isn't good at social media? Is that the ... I'm saying they're behind the NBA in social media. And again, Rob Manfred talks about that. By the way, the whole interview will be available on Thursday, if you're a CNBC sport newsletter subscriber. It'll be right in your inbox. You can sign up at CNBC.com slash sport to get the entire thing. But yeah, I think he says, look, we need to utilize streaming services like Netflix to build up some of these players' images like you've seen with other sports. We need to use social media in a new way so that it's not incumbent completely upon fans finding these players on their own. And I think other leagues have done that better than Major League Baseball. But to Rob Manfred's credit, I at least feel like he's focusing on it now, so maybe they can catch up. Do you want to hear my boomer, all-star story? I'd love to. You might have ... I was there when Pete Rose ran over Ray Fossey. He was that competitive. And an all-star, he meant nothing, and basically, did Fossey ever come back? I don't know. But that's how much Charlie Hudson ... By the way, another decision, Rob, was to allow Pete Rose to get into the Hall of Fame now that he's passed away. I talked to him about that, too. And he said, look, it's not like I'm not for lifetime bans for major scandals, but when players die, it doesn't make any sense to me anymore to keep these guys out of the Hall of Fame. Their lifetime ban is up. They died. And so they died, and then he puts them in? That's right. That was his decision. I don't get that. Yeah. Well, a lot of people don't. Controversial decision. That record, can you see it being broken? That many hits? You need 20 years of 200 hits plus every year. The game has changed right now, where players go for power so much and don't go for these singles and doubles, that we're certainly not in an era right now that that record is in any jeopardy. It's never going to be. Which is amazing. You didn't get that for ... You remember, right? Ray Fossey and Pete Rose. You remember it, sort of, right? How old do you think I am? See, I don't want players getting hurt. Ray Fossey was well past that. No, I know. I mean, I know who he is. He steamrolled over, maybe we have a video, steamrolled over him for an All-Star game, which is meaningless. I mean, Pete Rose steamrolled over everybody. He did. Constantly.

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Breakdown