Now that All-Star rosters have been announced, it's time for the annual griping. No one has incited more All-Star-based griping over the last few years than Derek Jeter, as he is continually voted in despite sometimes being nowhere near deserving, this year in particular.
Of course, performance isn't the only valid basis for selection to the game, and that's a whole other can of worms. I want to focus, though, on one particular argument that is often used to defend selections like Jeter.
The argument that a lot of sportswriters such as Joe Posnanski make is that Jeter is who "the fans want to see", as evidenced by the fact that he got more fan votes than any other AL shortstop. This is a logical argument - the All-Star Game is for the fans, after all.
But, of course he got the most votes - because there are a ton of Yankee fans! And, well, the Yankees always have more fans than anyone else, and therefore, a bunch of Yankees start the All-Star Game every year, deserving or not.
So yes, in a sense these are the guys "the fans want to see". But we're talking about a specific segment of fans, which just happens to be the biggest team-based group. If year in and year out the same segment of fans are seeing the guys they want to see while most sub-populations of fans aren't, is that really democratic?
Personally, I'd love to see a system where fans can vote but only for players on teams other than their favourite. Of course, this is logistically impossible but I think the theory is elegant.
Realistically, I don't have any solutions. Do you?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20110705020327236