I was listening to Mike and Mike this morning on the Deuce and Dick Vitale was a guest. Dicky V., as everybody knows is very opinionated and this morning went on a rant about Manny Ramirez opting out of the All-Star game. Vitale came up with a plan to penalize all-star no shows by not letting them play the last game before the break and the first game after the break. This is ludicrous in my opinion. If a player doesn’t want to go then that’s their choice. Personally, I don’t like it when a healthy player who was voted in by the fans doesn’t play. If he’s injured then that’s a different story.
But I do think that perhaps players who opt out should be penalized in some way. What do you think will happen if players with bonus clauses in their contracts for making the All-Star team (another sore spot of mine) actually have to show up at the festivities and the game to collect? I bet Manny would be in the visitor’s locker room at PNC right now figuring out which bat he was going to use for the HR derby tonight. Perhaps another penalty could be to leave them off of the ballot the following year. Or maybe the fans should take matters into their own hands and just not vote for players who opt out in subsequent years. But we all know fans have short memories for these kinds of things.
Tom Glavine, who is not injured, opted out since he’s not able to pitch after starting on Sunday. He’s still making the trip to the ‘burgh. Glavine’s decision, at least on the surface, appears to be for the good of the NL and the Mets. Since the game now has some meaning (another point I can rant about) and as it looks today Glavine’s Mets may be a benefactor of a NL win, he decided to step aside and give Phil Garner another option. A class move by a class guy.
Manny is not the first player to no-show and he won’t be the last. But until players face repercussions there will continue to be dead beat All-Stars.
This will probably sound harsh, but my opinion is if you’re not on the final all-star roster then you are not an all-star, no exceptions. You get no contract bonuses and your career record should not show you were an all-star if you are not in uniform at the game. I realize this penalizes guys who cannot play due to injury or family emergency, but overall I think it would give more legitimacy and honor to being a member of that team.
I agree Leeknay.. you’re on the final roster, you show up, and the record shows you were there.
I will give the players like Reyes and Glavine credit though. They couldn’t play and wanted to show up (in uniform) to support the team anyway. That shows class.