I’ve decided to vote MANNY RAMIREZ into the MLB All-Star game as a show of support that the league needs players who go the extra length [ll] to keep their wood game strong [ll] in the latter half of the season.
Go here to submit your own All-Star ballot.
Here’s who I voted for…
American League
1st – M.Texeira
2nd – D. Pedroia
3rd – M. Lowell
SS – J. Bartlett
Catcher [ll] – J. Mauer
OF – J. Bay, I. Suzuki, C. Crawford
Write In – A. CabreraNational League
1st – A. Pujols
2nd – O. Hudson
3rd – D. Wright
SS – M. Tejada
Catcher [ll] – J. Flores
OF – M. Ramirez, C. Beltran, R. Ibanez
Write In – R. Zimmerman
Don’t let the MLB ruin the mid-summer classic by omitting one of the best players in the game.
Dallas, I gotta say I agree with most of your picks although I picked Adam Jones from the Orioles as one of my outfielders along with Bay & Crawford but I can’t include Manny. These dudes got away taking roids for like 20 years, making tons of dough, if leaving him out of the all-star game shows him the folly of his ways then I say so be it. Also, you gotta have Hanley Ramirez at short for the NL. So what if he’s atrocious with a glove, he hits like Jose Reyes on steroids. Wait. I guess the “on steroids” cliche can’t really be used in baseball without raising some eyebrows. Anyway, big fan of the site, been reading for years. I’m fiending for some new brusher/owner discussions though.
Ian,
You seem like a smart dude. I wonder why you have the the talking heads talking points coming from your mouf?
Who in the world has been taking steroids for 20 years?
If a player suffers from severe migraines and takes a handful of Advils isn’t he also using performance enhancing drugs. I mean, if dude couldn’t play with the migraines but the Advils relieved them isn’t he conversely on drugs?
During game 140 of the 162 game season after traveling across the country several times, eating food prepared by who the fuck knows who, sleeping who the fuck knows where and swinging at how many pitches, would you be able to even lift your arms to scratch your head?
Do the people that paid a premium to sit on the field level for game 140 deserve to see players that can’t move the baseball out of the infield? Would the owners that charge us folks the premium for our seats and concessions be able to extract that cost if the players couldn’t perform in game 140 the same way they did in game 14?
I’m suspect of anyone who thinks that the players are responsible for steroids in baseball. Whenever you want to get to the root of a problem you need to look to the people that sign the big checks and take in the big dollars. If you want to hold someone responsible for steroids then you need to bark on the owners. If you are serious that is.
When baseball needed that shot in the arm to put people back in the stands the owners were desperate as fuck. They still are and they is why they use the newspapers and tv stations they own to throw athletes under the bus. Don’t believe the owners hype Ian. People that read this website are supposed to be smarter than that.
Dallas,
all good points. I believe that owners are certainly complicit in the steroid problem, I just think that you gotta draw a line somewhere. What you said about players breaking down and all is interesting but I personally think that seeing a player be in worse shape at the end of a season wouldnt be so bad. These guys are world class athletes, they should be and are able to better withstand these physical trials that we the fans have them go through. The one thing that separated baseball from football and basketball for so long was that baseball players often looked like normal dudes. They weren’t always 6 foot 5 200+. Guys like Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Jackie Robinson, etc etc. Baseball players were skilled and did not necessarily need to be the biggest guy on the field. That has changed in recent years (most pitchers now are well over 6 foot) and big time offensive threats all can benchpress small European cars. Everything you said about owners is dead on, which is why I dont begrudge players getting paid as much as they do. My pops always said “if you’re outraged at what an athlete makes, think of what their bosses make” and it’s true.
At the same time, cheating is cheating. If (literally) everyone did it, then there would be a so-called even playing field, but since there are and always have been players who abstained, you can’t make excuses for those that cheated. My feeling is that I love the game of baseball so much that if the league leader only hit 27 homeruns instead of 47 it wouldn’t diminish my enjoyment one bit. That and cuz the Mets have Jose Reyes, who is more exciting that Ryan Howard and A-Rod put together on his good days.
Oh, and ballplayers being tired from flying across the country and banging out random chicks in every city is not, as a fan, my problem. Not to sound like an old curmudgeon (I’m 27) but old school players (looking at you Willie Mays) traveled by train or some shit and they didnt bitch nor did they ask Brian McNamee to shoot shit up their asses [].
Ian,
Sorry man but you are a curmudgeon, a youngmudgeon we will call you.
So as the purist that you are don’t you also want Babe Ruth’s era records to have an asterisk as well since the league forbade some of the most talented athletes from competing in the game?
If an athlete abstained from anything than that is their choice. Most of the athletes that abstained weren’t the people I would have paid to watch either. Let’s be clear about this… Barry Bondfs has hit the most home runs in baseball but Hank Aaron is the greatest home run hitter.
For the Hammer to have kept his eyes on the prize despite receiving mailbags full of death threats makes him the GOAT in my eyes. And I love Willie Mays too, but he and Mickey Mantle would have used the juice in my mind.
Sorry, not a baseball fan. I consider it the most over rated and over sensationalized sport in american history. If it wasnt for steriods and HGH, baseball would be even worse.
But i do love my Yankee Fitted Hats though..