(All-)Star Raving Mad

Dave Paisley

Sitting in the stands as the All-Star ballots are handed out, I usually hear the more loud, obnoxious fans around me start to yak about the same old stuff. This year is no exception. The arguments break down into two main subjects: who should decide who makes the All-Star team, and what criteria should determine who makes the team.

Let's take a look at the former. For some time now, fans have been selecting the starting lineup. Perhaps the most popular argument against this every year is that the fans turn it into a popularity contest. Well, duh! First let us examine the nature of the word "star", at least as much as it pertains to celebrities. Might it have something to do with being well-known and popular? While it is true that some players have benefited from playing in media hothouses, the truly great player who toils in obscurity is something of a rarity.

Really, though, what are the alternatives? Give it to the baseball writers? It's apparent from MVP and Cy Young voting that they're more prone to rampant homerism than the most rabid of fans. And how about the managers and coaches? If their public pronouncements are to be relied upon, they'd be picking the likes of Mike Bordick at short instead of Alex Rodriguez, "because he's scrappy" and because he's "having a great year." Besides, last year the fans did a fabulous job of picking the starting lineups. I have four scary words related to manager selections: Ron Coomer, All-Star.

Yes, Joe Torre decided that .730 OPS guy Ron Coomer was a much more suitable representative of the Minnesota Twins than pitcher Brad Radke. Admittedly, picking a representative from the Twins isn't easy, but Radke has been a fair choice for a few years now, and will continue to be so until the Twins finally drive him away. Next year should be interesting, when the Twins rep will be a tossup between Matt Lawton and Corey Koskie. Damn that "player from every team" rule...

Overall, then, I don't believe there's a better option for selecting starters than letting the fans do it. And what better way is there to have fans talking about the game and staying involved? With the coaching staff filling out the remainder of the roster, any heinous misdeeds of the fans, rare though they have been, can be corrected.

The two All-Star managers get to select their pitching staffs, which I find curious. While the fans shouldn't be allowed to select the starting pitchers, there shouldn't be any reason to avoid having them select a short list from which the managers could choose. It seems like a good idea, and, sure enough, this year the online balloting at seasonticket.com features an advisory poll for pitchers.

Who selects the team is only one half of the equation, however. The other big question of the day is how to select them. Unfortunately, there is usually an unwarranted preoccupation with who had a hot couple of weeks in April. I wrote last year about the "halo effect," where a player who has a hot April tends to look good all year because he's featured prominently in the early months. Even though his stats drop back to normal over the course of the year, he manages to retain that name recognition to the end, and especially in the run up to the All-Star game.

The best example of the "halo effect" last year may have been Luis Gonzalez, who was being touted as an MVP candidate until after the break, when he finally dropped back to only slightly above his career average.

Some people may feel that rewarding players who have one hot month with an All-Star berth is perfectly justified, but where are the fans banging the drum for rewarding guys who carried their teams into the playoffs the previous September? If we're only going to reward hot Aprils and Mays with All-Star spots, how do we reward hot Julys and Augusts?

Looked at in that light, I don't see that there is anything wrong with the fans picking guys whose names they recognize and who they have seen perform at a high level for several years. Cal Ripken Jr. may be the best example right now. There's no doubt that he's not the player he once was, but until there's a clear alternative I don't see why I and other fans shouldn't keep punching his ticket. Who else are you going to pick, especially this year -- Scott Brosius? Vinny Castilla? Tom Evans? I don't think so.

So there are some pretty good reasons for leaving the fans to do their thing. Next, I'll take a look at this year's ballots, just in time to take a peek at the first results when they come available on May 30. Meanwhile, vote early and vote often at seasonticket.com.

 

about the author

Dave Paisley looks forward to seeing Rey Ordonez and Charles Johnson in the All-Media Game. Suggest that it should be held in the tiny nation of Togo, sometime in November, at drdjp@strikethree.com.