All Star rosters announced

My recent series of posts about the 2008 All Star nomination candidates reflected a process that millions of other baseball fans went through.  That may sound like an exaggeration, but in this case writing about ‘millions’ is not misleading . MLB.com reports that 16.5 million ballots were cast online, combining for “a record 214.7 million votes”.

It’s a good job they don’t have to count them by hand. 

As I made clear during my own deliberations, everybody has their own views on what makes an ‘All Star’ and who deserves to be on the rosters. That’s what makes it such a great event. Some may look at the rosters announced yesterday and query a few of the names in the starting line-ups, but in reality no one can say that the players don’t ‘deserve’ to be there now they have been picked. The fans have spoken. If the majority wanted to see Dustin Pedroia man second base for the American League instead of Ian Kinsler then I’m glad that he’ll be taking the field at Yankee Stadium, even if he wasn’t the guy I picked myself.

Thanks to the internet, in the twenty-first century the ‘majority’ now includes baseball fans from many different countries. The All Star game is the marquee promotional tool used to sell the sport to the world. The World Series certainly plays its part as well, but as it’s spread out over several days, it can’t instantly grab newcomers in the same way as a one-off spectacular event can. The MLB International feed will be broadcast to all corners of the globe, including here in Great Britain. What helps to make the event so special now is that a British fan like myself can sit back and enjoy the show knowing that I cast my vote like everyone else.

The international influence on the All Star voting is most evident this year thanks to the presence of Ichiro Suzuki and Kosuke Fukudome in the starting line-ups. Ichiro is a great player and he stole the show at AT&T Park last year with his inside-the-park homer, but so far this season he has failed to hit the heights of previous years. Fukudome is having a very solid rookie campaign and his patience at the plate has helped to bring a much needed new dimension to the Cubs’ batting line-up. Whether he’s playing to an ‘All Star’ level is up for debate though. In both cases, the baseball-mad Japanese nation has probably played a large part in getting their countrymen on the rosters, but that’s no bad thing. They love the game so their voice deserves to be heard.

Neither Ichiro nor Fukudome were on my ballot, but there are more than valid arguments for their selections (on top of the Japanese patriotism). Ryan Braun was the other outfielder who missed my list, although that was largely due to sentimentalism. Ken Griffey Junior got the nostalgia vote for me, but that feeling wasn’t shared by too many others as he didn’t even make the reserves list.

You don’t really get surprises in the All Star voting process, but if there is one this year then you might point to Geovany Soto’s selection as the NL’s catcher. As a rookie catcher, with the likes of Russell Martin and Brian McCann in the running for the position as well, he really needed to turn a lot of heads in a short space of time to stand a chance. Soto did just that thanks to his fifteen homers, impressive defense and a significant contribution to a division leader’s first half to the season.

The fans get another chance to have their say on the final AL and NL roster spots. There are five candidates for each league and the voting closes at 22.00 BST on Thursday. My picks are Evan Longoria (another young player who’s made a big impact) and David Wright (a quality all-round ballplayer, and I’m not really sold on any of the other four candidates).

Who do you think deserves to claim the final two spots? Head over to MLB.com and cast your vote now and play a part in this year’s All Star festivities.