A Tribute to Our Annual Mid-Summer "Representatives"

I will never forget the day, June 12, 1994. I was warming up on the baseball field at McDonald Park. 8 years old and destined to become a professional baseball player. I mad at my father; 1. For not getting me tickets to the All-Star game in Pittsburgh which was that night and 2. For even having the audacity to call a practice on the day of the All-Star game. I was like any other normal 8 year old; I could name the starting lineup for every team in the league, the starting rotation for every team in the league, every manager, every mascot, and used to keep a scorebook and calculate batting averages for players when I played backyard baseball with my brother. Normal – anything but. But I didn’t have tickets to the one game that I would never have a chance to see again.

After the beginning of a routine infield drill, I can vaguely remember my mother’s car pulling into the parking lot. This was odd for several reasons. First, she never came to practices. She was the mom who would support at games, but practices were out of the question. Second, it was about 6:10 and she usually didn’t get home from work until about 7. She walked over to the field and after a brief conference with my dad; he called me towards home plate. My mom pulled an envelope out of her purse which contained two tickets to the game! Now this may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people for whatever reason, but this is one of the most memorable and exciting moments of my life.

After hurrying off the baseball diamond, and hopping into my dad’s truck, we drove us straight to Three Rivers Stadium. That night I got to witness all of my childhood icons, most of which I had on my team in the backyard; including Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken Jr., “The Crime Dog” Fred McGriff, and everyone’s favorite Ken Griffey Jr.

I had absolutely no idea what was about to happen next…Or should I say for the next 17 years. The elation that I felt when I opened those tickets has changed dramatically over the years. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game has turned into me sitting around, on a muggy night in July, watching a game full of players that the Pirates at one time passed on in the June amateur draft or players that we didn’t want to spend the money on in free agency.

If you can’t remember the Pirates only All-Star in 1994 was Carlos Garcia. If you don’t already know, Major League Baseball has a rule that requires every team in the league to send at least one “representative” to the mid-summer classic. Over the course of the next 16 years, including 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates have sent the “mandatory” one “representative” 13 times!

This means that our organization has sent “two or more” All-Stars to the game just three times in 16 years. (The two or more is sarcasm as we have not sent more than two All-Stars since 1990.) One of the three times was last year when Zack Duke replaced Matt Cain because Cain was injured. Freddy Sanchez was our second representative in 2009 and he did not even play. So if Freddy Sanchez wasn’t even good enough to play last year, how often in these 20 years have we had a player good enough to start?

The answer: 2. And both of these occurrences come with their own asterisks. Remember in 2000 when Roger Clemens beaned Mike Piazza in the head? I do. So does Jason Kendall. He got to start in place of Piazza in the All-Star game. Remember 2006 when Jason Bay got to start in the All-Star game? I do. The game was held at PNC Park and Pirate fans did all they could to stuff the ballot boxes in order to get Bay onto the field for the opening pitch.

Let me use a numbers approach to put the Pirates “representatives” into perspective. (I am only going to use the last 10 years because it was just too painful to go back any further.) Since 2001, the Yankees have sent 45 players to the mid-summer classic; the Red Sox – 44. As for a National League comparison; the Cardinals - 32, the Braves - 27, and the Phillies a lowly 26. Since 2001, the Pirates have sent 12. In that span the Yankees have had 21 All-Star Game STARTERS; the Red Sox – 19, the Cardinals – 15, the Phillies – 9, and the Braves - only 6. The Pirates had 1. (See ballot box stuffing incident of 2006).

I don’t necessarily mean to cast the “representative” tag in a negative light. Since our last winning season in 1992, the Pirates have had many legitimate All-Star “representatives”, including 2006 National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez. Others include Jason Kendall, Brian Giles, and Jason Bay. But boy are there some funny ones. In 1997, Tony Womack was our “representative” with a .274 batting average and 109 strikeouts. He did swipe 60 bags, but that wasn’t even a career best. My favorite Pirate All-Star has to be the 1999 “representative” Ed Sprague. Sprague had a career year in 1999 posting a .267 average, 22 homers, and 81 RBI. All-Star numbers? – absolutely not. Finally, there is Mike Williams. Williams made the All-Star team in 2002 and 2003. Williams’ career ERA is 4.45 and he remains the only pitcher to play in an All-Star game while having an ERA of over 6.00 during the same regular season. (As a side note on Williams – The Pirates traded him away in 2001, reacquired him, and traded him away again in 2003. Both times for one single prospect who never made it to Triple A.)

I always think it is funny that our only “representative” those two years was a relief pitcher. Don’t get me wrong. Sending a relief pitcher to the All-Star Game would be fine if it was, say, Mariano Rivera. Well, history sure does find a way of repeating itself. It is 2010 and Evan Meek is the Pirates lone representative for tonight’s game. Evan Meek is not and will never be Mariano Rivera. Meek was a Rule 5 draft pick of the Pirates in 2008. (Rule 5 pick - means that a player spent either four or five years in another team’s minor league system, was not good enough to be in the big leagues, and other teams are now allowed acquire the player’s rights as long as he spends all of the next season on that team’s big league roster.)

