A wonderful set of ideas on MLB All-Star Game Decline.

[SirFozzie]

Especially since it would bring back the double header, a lost art in today's game..


By Dick Friedman, SI.com

In its first 12 days, the World Baseball Classic has defied the naysayers and become a hit. If not a grand slam, the WBC is at least a ringing double, complete with passionately played games, upsets (such as Canada's win against the U.S.), controversy (did that Japanese runner really leave third base early?) and a breakout performer in Cuba wunderkind Yuliesky Gourriel.

However, luster was lost before the tournament when many big names, including Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez, opted out. Either they weren't physically ready or they feared injury. Moreover, most of the pitchers are on pitch counts that put a crimp in the action. Such flaws point to the one major drawback in the Classic's conception: its timing. Spring training simply is not the optimal moment for staging a baseball showcase.

Does baseball want a real Classic? If it does, here's a radical suggestion: Replace one Classic with another. In other words, ditch the All-Star Game (a.k.a. "The Midsummer Classic"), which has become an increasingly ho-hum and ignored exhibition (as evidenced by the steadily plummeting TV ratings), and replace it with an annual WBC.

Playing the tournament in July would allow major leaguers literally to be in midseason form. There'd be no more fear of injury than there is during a garden-variety regular-season game. Starting pitchers would be unshackled by pitch counts. The action would not only promise to be tight but also top-notch. Moreover, the system of fan voting now used to determine the All-Star starters could be applied to help select WBC rosters.

Of course, placing the WBC in the middle of the season would entail a major adjustment in the regular-season schedule. There probably would need to be a 10-day hiatus in July to accommodate the international tournament. (The current All-Star break is a mere three days; the NBA's, in February, lasts four.)

The format might need to be tweaked, possibly into a double-elimination tourney similar to that of the College World Series. But it's not as though the game would be taking a vacation. Rather, almost all the big stars would be on display on a very big stage, heightening the interest in a sport during what often is a doldrum time. And baseball could make the event into a huge festival, complete with home-run derbies and concerts.

How would baseball wedge in the WBC without extending further a season that already encroaches on Halloween? Simple: the renaissance of the vanishing species known as the doubleheader.

In the past few decades, the scheduled doubleheader has become extinct as teams have sought to maximize revenue. Its return would be a fan-friendly gesture -- and the lost gate receipts presumably would be partly recouped by the international revenue realized from the Classic, its ancillary activities and its worldwide marketing benefits.

No doubt there are other kinks that need to be worked out, but at least you'd have players who wouldn't beg off because they're working out kinks of their own. After all these years of unquenching All-Star Games, having a meaningful Midsummer Classic would be as refreshing as an ice-cream soda.

[ISiddiqui]

I'm for this! But in the WBC threads, it seems a lot are against.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Not to knock people who watch the WBC, but I've only watched two innings of it, and that's just because I was sitting in a restaurant which was showing it on TV while I was waiting for my order. I'm not sure what the appeal is to everybody else, but it just doesn't do anything for me. Then again, neither does the All-Star Game, so I guess I wouldn't really be missing anything either way.

I don't know what's wrong with me.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Not to knock people who watch the WBC, but I've only watched two innings of it, and that's just because I was sitting in a restaurant which was showing it on TV while I was waiting for my order. I'm not sure what the appeal is to everybody else, but it just doesn't do anything for me. Then again, neither does the All-Star Game, so I guess I wouldn't really be missing anything either way.

I don't know what's wrong with me.

You spend too much time cuddling with me and we end up thinking exactly alike.

[johnnyshaka]

Tough to get MLB owners to buy into this...even some players as well. It all comes down to money and if, say, A-Rod and Jeter both get hurt, King George would have a shit fit. Burning out pitchers is the other issue...there aren't many who manage to pitch 230+ innings in a season as it is, now you are asking them to pitch even more?? I think players could see that as a career shortener that would result in a loss in income...not something they want to jeopardize. I like that it's taking place now and that pitchers have limits...gets more players into the game and also ends up being a great teaser for the upcoming season.

[cthomer5000]

I couldn't care less about major league baseball and I've found myself really interested in the WBC.

I don't know if it should be every year, maybe every other year would be cool.

[Young Drachma]

Yeah, it's turned out to be better than I thought, but..it's much better having it no than in the season. Then, it'd be like Olympic hockey.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

You spend too much time cuddling with me and we end up thinking exactly alike.

I hear saxophone music in my head right now. Do you?

[st.cronin]

And, like Olympic hockey, it would be much more exciting if it ran sometime during the Major League season, and without major leaguers.

[Karlifornia]

The WBC shouldn't happen every year. Limit it to once every 4 years. That way, it's like the World Cup of Baseball. I guarantee you if there is another WBC 4 years from now tickets will be hard to get.

[kcchief19]

We've unfortunately reached a point where the personal pride curve and the economics curve have intersected and there's no chance of going back. Money has changed everything, at least in this country.

The WBC has been entertaining because every country other than ours cares about it, and almost all the players from other countries other than ours cares about. Pedro Martinez went out of his way to fake an injury so that he wouldn't be shamed back home by not playing.

I was under the illusion at one point that the all-star game could be salvaged, but I'm beyond that now.

[clintl]

I'm against anything that would interrupt the regular season for something like this.

I do agree that Spring Training is the wrong time. The right time is after the World Series. I also agree that having it once every four years is about right, and that every year would be too much.

[stevew]

I'm totally okay with doing this as long as the guys on my team rest the whole 10 days, and the guys on our closest rival play every game, and use all their starting pitchers.

[stevew]

Dola, but after the World Series, they can do whatever they want.

[miami_fan]

How about getting rid of all of the all star games all together?