Another Vote Against The Fan Vote
ALSO: ATLANTA BRAVES' MIDSEASON REPORT CARD
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
EIGHT Phillies? Thought this was supposed to be the National League All-Stars, not just Philadelphia vs. the AL . . .
This was the first time the Braves had three starting pitchers at the All-Star Game since Greg Maddux, Denny Neagle and Tom Glavine represented them in 1997 and the first time the Braves had three pitchers selected since Jair Jurrjens, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel in 2011 . . .
The second Team Israel documentary, called Israel Swings For Gold, hit a home run for audiences at its New York premiere last month and is a fine sequel to Heading Home: the Tale of Team Israel, also produced by Ironbound Films . . .
The Toronto Blue Jays played “home games” in Dunedin, FL and Buffalo, NY during the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic, coupled with strict Ontario health laws, but now the Oakland Athletics will play 81 games in Sutter Health Park, a minor-league facility in Sacramento . . .
Hard to believe 63 pitchers are on the IL with elbow or forearm injuries . . .
Hall of Fame slugger Jimmie Foxx is the only player to collect six walks in a nine-inning game . . .
The Cooperstown plaque of Willie Mays was temporarily removed and airlifted to Rickwood Field, the old home of the Birmingham Black Barons, for an official major-league game between the Giants and Cardinals.
Leading Off
Stuff This
Take the All-Star vote away from fans — again.
By Jeff Kallman
A fortnight ago, my friend (and Here’s the Pitch weekend editor) Dan Schlossberg wrote, “Philadelphia red will dominate the National League [All-Star Game] clubhouse in the wake of a concerted ballot-box stuffing campaign spurred by the team’s shameless promotion of sending fan favorites to the game rather than the most deserving players.”
Well, now. Three Phillies turned out to make the National League’s fan-voted starting lineup: first baseman Bryce Harper, shortstop Trea Turner, and third baseman Alec Bohm. We’ll get to whether they truly deserved the honors shortly. But voting fans also made sure the rest of the NL starting lineup included two Brewers (William Contreras, Christian Yelich), two Padres (Fernando Tatis, Jr., Jurickson Profar), and one Dodger (Shohei Ohtani.)
They also made sure the American League starting lineup included two Astros (Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez), two Guardians (Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez), two Orioles (Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman), two Yankees (Aaron Judge, Juan Soto), and a Blue Jay (Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.).
I’m not entirely convinced that three Phillies in the NL starting lineup equals the worst ballot box stuffing in All-Star history.
[Editor’s Note: Catcher J.T. Realmuto, DH Kyle Schwarber, and outfielder Nick Castellanos were also voted lineup finalists by the fanatics in Philadelphia but didn’t garner enough votes the second time around.]
We’re not that far removed from the 2015 campaign that damn near made the starting All-Star lineups the National League versus the Royals.
That is, it would have been that until a) Royals fans proved not quite to have what it took to put more than a mere four Royals there; and, b) 65 million votes were disqualified on grounds of fraud and/or ballot box stuffing. (Royals fans did prove capable of putting only one truly valid All-Star that year, Lorenzo Cain, into that starting lineup.)
Nobody’s yet proved able to beat what cost the fan vote for over a decade, the 1957 scandal of Cincinnati ballot box stuffing. That one sent seven Reds—Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, Gus Bell, and Wally Post, outfielders; second baseman Johnny Temple, third baseman Don Hoak, shortstop Roy McMillan; and catcher Ed Bailey—into the 1957 starting NL lineup. The only non-Red elected a starter was first baseman Stan Musial.
But they’ve been trying ever so hard, ever so often enough.
The 1957 effort was abetted by the ancient Cincinnati Times-Star, printing ballots daily as the city’s designated All-Star vote paper, adding the encouragement, “Vote often, vote early.”
And by rumors that numerous Cincinnati barkeeps wouldn’t serve you until you filled out another ballot. Commissioner Ford Frick was unamused enough to say, “That’s what you think.”
He removed Bell and Post from the starting lineup in favor of Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Henry Aaron. Bell himself was only slightly dismayed.
“The fans are supposed to run it," he said when Frick’s decision was made, "but I'm not exactly burned up about being replaced by Willie.” Others weren’t so sanguine.
