As the forces of the baseball world converge on Coors Field to celebrate another All Star gala, a few things from sports sometimes enigmatic operations once again rises to the fore. High on the agenda is the selection process for some of these All Stars. Who gets selected and who gets snubbed (or overlooked for the politically correct among us) becomes the source of considerable discussions and debates.
In are the following players (all statistics through June 30 of the
1998 season):
From the AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters BA HR RBI
C Ivan Rodriguez, Texas .354 10 43
1B Jim Thome, Cleveland .332 21 68
2B Roberto Alomar, Baltimore .300 8 32
SS Alex Rodriguez, Seattle .310 27 66
3B Cal Ripken, Baltimore .261 7 35
OF Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle .281 33 72
OF Juan Gonzalez, Texas .296 24 96
OF Kenny Lofton, Cleveland .280 7 41
Pitchers W-L ERA SV
RHP Rolando Arrojo, Tampa Bay 10-4 3.02 0
RHP Roger Clemens, Toronto 9-6 3.71 0
RHP Bartolo Colon, Cleveland 8-4 2.51 0
RHP Tom Gordon, Boston 4-2 2.68 24
RHP Pedro Martinez, Boston 10-2 3.02 0
RHP Troy Percival, Anaheim 1-2 2.80 25
RHP Brad Radke, Minnesota 8-6 2.83 0
RHP Aaron Sele, Texas 11-5 3.26 0
LHP David Wells, NY Yankees 10-2 3.92 0
RHP John Wetteland, Texas 2-0 1.50 22
Reserves BA HR RBI
C Sandy Alomar, Cleveland .270 5 30
1B Mo Vaughn, Boston .327 21 56
2B Ray Durham, Chicago .288 7 27
2B Damion Easley, Detroit .291 19 60
SS Derek Jeter, NY Yankees .310 9 41
SS Omar Vizquel, Cleveland .300 0 28
3B Scott Brosius, NY Yankees .308 8 51
3B Dean Palmer, Kansas City .288 16 45
OF Darin Erstad, Anaheim .316 17 57
OF Ben Grieve, Oakland .318 12 51
OF Paul O'Neill, NY Yankees .324 10 59
OF Bernie Williams, NY Yankees .353 10 44
From the NATIONAL LEAGUE
Starters BA HR RBI
C Mike Piazza, NY Mets .308 13 45
1B Mark McGwire, St. Louis .319 37 87
2B Craig Biggio, Houston .330 11 47
SS Walt Weiss, Atlanta .323 0 16
3B Chipper Jones, Atlanta .300 18 65
OF Barry Bonds, San Francisco .286 17 58
OF Tony Gwynn, San Diego .333 7 44
OF Larry Walker, Colorado .336 9 33
Pitchers W-L ERA SV
RHP Andy Ashby, San Diego 10-5 2.57 0
RHP Kevin Brown, San Diego 9-3 2.77 0
LHP Tom Glavine, Atlanta 11-3 2.71 0
RHP Trevor Hoffman, San Diego 3-0 1.96 24
RHP Greg Maddux, Atlanta 11-2 1.64 0
RHP Robb Nen, San Francisco 5-1 1.05 23
RHP Rick Reed, NY Mets 9-5 2.71 0
RHP Curt Schilling, Philadelphia 7-8 3.07 0
RHP Jeff Shaw, Cincinnati 1-4 1.89 22
RHP Ugueth Urbina, Montreal 4-2 1.41 20
Reserves BA HR RBI
C Jason Kendall, Pittsburgh .335 5 38
C Javy Lopez, Atlanta .309 19 58
1B Andres Galarraga, Atlanta .310 27 70
2B Fernando Vina, Milwaukee .299 4 19
3B Vinny Castilla, Colorado .301 23 72
SS Edgar Renteria, Florida .306 1 21
OF Moises Alou, Houston .320 18 67
OF Dante Bichette, Colorado .336 11 67
OF Gary Sheffield, Los Angeles .303 13 56
OF Sammy Sosa, Chicago .327 33 79
OF Greg Vaughn, San Diego .296 27 68
OF Devon White, Arizona .288 12 44
While the consensus players many felt were snubbed include:
Position players
Derek Bell, Houston
Jose Canseco, Toronto
Nomar Garciaparra, Boston
Mark Grace, Chicago
Brian Jordan, St. Louis
Rafael Palmeiro, Baltimore
Scott Rolen, Philadelphia
and Pitchers
David Cone, New York
Chuck Finley, Anaheim
Rick Helling, Texas
Hideki Irabu, New York
Randy Myers, Toronto
Mariano Rivera, New York
Todd Stottlemyre, St. Louis
Kerry Wood, Chicago
No one is saying the likes of Ray Durham of the White Sox, Fernando Vina of the Brewers, or Devon White of the Diamondbacks, among others, are not good players or All-Stars in their own rights. But can we really justify their inclusion at the expense of the others who were left out. Based on sheer numbers for the season thus far we would be hard pressed to.
