BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) BOREDOM
It’s a smile and wave game of players who are going to half ass it all the way to their traditional All Star bonuses. They’re not going to take that ever leap for the fly foul ball, they’re not going to put that little extra “oomph” into their swing, and they’re going to save their best efforts for games that count.
Of course there are occasionally the one or two guys who try to get some headlines with their play. Ultimately, it’s more worthless of a game than split-squad preseason games. At least those have SOME bearings on the season and at least someone in those games is working for something.
(THREE) LACK OF FESTIVITIES
I remember being more excited for the Home Run Derby as a kid than almost anything else baseball related. Now, not so much. It used to consist of the best of the best slugging the hell out of the balls for bragging rights. The majority of the top bomb hitters are either at home during the festivities or playing in the All Star Game itself.
There’s also something called “The Futures Game”. It’s basically the minor league All Star Game. In concept, that’s pretty cool. In sports these days “transactions and acquisitions” are among the most talked about parts of sports. So fans’ getting to see the potential leaders of tomorrow is cool. The league does nothing to really push this event. In fact, they have it while the MLB teams are still playing before the break. So can we even count it?
And of course, we got the Celebrity/Legends game. It’s a half field, soft ball game where Hall of Fame players make B and C-List celebrities look good. It’s nothing special, but it’s like an adult version of MTV “Rock and Jock”. It’s entertaining, full disposable, and you forget everything about it an hour after it’s over. Sadly, for the past two years it’s been the most enjoyable part of the entire MLB All Star break for me.
(TWO) FARCE ROSTERS
Fan friendly is awesome, but fan ruled is retard-iculous! Think about it. The fans voting for the All Star rosters in theory is cool, but not fair at all. A fan is obviously and rightfully going to be bias. This means they pick the players from their teams. In 1947, the league had to step in when fans of the Reds stuffed the ballots and voted a Reds player into every single position except first base.
The point is that the biggest markets will always have more players represented. On one hand you can say that they are the most popular players but on the other hand, the logical hand, you can clearly understand how it’s unjust. It’s a popularity contest for sure, but the large markets have their way with the teams.
I know its July because it’s the middle of the season and serves as a short break, but that doesn’t mean we even need an All Star game during the break. I mean really, is it fair that the “best” players are rewarded by having to work EXTRA days? And since it’s about the half season mark, doesn’t that mean it’s the All Star team of the half season. Some guys get hot, some have a slump, and some fight back from injury or obscurity and have great seasons, FULL seasons.
(ONE) LACK OF MEANING
The winning team gets their respective league home field advantage in the World Series. That makes as much sense as flipping a coin. Why not just give it to the team with, I don’t know, the best record? The majority of the players and coaches don’t care about this, so why should we?
There is one thing that has absolutely ruined the Major League Baseball All Star Game. It all comes down to loyalty. And I’m talking about the inclusion of inter-league play. I enjoy it. I like seeing the Cubs and the Sox fight it out for six games a year for bragging rights and I’m sure others do too. But it deprives the All Star Game of its exclusive feel. Before 97, the only time you’d see National League vs. American League was either the World Series or the All Star Game. Now it happens a few weeks a season. Before 1959, MLB didn’t even allow trading between the teams. Now THAT was league loyalty.
I’ll say it again, they don’t care so why should we? In 2002, after 11 innings, a whole two innings more of regulation play, the managers used up all of their pitchers. So much for paying attention. What did Commissioner Bud Selig do? He called the game a tie. Why not just do that every year, cut out the middle man, and not even play the game.
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