Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Mid Summer Classic

When I was a kid, I loved Major League Baseball's All Star Game.  There was no FOX or ESPN.  It was THE chance to see players and teams you rarely got an opportunity to view.  If you missed the All Star Game, you had to wait until the playoffs and World Series to see the guys from the west.

Times change.  A dozen games are piped into my home every week, and I don't even get the super game package offered by my cable company.

Some additional thoughts...  Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees didn't make the team, even though his stats were in the All Star ballpark, pardon the pun.  Yes, he was suspended last year for using performance enhancing drugs.  He apologized.  He paid the penalty.  I would have no problem with his selection.  The Hall of Fame is another story.  Absolutely not.

This year's game is in Cincinnati, the city where Pete Rose spent most of his career.  The league will let him on the field.  That's too bad.  Rose committed the greatest baseball sin of all.  He bet on the game, and then lied for years about it.  Rose only came clean when he had a book to sell.  Pete Rose is the worst of the worst.

As has been the rule for the past several years, the league that wins the All Star Game gets home field advantage in the World Series.  Stop it.  Stop it now.  Home field advantage should go to the team with the best regular season record.  I know MLB was trying to spice up the All Star Game and entice the players to do their very best, but this is just stupid.

The game is past my bed time, but I'll check out the highlights the next morning.