All Star doings 2019

Gio Urshela being 2nd at AL 3b is not something that anyone foresaw in April.

smdh at Cardinal fans, with DeJong being 8th at NL SS.

Gallo not invited to the HR derby despite being 7th in the AL in HRs (incl. 2 today lol).

Too bad he didn't have a famous father. #nepotism

this is the earliest i can recall a starting pitcher being named

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-all-star-game-dodgers-hyun-jin-ryu-named-starting-pitcher-for-national-league/

then again he's clearly having the best year

... well, likely not better than Scherzer, but Roberts is obv inclined to pick his own guy.

I heard they're using an Opener this year. #disruption #hackthegame #innovation #moneyball

Hunter Pence!!

pence is out with a groin (injury) ;_;

midsommar classic

Yelich out of Derby, bad back

I wish Gallo was part of the derby

With those violent swings, I was worried that Vlad's head was gonna pop off his shoulders and roll down the third-base line.

They have a page for the Derby on Baseball Reference:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Home_Run_Derby

No recollection of how they did it early on, but look at first few winning totals: 6, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3. Seven years, 27 HR, fewer than one round of Guerrero last night.

I haven't taken an interest since Griffey-Thomas-McGwire-Bonds-Sosa. I think inviting Guerrero instead of Gallo was probably smart--just use it as a promotional tool at this point.

I guess Guerrero and Gallo aren't connected, that it was a health issue with Gallo...so amend that to I think inviting Guerrero, even though his numbers clearly didn't warrant an invitation, was smart.

Is Alonso the first rookie to win the HR derby?

Posnanski has a "What I'd Do with the All-Star Game" piece up today (behind a paywall). A couple of good bits:

In 1978, 47 million people watched the All-Star Game.
In 1988, 33 million people watched the All-Star Game.
In 1998, 25 million people watched the All-Star Game
In 2008, 16 million people watched the All-Star Game
In 2018, fewer than nine million people watched the All-Star Game.

He then goes on to look at why.

Issue 2: Choices

Television ratings for EVERYTHING is down because we have so many more television channels to watch. TV people tell me all the time — and they’re right — that it’s silly to compare TV ratings today to ratings of even 10 years ago, much less 40 years ago.

Sure, 47 million people watched the 1978 All-Star Game...what choice did we have? We had three channels then, and you know what our choices were?

— MLB All-Star Game
— The Death of Richie with Ben Gazarra, Eileen Brennan and Robby Benson.
— Reshowing of West Side Story.

Yeah, 47 million people are going to watch the All-Star Game if those are the other options. *

*Plus, leading into the All-Star Game, ABC had the Happy Days where, and I quote, “Potsie panics when he faces the initiation for being pinned to a sorority, but Fonzie saves the day with a surefire lifesaver.” I mean, with a lead-in like that...

The options now are to watch the All-Star Game or literally watch anything that has ever been made. So, yes, that’s a tougher battle for Baseball, even if they could bring back the Potsie lead-in.

I have corrected Joe's alarming misspelling of Potsie.

the vladito/joc round was really fun. obviously vlad jr. was the star but i was impressed with joc's ability to keep up too.

(judge also won the derby as a rookie)

Worst picks since 2002:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-worst-all-stars-since-2002/

In the Posnanski piece I quoted from above, he might argue--an argument made by many--that Hamilton, as the reigning MVP, was defensible: "I honestly think that one of the problems with the All-Star Game is that it is viewed more as a reward for players — who DESERVES and DOESN’T DESERVE to go — and less as a show."

Correction: it was the year after Hamilton won the MVP.

no one remembers who made the team a week later.

I bet if this still 'counted' for WS homefield, Fox still would talked to Freeman during his plate appearance.

took me til bottom 2nd to mute Buckfuck

nonstop interviews of players on the field is an insult to everyone; this doesn't even rise to the level of an exhibition game in Fox's world.

I stopped watching a few years ago. It's probably better, comparatively, than the basketball All-Star game, where they score like 300-350 points--at least they continue to play something that resembles baseball--but I just don't have any interest anymore. Maybe something, or somebody, will come along that will change that, I don't know.

Alonso strikes out aaaaand goodnight!

2021 game and draft will not, as previously scheduled, take place in georgia

looks like they repubs are threatening retaliatory measures, in the most unintentionally hilarious (and progressive) way possible:

In light of @MLB's stance to undermine election integrity laws, I have instructed my staff to begin drafting legislation to remove Major League Baseball's federal antitrust exception.

— Rep. Jeff Duncan (@RepJeffDuncan) April 2, 2021

pic.twitter.com/Zhb9ftQDBE

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) April 2, 2021

jeter is ... good?

He hired Kim Ng, that's almost a lifetime pass already!

o no!

Guess what I am doing today? Not watching baseball!!!!

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) April 3, 2021

RONNA!!!!

all star game moves to denver = transferring $100 mil in economic impact from a state that's 31% black to a state that's 4% black. well done corporate wokeness! 👍👍

found the one person who believes the "$100 million in economic impact" quote

I don't think the F1 GP in Montreal makes that much in economic impact.

I’m not sure what wokeness scale should have been used to decide if and where to move the ASG - but I thought it was going to be Milwaukee for some Hank Aaron related reason (I’m not quite sure).