MLB All-Star Game Is a Sham
I used to be a big fan of the All-Star Game. However, the fan voting is ridiculous. MLB claims that they allow fans to vote because they want to be fan friendly, but that is absurd. Fans tune into the All-Star game to see the best players in the game and to see stars that they ordinarily do not get to see. As an American League fan, it used to be cool to get to watch the National League's smaller market start, like Tony Gwinn, in action. In this day and age, we are treated to to the New York/Boston Yankee Sox agains the New York Mets simply because there are more people in the northeast than the rest of the country.
Ideally, the All-Stars should be the best players in the league. It should be a remarkable accomplishment to make the team, and it should be awe inspiring to watch such a collection of talent on the field. That point has been lost somewhere.
One quick look at the American League's leading hitters shows how insane the voting has become. Joe Maurer is leading the American League in hitting at .389. After clicking through the league leaders on baseballreference.com, I do not believe that an American League catcher has ever led the league in hitting. The last National League cather to do it was Ernie Lomabardi back in 1942. Clearly, Maurer is on pace to have one of the greatest seasons of all time. Hitting for that kind of average while catching every day is remarkable.
However, Maurer is not one of the stars of baseball. At least, he is not if the American League's All-Star voting is to believed. Maurer is in third place and has a mere 1,004 vote lead on fourth place. The leader is Boston's Jason Varitek. Varitek is hitting .250 this year with 7 homeruns and 36 RBI. In other words, the league's leading hitter is over 200,000 votes behind a guy that is hitting under the league average and does not have enough power to justify his low average.
If you could not tell by reading my blog, I am a White Sox fan and, as such, do not care for the Twins. However, even I can tell that this is unjust, and it is just one example of the farce that the All-Star voting has become. Someone needs to step in and fix this because the All-Star game has become dull and uninteresting. Bud, are you listening? This is one of the fans talking that you claim to care so much about!
Ideally, the All-Stars should be the best players in the league. It should be a remarkable accomplishment to make the team, and it should be awe inspiring to watch such a collection of talent on the field. That point has been lost somewhere.
One quick look at the American League's leading hitters shows how insane the voting has become. Joe Maurer is leading the American League in hitting at .389. After clicking through the league leaders on baseballreference.com, I do not believe that an American League catcher has ever led the league in hitting. The last National League cather to do it was Ernie Lomabardi back in 1942. Clearly, Maurer is on pace to have one of the greatest seasons of all time. Hitting for that kind of average while catching every day is remarkable.
However, Maurer is not one of the stars of baseball. At least, he is not if the American League's All-Star voting is to believed. Maurer is in third place and has a mere 1,004 vote lead on fourth place. The leader is Boston's Jason Varitek. Varitek is hitting .250 this year with 7 homeruns and 36 RBI. In other words, the league's leading hitter is over 200,000 votes behind a guy that is hitting under the league average and does not have enough power to justify his low average.
If you could not tell by reading my blog, I am a White Sox fan and, as such, do not care for the Twins. However, even I can tell that this is unjust, and it is just one example of the farce that the All-Star voting has become. Someone needs to step in and fix this because the All-Star game has become dull and uninteresting. Bud, are you listening? This is one of the fans talking that you claim to care so much about!
posted by Pat at 3:22 PM
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