Reds general manager Gabe Paul, pleaded with Frick to reinstate Bell and Post. One fan named Harry Washer, fuming over Bell’s removal, saw and raised Paul. Washer hired a lawyer named Charles Keating, Jr. to sue Frick’s office. You may have heard of Keating, eventually the convicted mastermind behind the Lincoln Savings and Loan debacle of 1989.
Frick reinstated Bell—as a reserve—but kept Post and Cincinnati first baseman George Crowe off the All-Star team. (In Crowe’s case, it wouldn’t have mattered much in the end: Musial somehow managed to out-poll him by the final voting day despite Cincinnati’s worst efforts.)
“It's a great story," said former Reds Hall of Fame and Museum director Greg Rhodes to the Cincinnati Enquirer about the ’57 ballot box stuffing, amidst the purported Royals ballot-box stuffing effort. "Our proudest moment as Reds fans. Proudest moment as a baseball city. I think it's just great.”
Izzatso?
Frick and probably the rest of the major-league circuit thought it was anything but. He also removed the fans from All-Star voting at once, essentially punishing what were then 15 other major-league cities for one’s chicanery.
Fans wouldn’t see an All-Star ballot again until Frick’s successor once removed, Bowie Kuhn, reinstated it in 1970. They’ve tried a few times since but never come close in the end to cooking up anything equaling Cincinnati’s stuffing.
If Rhodes really thought the 1957 stuffing was a Reds fan’s proudest moment, we don’t dare ask how that supersedes things such as the only back-to-back no-hit pitcher in major league history (Johnny Vander Meer); back-to-back World Series appearances (one win, one loss) in 1939-40; back-to-back World Series triumphs in 1975-76; the unlikely World Series sweep of 1990; and, seven players plus two managers represented as Reds on their Hall of Fame plaques.
Back to this year’s reputed All-Star miscreants.
When the NL starting lineups were announced as a done deal, Harper led NL first basemen with 3.7 wins above a replacement level player (WAR), plus his slugging percentage, total bases, and OPS. But he was the only one of the Phillie Three other than Bohm to be found among the league’s Top 10 in any of those categories. He was numero two-o in the NL for offensive win percentage—behind (you guessed it) Ohtani.
Harper and Bohm were also tied for second in the league (behind Ohtani) with 40 extra-base hits each.
Turner wasn’t anywhere to be seen among any NL Top 10 list. But he did miss a month-and-a-half thanks to injury. Bohm was tied for ninth with Mookie Betts for slugging percentage when the starting lineups were announced. We’re guessing Phillies fans wanted to vote for what Turner might have done without that missing month.
The one they got absolutely the least wrong at the voting deadline was Harper.
But we’re not really supposed to vote certain honors because of what a player (as Bill James once phrased it) might have done, could have done, should have done, or would have done, but because of what he did.
Having held onto nothing learned from 1957, this century’s baseball government allows regular season inter-league play to increase each year to the point where the All-Star Game means almost nothing. But it’s also allowed fans multiple digital All-Star votes. (Where’s the commissioner’s office, anyway? Rockefeller Center or Tammany Hall?)
“As a result,” my friend Schlossberg wrote five years ago, “electing All-Star lineups has degenerated into a contest that could have been devised in a banana republic, where the word ‘election’ is little more than a misnomer.” A banana republic, or an American political party’s strategy room.
From 1957 through 1970, players, managers, and coaches voted for each league’s All-Stars, one name per position, and they weren’t allowed to vote for players on their own teams. It might not be a terrible idea to remove All-Star voting from fans and return it to the players, managers, and coaches, with the same rules as 1957-70. Permanently.
One other thing: fat lot of good the Cincinnati ballot box stuffers did in the end.
Bell was inserted as a seventh-inning pinch hitter against Hall of Famer Early Wynn. His two-run double down the left field line, scoring Mays and Bailey (who actually caught the entire game for the NL), pulled the NL back to within a run.
Not enough. The American League held on for a 6-5 win.
Once in a very long while, justice is done.
Jeff Kallman is an IBWAA Life Member who writes Throneberry Fields Forever. He has written for the Society for American Baseball Research, The Hardball Times, Sports-Central, and other publications. He has lived in Las Vegas since 2007, where he plays the guitar and writes music when not writing baseball. He remains a Met fan since the day they were born.
