It's a tired argument now: Bud Selig is screwing up the All-Star Game by allowing it to decide home field advantage in the World Series. This tired argument should not be put to bed.
Eight sluggers—Lance Berkman, Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Chase Utley, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun, and Justin Morneau—will compete in the 22nd Home Run Derby tonight at Yankee Stadium.
A pair of squads packed with baseball's best and most popular will then hit the field tomorrow for the league's 79th All-Star Game.
Selig decided almost five years ago that this supposedly meaningless "Midsummer Classic" should mean something. He did it after the National League and American League finished the 2002 contest in a 7-7 tie. When both squads ran out of pitchers, the two managers, Joe Torre and Bob Brenly, decided to end the evening.
Call me a traditionalist or a starstruck idiot, but I prefer that my All-Star games consist of nothing but showboating and more showboating.
I'll take a competitive game if I can get one, but the priority, as it should be, is watching ultra-talented players show me, the unathletic viewer, everything my body will never allow me to do.
Consider it the chief reason I will always tune in to the NBA's All-Star Game, even if people think it has become a vainglorious, trite photo opportunity.
An All-Star contest is a chance to comically celebrate that athletes are overpaid and over appreciated. What Selig did in 2003 was attempt to hide that Alex Rodriguez will make more money in his career than maybe 100 dedicated elementary school teachers might make in 10 lifetimes.
He saw that ratings were shrinking and took that to mean that people wanted him to give the summer classic a facelift.
As ratings continue nosediving—last year's game drew 12 million viewers, the lowest in league history—it appears Selig misread the situation.
Home field advantage is sacred and should not be decided in a game that was created as an escape from regular competition. It also should not be decided based on whether the year is even or odd.
The team with the best record entering the World Series should win home field advantage. Why else do you strive for a first place finish?
Shouldn't such an apparent necessity—road records for baseball teams this year are comparable to the atrocious ones NBA teams compiled in the playoffs—be awarded by merit and not who won a glorified showboating contest?
That's what the summer classic is and always has been. When Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle played and when Sandy Koufax pitched and when Hank Aaron played—it was a showboating contest.
Selig disgraced the art of escapism when he launched the ad campaign, "This Time it Counts." This game never had to count, and as many analysts write gloomy editorials about why this once TV smash is now playing second fiddle to C.S.I. reruns, Selig should realize his error.
David Stern has the propensity to ruin almost anything, but given the right talent (think Jordan, Michael), he oversaw professional basketball's greatest, most watched era. The NBA's public relations effectiveness has dipped in the last decade but the zest and relaxed air of its All-Star Game has not.
4 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Collin Hager - The Roundtable 11 months ago
I hate the idea that this is for home-field advantage in the World Series. All because of the concern over getting hotel rooms for players and teams. Doesn't makes sense. Why can every other sport manage to secure hotel rooms and tickets for their players but baseball struggles?
Even worse, baseball created its own mess. This all started because of a tie, an avoidable one at that. We ended up with it because managers felt compelled to play everyone. Why did they feel that way?
Many people forget that when the game was played in Camden Yards, the one pitcher who did not see action for the American League was Baltimore Oriole Mike Mussina. When that happened, the crowd went nuts. How can he not play in his home ballpark? From that point on, managers made it a point to get everyone in.
That wasn't a problem until the infamous tie. And the tie gave us this. Congrats, Bud. We all know it wouldn't make sense to base home-field advantage on something sensible like best record, alternating each year, or best record in inter-league play. That wouldn't make sense.
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Brandon Heikoop 11 months ago
The Roundtable,
Let's say the World Series this year ends up being Arizona v. Tampa Bay. Tampa finishes the season with 93 wins and squeaks out the division win against 4 opponents all with 80+ wins. Arizona, in baseballs joke division, runs away with 94 wins, playing predominantly against teams with fewer then 76 wins. Which team is better and consequently more deserving of home field advantage?
Thus, while the system that is currently out is not the best (fan voting ruins that), I feel that rewarding the league which is deemed the best (through the ASG or whatever measure) deserves home field advantage. That is, until interleague play is furthered.
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Collin Hager - The Roundtable 11 months ago
So you'd agree that, if furthered through a more balanced schedule or whatever, interleague play would be a solid measure? I'd agree with you. I just think it's a solid measure now. For as many games are played, there are good and bad matchups for both leagues that end up almost breaking even. Close enough I think. But I haven't exactly dissected matchups.
I completely see your point on the Arizona-Tampa analogy. And it's entirely possible. We've seen this year that home-field advantage is a huge benefit in baseball. Home/road splits are crazy.
But the All-Star game is impacted by fan voting, which, as you pointed out, is flawed. No easy answer on this one.
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Derek Coffelt 11 months ago
Great article. I actually love the showboating aspect of the All-Star game. I remember when Torii Hunter robbed Barry Bonds of a home run and Bonds proceeded to run after Hunter and pick up him and twirl him around in the air in a celebratory taunt.
Now, since "it counts" all of that is taken away. The game almost has a dark cloud hanging over it because it decides something so sacred. Therefore, the ratings suffer. Long gone are the days in the mid-70's where Pete Rose ran over the catcher at home plate. Even though the game didn't count for anything, the players wanted to showcase their talents.
Great job Selig, thank you for taking away those memories.
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