By Seth Herrold
By the time you read this column, it is almost certain that Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox has been named the winner of the MLB All-Star Game Final Vote for the American League, a nationwide election, if you will, to determine the final player named to both the American and National League All-Star squads. This comes in spite of me casting roughly 3,000 votes for Royals’ leftfielder Alex Gordon. The moral of the story is you can be as big of a supporter of your favorite player as you want, but at the end of the day, the population of Chicago is always going to outweight the population of Kansas City by quite a bit.
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There was hope when I started on this venture to get Gordon in the All-Star Game. After all, half of Chicago’s population should be Cubs’ fans, right? Nebraska’s ‘Husker nation was behind Gordon and celebrities like David Cook and Paul Rudd were campaigning for Gordon on Twitter. When it was all said and done, though, it was still Konerko winning the final man vote.
It’s depressing, but as long as the Royals are a bottom-feeder like they have been for almost two decades now, all they are going to have for All-Star Game representatives are relief pitchers like Joakim Soria and Aaron Crow. And forget about having more than one representative. The last time the Royals had a player start an All-Star game was in 2000 when the fans actually voted outfielder Jermaine Dye into the starting lineup. Zack Greinke probably should have been the starting pitcher in 2009, but that’s not determined by the fans. Another interesting note is that the Royals have not had a position player record a hit in an All-Star Game since Bo Jackson in 1989. Gordon could have tried to snap that streak if he had made it.
The thing about Dye making it in 2000 is that Internet voting wasn’t as big a part of All-Star balloting as it is today. Every year every club is given the same number of ballots to distribute at their stadium and, until the Internet allowed anyone to vote, that kept things pretty even. Now, however, teams with the larger fan bases will always have the advantage. Unless you are Josh Hamilton or Jose Bautista, you pretty much have to be a member of the Yankees or Red Sox to make the All-Star Game for the American League. Six of the nine American League positions voted on by the fans are taken by players from Boston and New York. If fans voted for the starting pitcher as well, it’s a pretty safe bet that CC Sabathia, the biggest snub in this whole selection process, would be on the hill for the start of the game. The popular teams, with the money and the wins, will always dominate the All-Star game starting lineups.
Gordon nearly made the roster in the players vote, but was the first outfielder left off the roster, finishing just behind Chicago’s Carlos Quentin and Tampa Bay’s Matt Joyce. Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury and Minnesota’s Michael Cuddyer were also named reserve outfielders for the American League ahead of Gordon. Gordon has a higher average and more runs scored than all of those guys except Ellsbury, more RBIs than all but Quinten and leads the majors in outfield assists. It’s not stats that get you all-star appearances, though; it’s votes by fans and players and then manager selections.
Most Royals’ fans thought Gordon, having a career year, was the obvious choice to represent the Royals in the All-Star Game. It was Aaron Crow, who is having a strong season in his own right, however, that was selected by Rangers’ and American League manager Ron Washington.
Now there is always the outside possibility that there will be a flood of votes come in and Gordon could wind up getting the nod to go to the All-Star Game. If that happens, I’m sure you will all be thinking man this guy complains a lot for someone who got what he wanted. If that is the case, and I hope it is, then I apologize.
Next year the All-Star Game is in Kansas City, though, and ‘next year’ is something Royals’ fans are getting good at saying. Who knows? Maybe the Royals will have two position players in that game trying to get the club’s first All-Star hit since Bo in 1989. Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas have both been touted as future All-Stars and, if Gordon has another year like this one, he should be a candidate to make the game again.