Comments on: Voting Woes Beyond Hanging Chads

By: DownSwinging.com » Blog Archive » Youkilis or Teixeira for All-Star Game? Neither.

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:32:29 +0000

[...] to “get out the vote.” (For more on the all-star game voting problems, take a look here.) But in truth, the guy who plays for the often-overlooked midwestern team is actually the best [...]

By: Seth

Seth — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:58:52 +0000

Adam’s link surprises me. Anyone could have pointed out that the NBA is where home court matters the most, but we always talk about how much home field/ice matters in the NFL and NHL, so really, we should be saying the same thing for baseball.

An alternative solution that I like is that simply the team that wins the most games in the regular season receives home field advantage for the World Series.

By: Adam K

Adam K — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:43:46 +0000

http://www.scoresreport.com/2008/10/23/which-sport-has-the-biggest-home-field-advantage/

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:27:35 +0000

I agree with Adam that the All-Star Game should have a motivating factor besides providing a chummy meeting between the AL and NL. By making the prize homefield advantage baseball fans may be more willing to vote for the players they want representing their league.

Also, it is true that teams are more comfortable on their own field but it seems like in baseball the home crowd is not as influential over the attitude and effort of the players as it is in basketball for instance. So the All-Star home field result shouldn’t be considered that controversial.

The voting system for the All-Star game is ridiculous and there should be regulations about how many ballots people can fill out and system for collecting them that is not unattended drop bins in MLB parks.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:44:56 +0000

First of all, I am a big fan of having the All-Star game matter for something. We can look at the NFL Pro Bowl (which occurs after the season), the NBA All-Star game and the NHL All-Star game, which don’t matter at all, and they are incredibly boring. It’s great to have the players come together and compete for a common goal even if some teams have no chance of making it to the playoffs.

In the past few days I have read that fans of Manny Ramirez are actually rallying for #99 to make the All-Star game. WHAT? Getting suspended 50 games for steroid abuse does not merit an All-Star selection. I know this really hasn’t been a problem yet with big name players, but the MLB needs to make a rule taking suspended players off of the ballots. Buster Olney on ESPN even said Ramirez has a good chance of being selected. I personally think it would be a disgrace if he was an All-Star this year.