Josh Hamilton starting in All Star game

[XtremeCouture]

why? this is horrible. i know it's based on fan voting but this is a disgrace to players who are actually having an awesome season such as torii hunter. he is currently batting .307 with 17 hr, 65 rbi, 56 runs, and 13 stolen bases while hamilton is batting .248 with 6 hr, 24 rbi, 21 runs, and 3 stolen bases. i understand hamilton has been hurt most of the season but seriously.

[Electus Unus]

Originally posted by XtremeCouture
why? this is horrible. i know it's based on fan voting but this is a disgrace to players who are actually having an awesome season such as torii hunter. he is currently batting .307 with 17 hr, 65 rbi, 56 runs, and 13 stolen bases while hamilton is batting .248 with 6 hr, 24 rbi, 21 runs, and 3 stolen bases. i understand hamilton has been hurt most of the season but seriously. He should opt out of the all-star game.

[SintonFan_inAustin]

starting lineup is by the fans, so no use complaining. Fans want to see him in the HR derby. Torii Hunter is in the All Star game but fans would rather see Josh hit than Torii. Had Josh not been hurt his numbers would be up there as an All Star.

[BuffyMars]

poor rangers.

[Electus Unus]

Originally posted by SintonFan_inAustin
starting lineup is by the fans, so no use complaining. Fans want to see him in the HR derby. Torii Hunter is in the All Star game but fans would rather see Josh hit than Torii. Had Josh not been hurt his numbers would be up there as an All Star. If statements are lame.

[waterboy]

Haven't you heard? This is a popularity contest. It makes no never mind who is the best at their position. If you're popular, you're in.............unless there's somebody more popular than you at a given position.:clap:

[Ex-Tiger2005]

Originally posted by waterboy
Haven't you heard? This is a popularity contest. It makes no never mind who is the best at their position. If you're popular, you're in.............unless there's somebody more popular than you at a given position.:clap:

TRUE! it has become a joke the last few years!

[waterboy]

Originally posted by Ex-Tiger2005
TRUE! it has become a joke the last few years!
Yes, it has! It's been a joke for a long time. There's been years where those persons having the best year of their career are not even in the balloting. That's ridiculous. I think it should boil down to statistical leaders. Whoever has the best statistics at a particular position gets in, not who is the most popular.........but popularity is where the money is..........unfortunately.:doh:....thus, the joke that is the All-Star game!

[Pmoney]

Fan voting is the biggest piece of crap in pro sports....how does Yao and Shaq find a way in the AllStar games, even when they miss half the season or have minimal #s? and how does Derek Jeter always get in the All Star game? I know he's a good player but he's not good every year....It's because they play in big markets....Yao gets millions upon millions of votes from China and Jeter is the same way but from the New Yorkers....People just vote for the players on their teams for the most part...Take fan voting away and keep it to players and coaches to pick the all star teams

[Ex-Tiger2005]

Originally posted by Pmoney
Fan voting is the biggest piece of crap in pro sports....how does Yao and Shaq find a way in the AllStar games, even when they miss half the season or have minimal #s? and how does Derek Jeter always get in the All Star game? I know he's a good player but he's not good every year....It's because they play in big markets....Yao gets millions upon millions of votes from China and Jeter is the same way but from the New Yorkers....People just vote for the players on their teams for the most part...Take fan voting away and keep it to players and coaches to pick the all star teams

i second that! but jeter is playing some good ball this year! but i hate the yanks!

[XtremeCouture]

that one just one example of a snub. a bunch of guys having career years are gonna be sitting at home this year. this is important cuz i'm sure all star appearances have some factor in hall of fame voting

[Pmoney]

Jeter is having a good year...but not too much better that Alexi Ramirez of the White Sox...and Jeter was the AL leading vote getter and Ramirez was prolly no where close...lets face it Jeter can pull a lot more votes because he is a Yankee while Alexi isn't even in the biggest market in his own city....now i'm not trying to argue that Alexi should have made it over Jeter; I am simply proving that the fan voting is very biased


Stats: A. Ramirez vs. Jeter (http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/league_leaders.jsp?statType=1&timeFrame=1&c_id=mlb&readBoxes=true&timeSubFrame=2009&section1=null&compare.y=6&sortByStat=AVG&baseballScope=AL&prevPage1=1&isLeaders=true&compare.x=&box1=XXXX493351cha6&box2=XXXX116539nya6&statSet1=1)

[sahen]

the prob is that they make the all star game actually count for something...if your going to do it based on fan voting then it shouldnt count...homefield advantage does actually matter and to use something as asinine as the allstar game which is a popularity contest at best to determine it is stupid....

i dont think not making the all star team effects hall of fame votes too much, if your good enough to make it into the hall of fame then you will be noticed even in small markets, though it could effect some votes from oblivious sports writers who vote for it...they try to do a good job of keeping it to knowledgable ones though....what it does effect is contracts though, a lot of players get bonuses for making all star appearances and if they play in smaller markets the chance of them collecting that is decreased dramatically....

mlb doesnt really care about this though, as evidenced by their voting campaigns for all the teams...go to any game in the first half of the season or any team's website and there will be signs/ads up proclaiming "vote [enter team name here]" literally suggesting that you should go vote for your favorite team's players and not who you think are best players for each position...it really is a popularity contest, im shocked manny even w/ the steriods didnt sneak in due to his ridiculous lead before the suspension...