Cleaning Up
At Deadline Time, Here’s Braves’ First-Half Report Card
By Dan Schlossberg
With just 10 days to go before the 2024 trade deadline, there’s no better moment to review the first-half successes and failures of the Atlanta Braves consensus pre-season 2024 World Champions:
Marcell Ozuna — Coming off a 40-homer, 100-RBI campaign, the full-time DH looked even better, even flirting with a Triple Crown briefly. So what if he doesn’t play the field? Grade: A
Chris Sale — Obtained from Boston at the minimal cost of Vaughn Grissom, the lanky lefty has recaptured the form that made him a seven-time All-Star in the American League. Definitely in the running for his first Cy Young. Grade: A+
Reynaldo Lopez — Like Sale, he was acquired from the American League at low cost before landing an All-Star berth. Converted back from the bullpen to the rotation, he’s led the majors in ERA most of this season. Grade: A
Max Fried — After a slow start, again is among the NL’s best southpaws, deserving of a return trip to the All-Star Game. Grade: A
Jesse Chavez — Control artist who’s been great for the Braves, bad for anyone else, but enjoying his best season at 40. Like Fried, should have been an All-Star. Grade: A
Raisel Iglesias — Usually reliable closer has done as well as advertised. Grade: A
Joe Jimenez — Solid set-up man for Iglesias. Grade: A-
Austin Riley — A notorious streak hitter, he was cold far too long over the first half before finally finding his old power stroke. But his defense at third never wavered. Grade: B
Jarred Kelenic — After a slow start, this first-time National Leaguer prospered after moving to center field and the leadoff spot. He’s done surprisingly well after a spotty spring training. Grade: B
Matt Olson — Leading the majors in home runs (54) and RBI (139) in 2023 obviously took a toll on the tall first baseman, who’d be lucky to crack 30 and 100 this time around. Strikes out too much. Grade: C
Ozzie Albies — His 30-homer, 100-rbi season of 2023 was an outlier. He doesn’t walk or steal much but does lunge at pitches way outside the strike zone, as does Olson. Grade: C
Michael Harris II — Before his oblique injury, this gifted center-fielder was pulling his weight only on defense. His power and speed need to resurface. Grade: C
Charlie Morton — He’s 40 and, for the most part, pitching like it. Grade: C
Pierce Johnson — Great curveball but can’t always throw it for strikes. Grade: C
Travis d’Arnaud — Played every day while Murphy was sidelined. Showed good power, including three-homer game. Could be traded. Grade: C
Sean Murphy — Like Harris, he’s been hampered for weeks by an oblique injury. The NL’s best catcher when healthy has hardly looked like himself at bat or in the field. Grade: C
Adam Duvall — Spare outfielder pelts left-handed pitchers and delivers strong defense, especially in the corner spots. Strikes out too much, though, and has been under the Mendoza Line all season. Grade: D
Orlando Arcia — Slick-fielding shortstop can’t hit a lick, making one wonder how he cracked the All-Star lineup last year. Grade: D
Aaron Bummer — Lived down to his unfortunate surname. Braves traded way too much to get this often-wild lefty. Grade: D
Zack Short — Even worse hitter than Arcia. Grade: F
Spencer Schwellenbach — Best of a bunch of would-be fifth starters, has potential for future. Late start makes him hard to grade. Grade: Incomplete
AJ Smith-Shawver — Showed promise in brief appearance. Grade: Incomplete
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of the new biography Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron [Skyhorse, May 14, 2024]. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: The Ballplayer Who Loves Art
“There is a lot of great art out there to enjoy. There is a wide variety that I like, in different genres.”
— San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease
Who knew?
While other big-leaguers hang out in their hotel rooms, sleep in, or order room service, the star right-hander stakes out art museums. He’s a fan of Vincent Van Gogh but not necessarily Pablo Picasso . . .
When he and Lucas Giolito were teammates with the White Sox, they often explored the world of art together . . .
He’s a fan of modern abstract, not French Impressionism . . .
Several former players, including Curt Flood, Gene Locklear, and Bob Tewksbury, were artists themselves, though hardly in the Van Gogh category.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.