Ah, summer time rolls around again and the 2004 baseball All-Star game from Minute Maid Park has concluded. Another year of the greatest accumulation of players who have put up fantastic numbers in the first half of the season. You got I-Rod catching; he leads the majors in average. You got the Hall of Fame outfield for the NL (until Griffey got injured), Clemens making the start for the NL team, and good old Jason Giambi making the start at first for the AL. All is well, or is it? What they don’t tell you is that Giambi has 11 homers and a sub .260 average. Also that the guy leading the majors in homers, Jim Thome, is sitting on the bench giving way to a less worthy player in Pujols. Sosa, what a guy, he violently sneezes a few times, misses half the season, and then still gets to start in the outfield; justice is served once again. What ever happened to Adrian Beltre? Or Lyle Overbay? Nobody remembers them even though they had better numbers than some of the starters.
I got a great idea, how about we just slam all the players who are having great years but aren’t known in the league to make way for aging, old, whiney, former superstars that cant hit a beach ball if it were pitched to them. This process of selecting the so called “All-Stars” of the league needs to be changed or just take away the whole “this one counts” motto.
I am a Yankee fan and I have been all my life but when I see an injustice such as Michael Young, leading the majors in hits, bench warming Derek Jeter who couldn’t buy a hit for over a month, I get angry. We all know that Jeter is the media capital of baseball, but it just isn’t fair to see him start over Young. Sure the fans want to see Jeter, and I do too, but when you go along and say the game actually means something, the best of the best that year should play–not some slumping superstar.
The MLB is trying to take the approach that will let the fans vote but also make the game count; they can’t stride the middle of the fence. Bud Selig needs to decide between the two: fans vote, or game counts. When you take the middle road as Selig did you are completely abolishing the whole purpose of the two points. When the fans vote they may not vote in the best of the best, ruining the whole purpose of the game actually holding water.
In my opinion I would let the media, players, and coaches vote the participants into the game. Fans opinions are often thrown around, twisted and manipulated into not seeing the whole picture and only using tunnel vision when selecting their representatives. Not every Yankee every year is going to have a stellar season and despite this, every year the Yankees get most of their starting lineup in. Fans want to see their hometown boys in the game, and that’s understandable. I just want justice to be served to the small market franchises whose players are not known as well but are having just as good if not better years.
We have to leave the fans out of the mix completely, involve them with no aspect of the vote. We need to take a firm approach on this; we can’t give in to the fan. We can’t say we’ll let them vote but leave the starters to the media; they will want all the power. We need to reap them of their power before the situation really gets out of control. The fans should be happy just to see the coordination of the league’s best, no matter who’s playing.
I am in favor of the idea that the game should mean something; it gives me reason to watch it. When the game is more than an exhibition it can still be taken seriously but enjoyed by everyone. Players should be rewarded for their great play, not have their egos bashed by some potato munching slob who never picked up a bat in his life. And throw the argument out the door that these non-superstars that are just having break out years won’t be able to win your league the home field advantage. Believe me, these players are worth it, they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t great.
If you want to ride the other side of the fence and say that the fans should vote and the game means nothing, that would be acceptable as well. I prefer to let the experts (like SC) do the voting so we can see who really deserves the vote. The lineup and rotation may not look as decorated but it will surely be able to pack some punch.
One injustice particularly aroused my interest, Jim Thome. We all know about the great season he is having. Leads majors in home runs, hit his 400th this year, this guy is a truly remarkable player. How could the fans vote in Albert Pujols who is having a pretty good year, and leave Thome, a great ambassador to the game of baseball out of the mix? Pujols may be good but Thome is having a better season in almost every aspect. At least he made the reserve roster.
The best move made in the voting process wasn’t a vote at all, it was a decision. Jack McKeon selecting Roger Clemens to start the All-Star game over Jason Schmidt (even though Roger got pummeled). At lest some justice was served here. Clemens is having a superstar year and although Schmidt’s numbers were slightly better, Clemens is still contributing at this magnitude at age 40, Schmidt not nearly that old yet.
On another note, Carlos Beltran of the Houston Astros shouldn’t have been allowed to play in the All-Star game. The players in the AL may have voted him but the NL, the league he moved to in the trade, never voted him in. He took up the roster spot of another well deserving player that had already been in the league. Beltran gets to come in and reap all the benefit from one well deserving player; Selig you messed up again. Some rule needs to be put into action that forbids players switching leagues midseason to attend the All-Star game that year. Until a rule is enforced, chaos will resume at the All-Star for years to come.
The bottom line is that All-Star selection process is flawed, fraudulent, and needs to be fixed in some way. Justice needs to be served to all players eligible for the All-Star game that year. Even if a solution is reached, there will still be critics (like me) who will try and bash the new process. A never ending swirl of controversy that started way back when Babe Ruth sounded off by hitting the first ever All-Star game home run. This is one story that may never end happy.