IWS#196 - The Results
 

The Fourth of July holiday edition of IWS kept entries depressed a bit, but I decided to go ahead and call it an official game with 18 entries.

With the MLB All-Star game coming Tuesday to my home city and hosted by my favorite team, it seemed appropriate to break out an all-star themed version. Even though we ended up with essentially three eliminator questions, I really only regret question No. 1 since I think it was the easiest to predict. I was hoping the phrasing of question three would skew responses a different way, but it was at least an interesting psychological experiment.

1. The MLB All-Star Game is widely considered the best all-star event in sports. What is the second best all-star competition?
14 - NBA
2 - NFL
2 - NHL

An eliminator right off the bat, even though I expected this is what Stupid would think.

2. While fans choose the starting lineups for both teams, they unfortunately do not get to vote for the play-by-play voice. If fans did get to elect a play-by-play announcer for the game, who would win?
14 - Vin Scully
2 - Joe Buck
2 - Jon Miller

I personally would have selected Scully too, but part of me figured the current play-by-play guy would get some votes. It's been 22 years since Scully was the voice of the World Series on TV and is 84 years old, but we still love him.

3. What is the greatest moment in MLB All-Star Game history?
14 - Charlie Hustle Takes Out Poor Ray Fosse
2 - Cal Ripken MVP in final All-Star Game
1 - Carl Hubbell Strikes Out Ruth, Gerhig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin In a Row
1 - Stan The Man Musial's Walk-Off Homer in the 12th

Many of you noted that a similar question appeared in Digamma's recent IWS contest. However, that asked for "memorable" moment, which brought Rose-Fosse and the Tie Game Abomination into play. I hoped by asking for "greatest" moment we would focus on the positives. While that eliminated the tie game, Rose-Fosse still comes out on top. Worth noting that in MLB's vote last year, Musial's homer was voted the great moment in all-star history, edging out Ripken's "Perfect Script" in the final round. I would have struck out, since I'm still blubbering from the Ted Williams salute at Fenway.

4. What player left off this year's MLB All-Star Game rosters is the biggest snub?
7 - Johnny Cueto
4 - Zack Greinke
2 - Bryce Harper
2 - A.J. Pierzynski
1 - Andre Ethier
1 - Austin Jackson
1 - Josh Willingham

Finally, a decent distribution of answers. Cueto appeared to be the favorite for the early entries, with Greinke gaining ground later in the week. That seems to reflect the media fixation, would seem to be in Cueto's corner early due to the LaRussa situation, then cooler heads turned to Greinke. Interestingly, only Bryce Harper among the Final Vote candidates showed up here. Either Stupid thinks those guys weren't snubbed or the Final Vote isn't a snub after all.

5. The Home Run Derby was added to the All-Star Game in 1985. Ken Griffey Jr. leads with three wins. If the derby had started in 1933 with the first All-Star Game, who would be the all-time leaders in wins?
10 - Hank Aaron
3 - Mickey Mantle
2 - Babe Ruth
1 - Ken Griffey Jr.
1 - Stan Musial
1 - Ted Williams

I was pretty proud of this question, although the answers weren't quite as distributed as I hoped. I guessed Stupid would go with Aaron, even though I think Mantle, Musial, Williams or Mays may have all beaten him. I purposely used 1933 as the start point so everyone wouldn't automatically say Ruth. Somewhat surprised Mays or Reggie Jackson didn't make the list. Reggie seemed built for the home run derby.

6. This year's All-Star Game is in Kansas City, and Royals Hall of Famer George Brett will be this year's ambassador. After Brett, who is the second-best player in Royals history?
8 - Bret Saberhagen
6 - Frank White
1 - Kevin Appier
1 - Carlos Beltran
1 - Bo Jackson
1 - Dan Quisenberry

Purely selfish question here -- I wanted to see what Stupid thought about my favorite team. After George, it's a pretty steep drop to No. 2 and there's room for debate. I figured Saberhagen would eek it out, even though Frank White is the correct answer. Surprisingly, Carlos Beltran was never an All-Star during his six seasons in KC. Also, the two Royals with the most All-Star Game appearances didn't get a vote -- Amos Otis and Mike Sweeney were selected five times each.


Snubbed By Tony LaRussa
Nilodor - 448

Made the Final Vote But Lost Out
mauboy1 - 784
claphamsa - 3,920
Mustang - 13,720

Named a Reserve But Didn't Play
Grover - 17,920
Solecismic - 32,928
Barkeep49 - 43,904

Voted by the Fans as a Starter
DanGarion - 47,040
korme - 65,856
cougarfreak - 82,320
Subby - 94,080

Named Starting Pitcher for the All-Star Game
PurdueBrad - 109,760
Pyser - 219,520

Perennial All-Stars
Marmel - 230,496
jbergey22 - 263,424

In Line for the Win But Bullpen Blew It
panerd - 345,744

Game MVP Winner From the Losing Team
albionmoonlight - 439,040

All-Star MVP With a Walk-Off Home Run in the 12th
spleen1015 - 1,536,640

spleen1015 indeed gets the walk-off with a perfect score. A.J. Pierzynski cost albionmoonlight the tie, which makes him the latest person to be wronged by A.J. Pierzynski. Congrats to spleen1015 for your second all-time IWS stupid win!

aw I thought there was still time. whoops.

congrats spleen

I thought I had said NHL all-star game for question one... apparently not.

Or he was just too embarrassed for me to put it up there.

Mickey Mantle would have destroyed Hank Aaron in a home run derby. Silly stupid. Congrats spleen.

Awesome. Now I need to come up with a idea.

why are there 2 different NBA answers for question 1

These two have the same answer ... due to a typo/brain cramp on my part, the second "NBA" tally should read "NHL." Grover was not alone on the island.

This. And ole Vinny Scully scorned me. Otherwise I was perfect (4/6 not bad)

Of course, two of the top answers were Reds related, so that probably helped me

LOL!

Maybe I'll add this to the "controversies" section of his Wikipedia page.

Thanks for running this, kcchief. Contrats to Spleen.

Awesome :D

SI

Yep thats how I voted also. I remember when I was in junior high I used to watch a black and white homerun derby show and Mickey Mantle used to kick some ass. Hank Aaron was pretty solid also. I guess I should remember that stupid doesn't always choose the right answer though.

Also shouldn't Don Denkinger be the second greatest Royal of all time? :)

Only to bitter Cardinals fans ;)

SI

I remember the very same show. I think it was on ESPN classic when classic was new.

IMO the Mick was built for the home run derby. Probably had more natural power than any other player that has played the game not named Babe Ruth.

Just a footnote on what would have given us 12 world series titles but we will let you enjoy your 1 tainted one. :D

I actually enjoy this rivalry because I get to be on the opposite side of MBBF for it.

Yeah this would have been in the 80's. I think it was on WGN or WTBS. I used to catch amlost every Braves and Cubs game back on those days and it had nothing to do with liking either team, it was the only way to catch baseball!

but the NBA sucks... how can it be a good allstar game?

Could someone hook me up with the spreadsheet?

I'm starting to think "the spreadsheet" is just a grand inside joke...

Win an IWS and you will see! :D

That's the thing; I already have!

Glad someone else thinks the spreadsheet is a unicorn. Granted, I only asked once and didn't try real hard to get my hands on it. I just faked my way through ... luckily there were only 18 entries.

I'd send spleen what I have but I think it would make his life worse.