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June 4, 2007

Prospectus Today

NL All-Stars

by Joe Sheehan

“We are big. It’s the game that got small.”–-All-Stars

I miss the All-Star Game. Not to sound like your grandfather, but in the span of my memory it’s gone from a highlight of the summer to an afterthought. The slow and steady teardown of any delineation between the two leagues, with the final blow of interleague play, has turned the midsummer classic into the NBA All-Star Game with bigger rosters. There’s just no thrill to it anymore, no special quality to it. I watch it, and I note its fun moments, but I have been known to tune out the last five innings or so while I work or eat or read.

The players, in turn, treat it as a burden to be borne, frequently declining the honor to nurse minor injuries. While this is unfortunate, it’s understandable. As a fan, I would honestly rather see my team’s best players take three days off than make two flights and spend two days running around to get an at-bat or an inning pitched. Throw in the expanded leagues and rosters, along with the one-player-per-team rule, and the definition of “All-Star” becomes more a source of amusement than pride.

So why do I fill out a ballot? Because the All-Star Game could still be an honor, could still be a summertime staple, and I want to stay a part of the process until it does. Were interleague play to be eliminated, that one change would give the All-Star Game back its luster, marking one of only two times on the baseball calendar that the leagues meet. The separation of the leagues was a feature, not a bug, a difference that gave MLB an edge over the NFL and NBA. In its rush to ape everything those other sports do, it gave up that edge, which was a mistake. The connection between interleague play and the decline of the All-Star Game is clear, and just another reason to oppose the abomination.

If it seems early to be writing about the All-Star Game… well, I guess it is, but I did my ballot three weeks ago. I like filling out my All-Star ballot at a game, preferably with friends who enjoy debating the merits, or lack thereof, of the candidates for second base in the AL. In this case, I was alone at the Indians/Angels game. I did learn a lesson that evening: an All-Star ballot is easier to fill out at a blowout. I got so caught up in what was a great game that I neglected to go to my ballot until the evening was nearly complete.

Still, I filled it out, then put together a duplicate, stuck one in my bag and one in a box, and left the yard. I don’t have a problem with not having a laptop by my side to check on the VORP leaders at catcher in the NL, because I don’t define “All-Star” as “player having the best eight weeks of his life.” While current-season performance is information, I think the track record of the candidates prior to the current year carries much more weight. The All-Star Game is for the stars.