by Fine Diner
Once
again the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is upon us,
and once again, heads are being scratched everywhere in
bewilderment. In what seems a never-ending cycle, truly
inexplicable mass votes have left deserving players off
in lieu of players being ushered in via either
sympathy votes or ballot box stuffing. Yes, it appears
that ballot box stuffing has returned to major league
baseball, although it makes the Cleveland onslaught of
two years ago pale in comparison. Now it has gone global,
to a point where it could be irreversible.
What I refer to is the concentration of
votes cast in favor of the Seattle Mariners, who got off
to the best start in baseball history over the first two
months of the season. They did this despite losing their
top player (Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Alex
Rodriguez) each of the past three years, a commendable
achievement for Lou Piniella's charges. But as admirable
as their season has been thus far, the Mariners have not
had the best player per position this year, no matter how
their fans feel. However the Mariners will have four
starters, thanks in great part to online voting, which
has really taken off this summer.
For the record, these were the American
League leading vote getters online:
1B
- John Olerud (Mariners)
2B - Brett Boone (Mariners)
3B - David Bell (Mariners)
SS - ARod, (Rangers)
C - Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers)
DH - Edgar Martinez (Mariners)
OF - Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners), Manny
Ramirez (Red Sox) and Juan Gonzalez (Indians)
This is the same way the total vote went
except for Baltimore's retiring Cal Ripken squeaking by
Bell, 1,108,383 to 1,063,772. Olerud's total of 674,253
online votes beat those of reigning MVP Jason Giambi and
Carlos Delgado combined (618,224), and Edgar Martinez
nearly quadrupled those of New York's David Justice, his
nearest competitor. Incredulously Seattle catcher Dan
Wilson, who has been splitting the season with Tom
Lampkin, was second online and in total voting only to
Rodriguez, ahead of the much-deserving Jorge Posada of
New York. While Boston's Manny Ramirez, the AL's home run
leader, garnered 50 percent of his total votes online, it
paled in comparison to the top three online recipients
overall (Suzuki, Martinez and Boone), each of whom netted
over a million votes online alone. Obviously, the
Internet has been a "Boone" to Seattle, which
also happens to be hosting the 50th game this year.
Many demand that the vote be taken from the fans,
something that had been done in 1958 after Cincinnati
fans stuffed the ballot boxes in 1956, bidding to make
eight of theirs starters. That would have been a record,
even beating the dynastic Yankees, if not for
Commissioner Ford Frick knocking the stuffing out of the
selections of Wally Post and Gus Bell. The vote stayed
with the players until 1969. There have been no official
calls to unstuff the ballot boxes this year, or to revamp
voting, but it has to be scrutinized if everyone has a
fair chance at getting in.
There are two major problems with online voting, and both
reared their heads this summer - the need for giving
owners of each email address up to 20 opportunities to
cast votes and the paucity of high tech opportunity in
nations where the better foreign players come from. At
least voters at the games (one assumes they have been
watching and thus have a better idea of who is most
deserving of selection) may be monitored to an extent to
inhibit flagrant stuffing, but that is lacking online.
Major League Baseball and Radio Shack, sponsoring the
online action, require the activation of PC cookies in
order to keep addresses from going over the absurd
20-vote limit. But that does not hinder people from
either using addresses belonging to others, or using the
multiple addresses often available from providers.
The other problem, lack of opportunity, hits fans more
globally, since most Americans now have online access.
But that also benefited Seattle fans. As it turns out,
not just Americans have been taking great advantage of
online voting. The Japanese have been using their access
to technology to ensure that Suzuki makes the All-Star
team. They also used paper ballots for the first time
ever in Japan. Of course if any rookie more deserving
than Suzuki, the league's leader in batting and hits, is
found that would be a surprise, and the votes poured in
from across the nation for him accordingly. Suzuki, a bat
control master with outstanding speed was a lock anyway,
but the zealous overseas votes forced him past even
Ramirez and Barry Bonds in the balloting, netting a
record 3,373,035 votes for a rookie. In contrast Bonds,
still on pace to break Mark McGwyre's home run record,
only received 2,140,315 votes. Suzuki is by far not the
only foreigner in the Major Leagues, but online voting
has benefited him more than others. Coming from a
populous high tech nation with access to the Internet
assures his selection for years to come, even if he
nose-dives at the plate like former all-star Tim Salmon
of the Angels did this year.
An analysis of the expanded American League rosters at
the beginning of the season revealed 12 other nations
represented, not counting Puerto Rico or mid-season
call-ups. The majority of these are from two nations -
the Dominican Republic (59 players) and Venezuela (25).
No other nation was represented by more than 10. A number
of these are all-star caliber, but they may be left in
the dust if online trends continue. According to Major
League baseball it will. While only 800,000 votes were
cast online in 2000, by June 28 the number had jumped to
over 2 million, and they were still counting. On June 28
alone 128,000 ballots were cast, a new one-day record.
Now we've found another way to hamper small-market clubs.
Anyway, that aside here are this year's Fine Diner picks,
and I only voted once:
1B - Jason Giambi, Oakland
(AL) Todd Helton, Colorado (NL)
2B - Bret Boone, Seattle (AL) Jeff Kent,
San Fran (NL)
3B - Scott Brosius, NY (AL) Chipper
Jones, Atlanta (NL)
SS - Alex Rodriguez, Texas (AL) Ricky
Gutierez, Cubs (NL)
C - Ivan Rodriguez, Texas (AL) Jason
Kendall, Pitts. (NL)
DH - Manny Ramirez, Bosox (AL)
OF - Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle (AL) Bernie
Williams, NY (AL) Juan Gonzales, Cleve. (AL) Barry Bonds,
San Fran (NL) Larry Walker, Colorado (NL) Moises Alou,
Houston (NL)
The biggest shame this year is .247-hitting
Bell duking it out with .220-hitting Ripken for third
when the battle should be between Anaheim's Troy Glaus
and New York's Scott Brosius. Brosius and Posada carried
the Yanks earlier this year. Likewise, Giambi stayed
consistent while the A's floundered, but his was the
toughest choice in lieu of Delgado and the recent surge
of Cleveland's Jim Thome. Pound for pound, Kendall is the
best catcher in the National League and I feel his
defense outweighs Mike Piazza's homers. I had to vote for
Ramirez at DH because he simply hadn't been in the field
for the first two months, but still outdid Martinez.
Finally, Williams has been outstanding since returning
full-time, a key reason the Red Sox haven't left them
behind.
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