THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

I think MLB just likes to puff up the voting numbers, especially with they explicitly allow one person to vote up to 25 times online.

Fred--

25 times online? Psh. Amateur hour. You can just grab a stack of several dozen--heck, hundreds!--of the paper ballots at the stadium, go home, punch ‘em, and take ‘em back. My mother still does this; it drives me nuts.

Marketing, marketing, marketing.  The All-Star is pure marketing.  The voting is pure marketing.  Why should we expect it to be anything else?

In the 50s mlb went away from fan voting because one city stuffed the ballot box - Cincinnati.

Well, there are no rules on how you are supposed to vote for the all-star game, so I just tend to vote for who I think is the best player in the league at each position; I don’t really care that they come out so early.  But of course if you are voting based on who is having a good first half…

The early start to the voting is what makes the whining about whichever guy is having a hot first half not making it even sillier.  How is one supposed to know two weeks into the season which guy is going to be playing over his head come the end of June?

I agree with Blackadder; the ASG is more interesting if its the best players rather than the best first halves.  And from that perspective it’s good to get voting started before the first half narrative can be written.

Right, it’s a great idea to do it so early, exactly for the reasons noted.

Depends what the All Star game is for. I’m pretty sure I can name the best players at each position even in December with reasonable accuracy. If the All Star game is for players having the best 2 months of their lives, then it’s indeed pretty dumb to vote now.

"If the All Star game is for players having the best 2 months of their lives, then it’s indeed pretty dumb to vote now.”

Well, of course it is for the players who are having the best first halves which is why it is indeed dumb to vote now.  If John Lester continues to pitch badly, and has a 6.25 ERA on July 1, and he is voted onto the team because “he is a very good pitcher,” what kind of reaction do you think there would be?

I would be shocked if the fans vote Jon Lester (or any other pitcher) to the All Star Team.

Heh heh, good point, but you can substitute your favorite good “true talent” player who is having an awful year.