The 2012 All Star Game will be held in Kansas City at Kaufman Stadium on July 10th. The votes are in and we now know who will make up the MLB All Star Game starting line ups. Many fans and media disagree with some of the results.
As usual there were some that got snubbed. Players like the New York Mets David Wright for example will not be starting at Third Base for the National League team. Wright has a batting average of .354 with 9 Home Runs and 50 RBI’s. Wright lost the chance to be a starter in the fan voting to the San Fransisco Giants Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval is batting .300 with 6 Home Runs and 25 RBI’s. Wright not only has better numbers but is better a fielder. This is not the first year there has been controversy over starters.
This years All Star Game will have many of baseballs best players starting the game from the bench, all because of fan voting.
(Getty Images)
The debate has rage on for many years whether the fans should be allowed to dictate the starters. The All Star Game is really just a popularity contest. Many of the teams in bigger markets get more players voted in. More importantly many of the teams get their players named as starters.
The All Star Game was created as an exhibition of the best players from the first half of the season. The one problem is that it is no longer just exhibition game now. The winning team whether it be the National League or the American League gets home field advantage in the World Series. Who knows how many World Series Champions were crowned based on their league winning the game played in all the way back in July. All Star teams that were not comprised of the best in each league.
Something needs to change and boy does baseball commissioner Bud Selig have a lot of things on his list to fix. When it comes to the All Star Game the fan voting needs to be taken away if baseball wants the winner to have such an advantage in the World Series. The All Star squads should be picked by the players and managers only. There is way too much riding on the game for it to be up to fans that only vote for their favorites rather than the players who really have dominated the first half of the season.
Let’s think about the example of David Wright that I brought up previously. David Wright has put up incredible season numbers and will most likely win the MVP trophy at the end of the year. It is not right that a player that has been playing the way Wright has would not start the All Star Game.
If the All Star Game is going to be considered an exhibition it should not have important ramifications like it has now. I am all for making it fun but if its going to be it needs to be just a game in July with baseballs best player and only that. So Bud Selig a decision should be made. Either you have a fan vote or a game that could dictate the next World Series Champion not both.
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The baseball season is about to complete its second month. There is a potential story brewing that could dominate the sports media this summer. David Wright and the possibility that he could end the season with an above .400 batting average. While the New York Mets have been average this season and have not had a great season in a couple of years, David Wright could vault the team into the sports media mainstream for the next few months.
New York Mets Third Baseman David Wright
(Marc Serota/Getty Images North America)
Wright has played in 38 games as the Third Baseman for the Mets this year, and as of May 22nd is batting .415. Wright has been incredibly hot and extremely valuable for a Mets team that has fallen down a bit over the last couple of years.
The Mets are currently 22-20 and are 3.5 games back in the very tough N.L. East. Whether the Mets will contend this year is hard to say but based on the recent past looks unlikely. The Mets caught a lot of flack last season after it was found out the their new stadium might have been paid for by many people who’s live were ruined by the fraudulent financial scams of Bernie Madoff. Wright could help the team move on and put that in their past this season. The New York Mets need a player like David Wright at this point and need him to do well and that is exactly what he is doing.
The .400 single season batting average is one of the most elusive marks in all of sports. The last man to hit above .400 in one season was Boston Red Sox legend and Hall of Famer Ted Williams. Williams hit .406 in 1941. Since then no one else has done it, Tony Gwynn did come close in 1994 when he finish with .394 in 1994 but that is a mute point given the fact it was a strike shortened season. Royal’s Hall of Famer George Brett finished with a .390 batting average in 1980.
Wright will have to continue to be hot through what is a very long and grueling baseball season. As Wright continues toward the .400 mark and the season gets further along the media pressure will heat up. That could be and has been something that has affected many players going towards not only this mark but all records in baseball. The Mets are positioned in one of the biggest sports markets in the country and you have to know it will be like a zoo towards August if Wright can still be close to the mark by then
Not very many players have had a batting average this high at this point in the season. So it is definitely time to start watching the Mets and David Wright to see how this progresses. David Wright is an amazing player and really deserves to reach such a mark. His stock has already risen and we are not even half way through this season. So as the season moves along into the summer keep an eye out for David Wright he might just shock the sports world.
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3 comments | tags: ball, ball park, baseball, batting average, boston, boys of summer, david wright, live sports, madoff, mets, mets tickets, MLB, new york, online sports, red sox, red sox tickets, sport, sports tickets, summer, tv | posted in MLB