[Bull Butter]

Originally posted by Pmoney
Fan voting is the biggest piece of crap in pro sports....how does Yao and Shaq find a way in the AllStar games, even when they miss half the season or have minimal #s? and how does Derek Jeter always get in the All Star game? I know he's a good player but he's not good every year....It's because they play in big markets....Yao gets millions upon millions of votes from China and Jeter is the same way but from the New Yorkers....People just vote for the players on their teams for the most part...Take fan voting away and keep it to players and coaches to pick the all star teams

Then how did Hanley Ramirez get in? The Marlins probably draw the fewest fans in all of baseball. Most people in Miami don't even know they have a baseball team. They just wonder why the Dolphins playing field is all messed up for the first half of the season....... But he somehow managed to recieve 3.2 million votes.

What about Ryan Braun, from the small-market Brewers (Otherwise known as Cubs-North), the NL's leading vote getter in the Outfield?

Then there's Joe Mauer, getting 4.3 million votes, beating out Varitek and Posada. Mauer plays for the Twins, for crying out loud.

Evan Longoria, from Tampa Bay????? 2 million more fans voted for him than Alex Rodriguez. How did that happen?


I'm being a bit facetious here, but the point is that while there are some players who get in solely on past achievements.......The fans do get it right most of the time. Much more so than they used to.

[sahen]

to be fair bull butter all those players you named are media darlings....the fact of the matter is you can get into the all star game 2 ways, playing great for most teams in the mlb or playing good enough/ok depending on your name for the big market teams....you should have to play great no matter the market to get in...

[eagles_victory]

Originally posted by Pmoney
Jeter is having a good year...but not too much better that Alexi Ramirez of the White Sox...and Jeter was the AL leading vote getter and Ramirez was prolly no where close...lets face it Jeter can pull a lot more votes because he is a Yankee while Alexi isn't even in the biggest market in his own city....now i'm not trying to argue that Alexi should have made it over Jeter; I am simply proving that the fan voting is very biased


Stats: A. Ramirez vs. Jeter (http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/league_leaders.jsp?statType=1&timeFrame=1&c_id=mlb&readBoxes=true&timeSubFrame=2009&section1=null&compare.y=6&sortByStat=AVG&baseballScope=AL&prevPage1=1&isLeaders=true&compare.x=&box1=XXXX493351cha6&box2=XXXX116539nya6&statSet1=1) Seriously? The numbers arent even close Jeter is hitting .41 points higher and his on base percentage is .67 points higher. Slugging percentage is way higher and of course OPS is higher. Only category Rameriez has more of is RBI's.

[BwdLions]

Based on what Hamilton has done this year, no. Is he one of the best outfielders in MLB? Yes. He goes 100% all the time. Do all MLB outfielders? No. He plays as hard as Rusty Greer used to play as far as giving up his body to make the play.

I would imagine most everyone knows how he hurt himself. He ran down a flyball and hit the wall making the catch to help his team win. (He also picked up a lot of new fans due to his performance in the HR contest last year).

As long as the starters are voted on by the fans, there will always be players make it due to their popularity and not necessarily their stats.

[Pmoney]

Originally posted by eagles_victory
Seriously? The numbers arent even close Jeter is hitting .41 points higher and his on base percentage is .67 points higher. Slugging percentage is way higher and of course OPS is higher. Only category Rameriez has more of is RBI's.

You are right on those numbers and like I said I'm not saying that Alexi should be in there before Jeter...I'm saying how is Jeter the top vote getter when he is better but not by a huge margin...its because his name is Derek Jeter and he plays for the Yankees...Yes this year he is def. the best AL ss but it has not been the case in the past few years but somehow he is always there


Bullbutter- Yes some players make it from small markets and the reason why is because they are playing great and like sahan said the media makes everyone aware of those players

[eagles_victory]

Originally posted by sahen
to be fair bull butter all those players you named are media darlings....the fact of the matter is you can get into the all star game 2 ways, playing great for most teams in the mlb or playing good enough/ok depending on your name for the big market teams....you should have to play great no matter the market to get in... I disagree you either make it in on having a great season or you make it in on reputation. Lets say Robinson Cano has a great first half for the Yankees he doesnt have a great reputation so he wont get votes like a Jeter or an A-Rod (pre steroid) will. There have been players make it in on reputation from small market teams too the Rangers might have one of the smaller fan bases in the league or somewhere in the middle definitly not huge and look at Hamilton.