Each manager may designate a position player who will be eligible for game re-entry if the last position player is injured or ejected. This is in addition to a rule that allows a player to re-enter to replace an injured or ejected catcher.
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Who the heck knows this? I didn't. Non radical baseball must think their world is spinning out of control. And why exactly can't that be the rule for all games? After all, the Major Baseball League (MBL) All Star game is no mere exhibition. It determines home field and therefore home rule advantage in game seven of the tournament finals.
I resorted to wikipedia because the I had no idea how to find basic stuff at the official website. For instance, who knew the rosters had been expanded to 34? Or that the "designated hitter will be used in all games, even in National League ballparks"? That's another how come that isn't done in all games?
More from wikipedia :
From 1935 through 1946, the manager of each All-Star squad selected the entire team.In 1947, fans were given the opportunity to vote on the eight starting position players ...(through 1956) ...fan balloting for the starting eight was restored for the 1970 game .... Sometime in the 1960s, the distinction between left-fielder, center-fielder, and right-fielder was dropped, and it was provided that the top 3 vote-getters in the outfield category would start regardless of position ...
each team has to have at least one representative ... In 1989, a designated hitter was allowed in the all-star game for the first time ... In 2010, Major League Baseball announced the designated hitter rule would apply for every All-Star Game ... Starting with the 2010 game, each league's manager is allowed to designate one position player who can re-enter the game to replace an injured or ejected player at any position, in addition to the existing rule covering catchers.
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In case you missed it, read my recent post.
Just to show you how bush league this has become:
Vote 25 times. Want to cast 10 extra ballots? Connect your ballot registration with your MLB.com account. Log in or sign-up now
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That's the official website. The vote was taken away from fans when Cincinnati fans stuffed the ballot box in 1957. Now it's encouraged.
Even with wikipedia I still don't know what the criteria is for selection. Media types influence fans into thinking that the best players that half season should be selected. I always thought that was silly. Who cares about a guy who got hot for a couple of months?
In 1949 the All Star game was played in Ebbets Field on July 12. Joe DiMaggio was selected to start (not sure if that was by the fans or by manager Lou Boudreau) despite the fact that DiMaggio had played in only 12 games for the Yankees, the first on June 28 in Boston, the Yanks 66th game. DiMaggio climbed out of a sick bed and went five for 11 with 4 home runs, leading the Yankees to a three game weep of the Red Sox. Joe D. was 2 for 4 with three RBI in the AL 11-7 victory in the All Star game.
Wouldn't fans in 1949 have preferred that DiMaggio play in the All Star game than a regular who was not nearly as good a player? Of course.
However, I'm flexible enough to realize that most of us would like to see Dodger rookie sensation Yasiel Puig play in the game this season even if few of us can pronounce his name. Wasn't that true in recent seasons concerning Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and pitcher Stephen Strasburg?
Which brings us to Jonathan Papelbon, one of those ridiculous closers. Papelbon has been an All Star five times despite the fact that the most innings he's ever pitched in a season is 70. Here is the Papelbon quote about Puig:
“The guy’s got a month, I don’t even think he’s got a month in the big leagues, and just comparing him to this and that, and saying he’s going to make the All-Star team, that’s a joke to me. It’s just really what happens in baseball when… to me it really does an injustice to the veteran players that have been in the game for eight, nine, ten plus years, and it kind of does them an injustice because they’ve worked so hard to stay there.”
Puig has played 28 games with 116 plate appearances. Papelbon has pitched 31 innings in 31 games, facing 121 batters. Sounds pretty even to me. In nine seasons Papelbon has pitched 531 innings, the equivalent of less than three seasons for a starting pitcher, who is also a part time player.
Plus, doesn't Papelbon want to win the game? Wouldn't his National team have a better chance with the red hot rookie rather than a cooler veteran?
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