( CNN ) -- So , where 'd everybody go ? Baseball 's Philadelphia Phillies ' attendance is down 8,290 per home game from a year ago . Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers , each down more than 4,000 . Minnesota Twins , more than 3,000 . Detroit Tigers , Washington Nationals , Atlanta Braves , Arizona Diamondbacks , Chicago White Sox , 2,000-plus . Baltimore Orioles , Chicago Cubs , Cincinnati Reds , Cleveland Indians , Colorado Rockies , New York Mets , San Diego Padres , Tampa Bay Rays ... . down , down , down , down , down , down , down , down . Like they say , come on out , good seats still available ! As baseball 's yearly All-Star Game gets under way Tuesday night in Minneapolis , we will be bombarded with a lot of talk about what a great young star this guy is , or that guy is . `` You 'll be hearing a lot about this guy . '' `` This kid 's going to be around a long , long time . '' `` He 's got 'future Hall of Famer ' written all over him . '' Of course we will . Of course he does . Never mind all the one-season wonders . The flashes in the pans . The golden boys who turned to rust . The All-Stars who were barely seen or heard from again . It 's a frat party and everybody 's up for it . Major League Baseball has never been better -- at least that 's what somebody will tell you and sell you . Except it 's untrue . Seventeen of the game 's 30 teams have poorer attendance than a year ago at this time . World Series television ratings get more disappointing year after year . Household-name players -- I mean popular and scandal-free ones like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter -- have come to the ends of their careers , with no clear heir-apparents . Is there a star player of today you 'd go out of your way to see ? `` Hey , Felix Hernandez is in town ! '' `` You wan na go to the ballpark tonight and see Adam Wainwright ? '' Those are your All-Star starting pitchers . Would you recognize either one if you saw him coming toward you on the street ? Baseball is losing its luster . As ticket prices get higher , interest goes lower . As options on television expand , baseball 's grip on the American public gets ever more slippery . TV 's audience for Game 1 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals came to approximately 25.4 million viewers . When the same two teams met in the World Series last October , Game 1 's viewership was pegged at around 15 million . One year earlier a series between the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers attracted the worst TV ratings of any World Series in the past 30 years . Players of great prowess and promise do still come along . Miguel Cabrera . Andrew McCutchen . Robinson Cano . Clayton Kershaw . A kid can capture imaginations in the blink of an eye . Mike Trout . Jose Abreu . Yu Darvish . Yasiel Puig . They also can vanish from the radar just as quickly . Albert Pujols now seems two-thirds the superstar he used to be . Prince Fielder , CC Sabathia , Matt Kemp , Ryan Howard ... not exactly the game 's hottest names anymore . Stephen Strasburg ... . was n't he the pitcher we were all waiting for ? We 're still waiting . Derek Jeters do not come along every day . Oh , he is n't nearly as famous nationwide as New Yorkers think he is . You could go months in California or Texas or Ohio without meeting a soul who cares that this is Jeter 's last season , let alone anyone who could tell you who `` the Captain '' is . Yet he is a rarity in baseball indeed , particularly in this era -- a standout from beginning to end , as well as a guy who never gave us cause to question what kind of guy he secretly must be . He 's been about as controversial as a Muppet . Baseball could use more like him . They had better show themselves soon , too , because fewer and fewer people are watching . You 'll hear somebody tonight call it the national pastime , but let me assure you of something : This nation can find other ways to pass the time .
Mike Downey : Attendance at Major League Baseball games is way down for many teams . He says All-Star Game Tuesday held against backdrop of waning interest , dearth of big stars . He says players of prowess come along , but with fewer viewers , they do n't get famous . Downey : Players like Derek Jeter do n't come along . We need more of them .