(Best E Casino) - On a night when the biggest stars from baseball's past and present gathered, it was the building that hosted the event that shined the brightest.

Yankee Stadium, in its final year of existence before it brings the memories of 26 World Series championships, numerous Hall of Famers and too many magical moments to remember across the street, was the ideal venue for the 79th Mid- Summer Classic.

Despite the game being the longest in All-Star history, nothing was going to overshadow the majesty and memories that were all brought back to the forefront these past few days inside the House That Ruth Built.

Most All-Star Games are an afterthought to the pomp and circumstance at the beginning, and this one certainly figured to be headed that way early on, but somewhere along the line it turned into a marathon, which was awesome considering I had to drive two-plus hours back to beautiful Macungie, Pennsylvania following this four hour and 50 minute thriller that ended shortly after 1:37 a.m here on the East Coast.

It was dominated by the pitchers early on and by stranded base runners and great defense in extra innings,

The defensive exception, of course, being Florida's Dan Uggla, who committed three errors. It got so bad that at one point the Bleacher Creatures in right field were chanting "hit the ball to Uggla, hit the ball to Uggla".

But, thankfully, Texas' Michael Young ended it in the bottom of the 15th with a sacrifice fly scoring Home Run Derby champion Justin Morneau, giving the American League a 4-3 win, extending its unbeaten streak to 12.

The night started with a bang with just about every living Hall of Famer in the house. Derek Jeter's introduction was sick and along the same lines, I am not sure if I ever heard Yankee Stadium louder than when Metallica's Enter Sandman played in the ninth for Mariano Rivera.

Speaking of that, was Jonathan Papelbon really serious in thinking that he should be the one to close the game? I know he is the heir apparent, but his antics these past few days really rubbed me the wrong way.

They also trotted Yankees owner George Steinbrenner out to deliver the balls for the first pitch, thrown, of course, by the Yankee Hall of Famers. Big Stein is in declining health and deserved the moment, but I thought it would have been a bigger deal.

I think MLB was hoping for another Ted Williams moment, but it came up way short.

Also thumbs down to whose idea it was to go with the streamers rather than fireworks at the end of the festivities. I guess when you have a payroll of over $200 million you have to cut costs somewhere.

But the real story of the night, as it has been since it was announced that it would be the host, was the final Mid-Summer Classic at baseball's cathedral.

Having grown up in New York, I have come to realize that I took a lot of things for granted. I have never been to the Statue of Liberty, maybe I've visited the Empire State Building once and I can't remember ever going to see the World Trade Center.

One of the things, though, that I took full advantage of in my time in New York, was visiting Yankee Stadium.

I never really gave it much thought about the history of the stadium. Growing up, it was just the place where my favorite team played.

My earliest memory of Yankee Stadium is an Old-Timer's Game back in 1982 and the only reason that sticks out to me is because it was Bucky Dent's first game back at the stadium after he was traded to Texas.

Forget the fact that a Yankee Old-Timer's Day back then was basically a who's who in Major League Baseball with Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and others, amazingly all my six-year-old neophyte baseball-fan- self wanted to see was Dent.

I am not the type of guy to get all caught up in things, but even I have to admit, I got chills watching Josh Hamilton blast ball-after-ball into the Bronx night on Monday. Forget his back story for a moment, which makes the performance even that more magical, it was just an amazing display.

With a little bit of wind, he would have knocked it out of the ball park. You almost got the feeling, though, that the ghost of Babe Ruth has sitting on the facade keeping a few of them inside the stadium.

I am not sure where I would rank it on my list of all-time Yankee Stadium moments. I was here when Tom Seaver won his 300th game, so it is hard to top that, but I won't forget Hamilton blasting the Bank of America sign above the right field bleachers anytime soon.

Someone said shortly thereafter that in future years when you wax poetic about all the great moments inside Yankee Stadium, Hamilton's night is going to be mentioned alongside all those other great moments. I guess I have to agree.

The past three days have been a fitting sendoff for the building that is indeed the home office for Major League Baseball.

However, I am sure most Yankee fans hope that the old ballpark has some more of those magic moments left in it.