Year after year we argue about how this player or that player deserved to be the All-Star Game starter and not the inferior player who got voted in by the fans. It’s generally become a popularity contest rather than a vote for who has been the most deserving player.
I understand that MLB tries to get the fans involved in as many ways as possible. It’s a great public relations move, and one I used to enjoy participating in as a kid. I loved getting a ballot when I walked into Shea. My dad and I would always get to the game a little early and sit in our seats and talk about the players as we punched out the tiny circles on the card board card. More times than not I would have to rattle off stats or explain to my dad who the players on the AL ballot were since this was pre-internet. But that was part of the enjoyment. Now, there’s very little personal feeling about filling that ballot out. I just make a few clicks on my mouse and it’s sent. No longer do I run up the ramp, past the crazy line for the bathroom and look for the ballot box affixed to a dirty old support beam.
Last year, Mets GM Sandy Alderson let fly two tweets that just about sums up the state of the “fan vote”.
Wright vs.Sandoval: A city of 8 million was outvoted by a city of 800,000.
— Sandy Alderson (@MetsGM) July 2, 2012
ASG election of “Kung Fu Panda” shows the value of a cute nickname. Surprised Giants fans didn’t elect a “ball dude” to start at 3B.
— Sandy Alderson (@MetsGM) July 3, 2012
Those two tweets just about sum up the MLB All-Star Game selection system. It’s broken and needs to be fixed. And as Mets fans it is our duty, as the game is in our house, to destroy that system.
Anyone can log on to http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2013/ballot.jsp?partnerId=ASG13_News_Articles and cast their vote for their favorite players. It’s real easy. You can even click on your favorite team up top, and all of the players on your team that are on the ballot get selected. How awesome is that?
Not so awesome if you ask me. It’s a system that gives votes to undeserving players. This is also a system that lets you fill out thirty-five ballots. Thirty five? What’s wrong with one? I guess when MLB reads off the top vote getters at each position, it sounds much cooler to say a player got 2,000,000 votes than 400,000 votes. It’s just another way for MLB to inflate stats. After all, that is Bud Selig’s favorite thing about baseball.
This system is so broken, that we Mets fans, on our own soil, must take down this monster. Let’s take control of a system that rewards players for merely playing in a city that is hosting the game, rather than outstanding accomplishment.
I ask all of you to stuff the ballots like maniacs and vote in our entire outfield. That’s right, vote in Lucas Duda (who may actually be All-Star worthy at this pace), Mike Baxter, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Those are the three Mets who are on the ballot this year. Duda is obviously the only starter on that trio. And what better way to make a mockery of this system, than to vote in two backup outfielders?
How angry were you when David Wright was beaten out by Kung-Fu Panda last year? Just because Giants fans seemed to have nothing better to do than vote a gazillion times on the final day of the balloting, he deserved to be the starting third baseman?
Mets fans are among the most knowledgeable and passionate fans in all of baseball. This would be a fantastic statement to make. Blow up the balloting process and have the players/managers pick all of the players. Have them decide who is the starters. Does MLB really think that by not involving the fans in the vote that they won’t sell out the game and rape the fans hand over fist with ticket prices?
How bad would it look for MLB to have 3 no-names starting the All-Star Game for the National League, on the biggest stage, in the largest TV market?
Get it done Mets fans!
