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The best in Major League Baseball will gather in Denver next week for the All-Star Game. Forget how the game got to this city, that's a different topic. But baseball uses its mid-summer classic to celebrate the best of the best. Each league fields a team of 32 players that features 20 position players and 12 pitchers.Every team must be represented, even if they don't have an all-star worthy player. This year's game will also showcase Shohei Ohtani, who will appear as a pitcher and designated hitter.
These days fans, players and the commissioner's office fill out the rosters. Fans get to vote for starters and then players vote for most of the reserves. The commissioner's office fills out the roster with their own selections. These are the choices that often get debated by purists and angry fans. In the end, very few players get shafted but there's always fun debate about who got left off.
In the computer-mobile world we live in, fans vote for players using an advanced device that records a vote in less than a second. Today, the system is so advanced it's impossible to stuff the ballot. Which if you are younger than 40 probably have no idea what that is. But I do.
I am proud to say that I have voted in nine presidential elections and dozens of local, state and federal elections. But the very first ballot I ever filled out was a ballot for the MLB All- Star Game. For years, all-star voting was done using a ballot you picked up at ballparks across the country or select stores who offered ballots as well. The Gillete Company was a sponsor of that ballot for years. The company that still sells you fine shaving products backed fan voting of starters for years.
The ballot was a beautiful layout of every position. You had a choice of nine players at each infield position and catcher where you picked one of each. There were 27 outfielders per league on the ballot and you selected three. If your favorite player was not listed, have no fear. You were given three slots for write-in choices.
The ballot asked you to punch through a series of chads. That's right kids. Long before we decided the 2000 Presidential Election, hanging chads sometimes determined who started in an all-star game. You had to use a pen or pencil or something sharp to push through the chad and make your selection. It was a thing of beauty.
I can remember my mother or father bringing ballots home and then I would sit with my older brother for hours debating who to vote for. I took it seriously. After all, I was playing a significant role in who was going to start in the most important all-star game in the world.
We had great debates, like in 1979. It was not easy deciding who should start at shortstop for the American League. How do you choose among the likes of Alan Trammell, Mark Belanger, Freddie Patek, Rick Burleson, Bucky Dent or Roy Smalley? Smalley was voted the starter but I voted for Bucky Dent.
Ballots were placed in boxes at stadiums across the country and other drop-off locations. Back then, it was a big deal to check the newspaper and look at updated all-star game voting. If your favorite player or players were lagging, you had to get more ballots. Heck, some major league teams were practically encouraging fans to stuff the ballot box of their hometown and favorite players. This often happened where one week a certain player may have ranked 7th at their position but if that team played six straight home games, they suddenly jumped to 3rd the following week.
All this led to great anticipation, joy and sadness when all-star starters were announced. It was a big deal to me to see how many I got right and wrong. It was a sense of pride to watch the game and know I played a role in who was starting that night.
The MLB All-Star Game was a big deal when I was growing up. We didn't have a Home Run Derby or celebrity softball game to junk up the event. It was the best players in the game playing one game and it was awesome. Back then, you didn't get access to every baseball game and there were no nightly highlight shows to wrap up the evening of games. There was no interleague games and it was a really big deal to see the best of the American League face the National League.
There is nothing wrong with the all-star game today. Rosters have grown and fans vote in seconds using an iPhone or computer. There are a few players who play in the game that many fans don't even know and these days starters are gone by the 4th or 5th inning. But it just feels different to me.
I miss the days of a paper ballot, hanging chads, voting updates in the newspaper and when rosters lined up along the baselines and see this group of players perform for me in what was and still may be the greatest all-star game. And how I miss the voting battles of years ago. Like how do you choose among National League first baseman: Bill Bucker, Tony Perez, Steve Garvey, Willie Stargell and Willie Montenez?
Final thought: The first MLB All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1933. It was part of the World's Fair held in the Windy City that year.