Jeff Schwartz
Blog #6: All Star Games Serve No Purpose in 2010
July 5, 2010
Maybe I am confused, but I thought All Star games were supposed to consist of all the stars of their respective sports. Today, Major League Baseball announced the rosters for their 2010 All Star Game to be played July 13, 2010 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. I consider myself to be a very educated sports fan. Over the years I’ve learned about many athletes, including ones who play nowhere near any of my favorite teams. This afternoon Major League Baseball announced a player for their All Star Game I had never heard of. Granted, this young man plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates and in the National League but really I have never heard of this pitcher. Not as a fantasy baseball option, not as a hot prospect, not even as a trade candidate to the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
Evan Meek, congratulations you’re the reason this blog is being written. I have no idea who you are. I don’t think anyone that isn’t related to you, knows you personally, or is a Pittsburgh Pirates fanatic has ever heard of you. You’re the equivalent of the very last pick in the NFL draft. Judging by your numbers this season, you seem to be pretty good. An ERA of 0.96 in 38 games is nothing to sneeze at. However, you play for a team from Pittsburgh that hasn’t won anything since Willie Stargell was in the lineup. Is this really something that screams All Star? Why after all of these years are guys like this in the “Mid-Summer Classic”? Does Bud Selig really want us to pretend like it’s a life or death matter if Evan Meek comes in when the National League is up a run in the top of the 9th? Do I really want to see a battle between random Molina brother #4 and someone named Joakim Soria for the right to home field advantage in the World Series? No thanks, I’d rather watch darts.
Trevor Cahill, John Buck, Ty Wigginton, Jose Bautista, Matt Capps, Yovani Gallardo, Evan Meek, and Joakim Soria are all players from both rosters I’ve never heard of in my life. Amongst the A-Rod’s, Pujols, and Ryan Howards there’s the previously named guys. I definitely want John Buck defending the American League’s right to home field advantage. The second worst part of the MLB All Star Game Festivities is Home Run Derby. The lone more warn out concept in professional sports is the Slam Dunk Competition. I dig the long ball just as much as the next guy, but would it kill Major League Baseball to force their superstars to partake? I’d be all over a competition with Russell Branyan, Adam Dunn, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Manny Ramirez, and Alex Rodriguez. All six guys hit balls so far into the bleachers it’s crazy. But of course they’ll trot out passé guys like Corey Hart, Adrian Gonzalez, and Chris Young who are all good, solid players but not homerun hitters.
If there’s an All Star Game, I want to see all of the stars. I don’t want to see some of the stars, or most of the stars, I want to see all of them. That’s why nobody gives a damn about the NFL past the Superbowl. The Pro Bowl is all kinds of weak stuff. Derek Anderson made a Pro Bowl. Andre Rison made Pro Bowls. It’s a joke, and it always will be. Attention athletes, if you’d like to get paid more money, play in your sport’s All Star Game. It’s really simple, if you pay these guys, they’ll play.
I want to care, I really do. But there’s no appeal in seeing guys like Evan Meek, Fausto Carmona, Jose Bautista in the All Star Game. I want to see the young stars of the game like Stephen Strasburg and Carlos Santana facing one another. I want to see legends honored who have retired like Ken Griffey Jr. (note he received a lot more votes than one Alex Rodriguez). Come on, Bud Selig; show us why you made all of that money selling used cars.
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