All-Star process no longer packs a punch
It was July 6, 1955 and the New York Giants were winding up their batting practice in the Polo Grounds as members of the visiting Philadelphia Phillies began to appear on the field preparing to take their turn in the cage. A messenger approached Phillies center fielder Richie Ashburn.
“Leo wants to talk to you,” Ashburn was told.
“Leo” referred to Leo Durocher, the manager of the Giants. In less than a week Durocher would be managing the National League team in the AllStar Game. After the fans had elected eight starters Durocher had chosen the rest of the 25man squad. He had omitted the league’s leading hitter, who happened to be Ashburn and Ashburn was seething.
“Tell Leo,” he responded … The rest of the sentence consisted of four words and five syllables. It was a very common rejection delivered with very uncommon vitriol.
In 1972 fans elected Luis Aparicio of the Boston Red Sox to start at shortstop for the American League. A late injury prevented Aparicio from participating which meant that the AL manager, Earl Weaver of the Baltimore Orioles, would name the starter. Most people expected Weaver to choose Bert Campaneris of the Oakland Athletics, who had been the runner-up in the voting. Instead, he chose 23-year-old Bobby Grich from his own club. Campaneris was added to the team but didn’t get into the game. The contest lasted 10 innings and Grich played all 10.
About three weeks later the Athletics visited Baltimore and Campaneris began the game with a single, stole second and third and scored on an infield out. In the sixth inning he again singled and stole second. This time he continued to third on an error and scored when losing pitcher Jim Palmer committed a balk.
Afterwards Campaneris declared that he was motivated by his All-Star exclusion and
wanted to show Weaver what kind of ballplayer he had ignored.
These two incidents, perhaps, illustrate what the All-Star Game once stood for. Anyone who played professional baseball dreamed of playing in the game. The few who were fortunate enough to reach that goal played their hearts out. No one regarded the All-Star Game as some sort of glitzy exhibition.
Things have certainly changed. A glitzy exhibition would probably be the kindest description possible of the modern All-Star Game. Players generally seem to treat it as a midsummer annoyance. Last year two of the men chosen to participate simply declined. They said they preferred to spend the All-Star break with their families. There was a time when that would have been unthinkable.
Fans don’t seem terribly enthralled by the spectacle either. The ratings for the All-Star telecast seem to decline every year. But at least one aspect of the game is still fun. Choosing the starting lineups is always an interesting process and usually controversial. That appears to be the case this year as well.
Major League Baseball has unveiled a new format that takes full advantage of modern technology: All voting will be done online.
If you choose to participate, you’ll be presented with a ballot that includes one candidate from every team for every position. Next to the player’s name will you’ll find a photo and a few of his statistics, which are updated daily. After you cast your ballot you’ll be encouraged to vote four more times. That’s the maximum anyone is allowed to vote on any given day, but you can vote five more times the next day if you wish. In fact, you can vote every day between now and June 30, when the first phase of the voting terminates.
That’s right. All that is merely the first phase. The highest vote getter in each league will be elected to the team in the first phase. All other positions will be decided in a runoff between the first two. That’s what the secondary phase will be all about.
That phase will last only from July 5 to July 8 and no voter — or at least no electronic address — will be permitted to vote more than once in a 24hour period.
Okay, let’s get down to business.
As I look over the ballot I see some very tough choices. That’s to be expected. But when I come to second baseman on the National League I find something I didn’t expect. More precisely, I’m missing something I did expect.
I want to vote for Tommy Edman of the Cardinals but he is shown as a candidate for shortstop even though second base has been his primary position. I want to vote for someone else at shortstop but I want to vote for Edman at second base. Very well, there’s a provision for a write-in candidate at every position so I’m going to write Edman’s name in at second base.
Ooops. No, I’m not. Dang computer tells me that’s a no-no. I can vote for Edman as the NL shortstop or nowhere. Reluctantly, I settle for nowhere. After a few minutes of mental anguish I come up with the following ballot.
1B—Luis Arraez, Twins; 2B—Jose Altuve, Astros; 3B—Jose Ramirez, Guardians; SS—Jeremy Pena, Astros; C—Alejandro Kirk, Blue Jays; OF— Aaron Judge, Yankees, Mike Trout, Angels, Taylor Ward, Angels; DH— Yordan Alvarez, Astros.
1B—Peter Alonso, Mets; 2B—Jazz Chisholm, Marlins; 3B— Manny Machado, Padres; SS—Dansby Swanson, Braves; C—Willson Contreras, Cubs; OF—Ronald Acuna, Braves, Mookie Betts, Dodgers, Joc Pederson, Giants; DH—Bryce Harper, Phillies.
I vote this ticket five times before the computer thanks me and tells me I can vote again tomorrow if I wish.
That’s All-Star baseball, 2022 style.
On June 1 the Phillies were 21-29 but they won their next nine games. The Braves were 23-27 and haven’t lost since. As of Wednesday their streak had reached 13 games. How often do you see two teams with losing records after 50 games go into simultaneous winning streaks of nine or more games?
Here’s how often. The last time it happened was 1899.
In 1899 the National League consisted of 12 teams, which included the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds and both of those teams had losing records after 50 games.
Starting with the second game of a June 26 doubleheader, the Pirates won nine in a row. The Reds didn’t play on June 26 or 27, but they launched a nine-game streak of their own on June 28. Amazingly, the Reds put together a bigger streak — 14 games — later in the season.
Nevertheless, when it was all over Cincinnati stood in sixth place and Pittsburgh was seventh.
If you watch the College World Series this weekend you might want to keep an eye on Stanford outfielder Brock Jones and Oklahoma shortstop Peyton Graham. Both have a chance to be chosen in the first round of next month’s draft.