Evan Meek has been projected as the Pirates closer of the future as we assemble a young core for our push “in 2 years”. For the 8 year old future major leaguer still in me, I hope more than anything that Evan Meek turns out like fellow Rule 5 Draft pick and 4x All-Star, Johan Santana. Or better yet, I hope he turns out to be a 15x All-Star like a former Pittsburgh Pirates Rule 5 Draft pick; Roberto Clemente. Here’s to hoping we don’t trade him for a prospect that never reaches Triple A – twice.

It's Already The Best, Let's Make It Even Better

I find it to be of absolute certainty that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is far more entertaining and more relevant than that of any other sport. The NHL turns into a penalty shot contest and the NBA is a 140 point dunk fest. They both stink. And don't even get me started on the joke that is the Pro Bowl. The Mid-summer Classic is the closest to the real thing as it gets. But like all of the others, it still has its flaws. I thought of a few changes that I would make.

First, fan voting is a joke. I'm not saying completely get rid of it, but why do these guys automatically have to become the starters? Just because Yankee fans stuffed the ballot box for a guy like Mark Teixeira who is hitting .229 does not mean he should start over the player's pick, Miguel Cabrera who is hitting .328 and smashing Teixeira in every other category as well. It's not Cabrera's fault that Tiger fans don't vote like Yankee fans do. The guy is a candidate for the AL MVP and has a shot at the triple crown, but he's not the starting first baseman? It's ridiculous. You can't turn this game into a popularity contest or we are going to end up with Lil Wayne playing centerfield and Lady GaGa at shortstop. Give the fans their vote, and give the players theirs, then the guy with the better stats for the first half of the season gets the starting nod. Seems pretty simple to me. It really makes no sense to take the fan's vote more seriously than the player's anyway, does it? If I were a player I would rather get the player's vote than the fan's. I would rather have the respect and recognition of my peers than have my vote stuffed into the box 283 times by some fat slob wearing a mustard stained Jeter jersey with a cheese steak hanging out of his mouth. And along the same lines, just as I value the player's vote for other players, I think the player's should vote on the umpires too. Give them a little reward and respect for being the best at their jobs too.

My next idea is a real gem. With the steroid era gone, at least for the most part, the home run derby is full of shortstops and undersized outfielders. There aren't anymore McGwires and Sosas with bodies full of livestock steroids bashing 500 footers. For God's sake the Yankees number nine hitter, Nick Swisher, is in the derby. Generally, people are uninterested in watching these guys hit fence scrapers. You wanna keep it exciting? Let them use metal bats for the derby. Think about it, you already love that "ping", now we get to see if Big Papi can hit one 600 feet, and maybe some of these other guys won't have to live with the embarrassment of putting up a goose egg. Hell, If I would have thought of this earlier, maybe even Jason Bay would have hit one a few years ago.

Next, I say you put a microphone on every player. I mean sure give it a little tape delay so you can bleep out all the four letter stuff, but think about the great chatter you would hear. I would love to hear what Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols talk about at first base, or hear why Joe Girardi is going to make a pitching change. Even hearing the conversation between the catcher and the home plate umpire would interest me. You want to make the game about the fans, give them a little inside access for a night. I know I would be glued to my TV to hear live chat between some of the game's greatest players.

Get rid of mandatory representation. I know where baseball is coming from on this one, but it's not the U.S. Senate. There should not be automatic spots for players who don't deserve it. There are definitely some teams who do not have one single player worthy of being an all-star. Just think about how many times our own Pirates have only sent the mandatory one player who probably didn't really earn it. Being the best player on a horrible team should not guarantee you a spot in the All-Star Game. I think if a team just doesn't have anyone who is good enough that year, then too bad, it happens. You want to represent every team, then invite all the mascots.

I also think they should get rid of this stupid World Series home field advantage garbage. Their heart was in the right place, but it makes no sense to have the All-Star Game determine anything that has to do with the World Series. I understand it was MLB's attempt to make their All-Star Game more relevant and meaningful, but do you really think an RBI single by Marlon Byrd in July should be the reason the Yankees don't get home field advantage in October? Seems dumb.

Here is another idea that would make the game more fan-accessible. Say in the 8th inning Charlie Manuel comes on camera and says that he will be bringing in a new reliever, either Jonathan Broxton or Matt Capps, and then the fans get the next half inning to vote. It's pretty harmless, the manager picks two guys that he's comfortable bringing into the game, we just get to pick which one. Same could be done for pinch hitters if the pitcher's spot is coming up in the next inning. It's a simple way to keep fans involved. You can't tell me you don't think that would be pretty cool. I know I'd vote.

I'm sure there are a hundred other ideas out there on how to improve the game. Let me hear some of yours, as long as they don't have anything to do with instant replay. And tell me what you think about mine while you're at it.