The age-old debate of who deserves an All-Star selection versus who should be left out has therefore raised its ugly head once again. Let’s analyze for example the way the starters are determined for what is quite possibly the most exciting time of baseball’s regular season. Fans vote in the starters. It is understood that the fans do have a thorough appreciation of the game but should the average fans be voting in the starters and the supposedly more knowledgeable and baseball savvy World Series managers and League Commissioners only select the reserves and pitchers.
Few, if any, can argue with the democratic coronation of the likes of Chipper Jones of Atlanta, Jim Thome of Cleveland, Mark McGwire of St. Louis, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriquez of Seattle, and Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriquez of Texas to the
roar of the opening inning crowd and the electrifying stare of the rest of the country.
But, is this the best All-Star team that should be starting? Let’s review the facts. Consider Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs. He currently (as of July 1st) leads the National League in Total Bases, is 2nd in Home Runs (1st among outfielders), 2nd in Runs Batted In (1st among outfielders), 2nd in Slugging percentage (1st among outfielders), 4th in Runs Scored (1st among outfielders), 6th in Hits (3rd among outfielders), and 9th in Batting Average (4th among outfielders). Yet for all those accolades Sosa finished just 6th in the All-Star voting among outfielders. Starting in his place for the NL team are Barry Bonds, Tony Gwynn, and Larry Walker whose combined Home Run total do not exceed his. In fact, Sosa leads all three in Home Runs and RBIs and is just batting 9 points behind Walker and 6 behind Gwynn while leading Bonds by 41 points. Sosa’s problem is very simple. Gwynn is an 8-time Batting Champion, Walker is the reigning MVP, and Bonds is just Bonds. Democracy for the famous.
A lot of players have played their entire careers for the honor of being acknowledged as greats among their peers. And that is what the All-Star game allows them. The All-Star game is not to celebrate the accomplishments of every team, instead it is to reward the performances of individual players. The notion of having at least one player from every team represented at the game is therefore both ludicrous and unmeritocratic. Maybe it’s time to reverse the manner of selection of the All-Stars. Managers and Coaches, who are closer to the game on a daily basis, should probably be allowed to select the starters. Their respective votes could be tabulated and selections given to the players with the highest number of votes at their respective positions. In the event of a tie the league commissioners could cast the deciding vote. The fan balloting, on the other hand, could determine the reserves that should also play since more of these can be selected and these are the players the fans want to see.
Is this an undemocratic process? Well consider the U.S. electoral system. It is the Electoral College and not the voting populace who selects the president (though the Electoral College’s votes tend to reflect the general populace). Nevertheless the U.S. system is the most democratic in the world. Managers and coaches could therefore still vote for the All-Star starters and preserve the democratic integrity of the system. If the current system is not changed we could therefore end up with players selected for their fame and past performances, and not for what they have done lately.
So, does democracy really work in sports? Consider this. Over the last three years fans have voted in 50 position players to start in the All-Star game. Eight of these players have hailed from the Orioles, five from the Astros and Mariners, and four each from the Indians, Padres and Rangers (60% of the total). In addition, six of
these players have been voted to start in all three games __ Alomar, Biggio, Bonds, Piazza, Ripken and Ivan Rodriquez.
I guess democracy does work in sports…if you play for a well-recognized team, in one of America’s larger markets, and your name is associated with past episodes of brilliance. Democracy for the famous.
