Tag Archives: Fan voting

Fan Votes for All-Star Game a Bad Idea

As we cope with the fact that the year is entering its seventh month despite feelings of Christmas being only yesterday here at Triple B the arrival of July means two things.

First, it is another reminder that I have lived in Texas far too long as it was a first week of July move that brought me to the state that only recognizes one lone star.

The second thing that July means is that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is upon us. This year’s game will be July 16 in New York.

And unlike other All-Star games in sports, the MLB game has the feeling that it is being played to win by both sides. Of course some added incentive to win was added a few years back when home field advantage in the World Series was given to the league that won the All-Star game.

While I enjoy the home run derby and the All-Star game itself there is one particular aspect of the Baseball All-Star game season that I can do without.

That element of All-Star Game party foul is the fan vote. I know I will get lots of grief for saying this but I do not believe that the fans should be voting for the All-Star participants.

Sure, people will say that as a reporter I am being unfair to the common fan by saying that only members of the media and league officials should have a vote but let us examine what the fan vote portion of the All-Star voting really entails.

Unlike say the election for the President of the United States where a registered voter is allowed to cast a single ballot there are no such restrictions for MLB balloting. In fact, excessive voting is encouraged by the 30 teams who offer various prizes for filling out excessive amounts of ballots.

That boys and girls is called buying votes no matter how you slice it. And yes I am not trying to say that electing representatives to the All-Star game is more important than electing the President. Sadly I would not be surprised if more people vote in the All-Star race than the general elections to decide who will run the country though.

As an aside, as we approach July 4th when the founding fathers declared America’s independence and envisioned the framework of democracy I really think they expected more participation by the people in that process.