Printer-friendly

Contact Author

June 28, 2007

Lies, Damned Lies

All-Star Balloting

by Nate Silver

Thanks largely to the smart and forward-thinking people in its Advanced Media wing, Major League Baseball has moved toward providing more and more information to its fans. One exception is in the department of my column today: All-Star voting. It used to be that baseball provided a rundown of every player’s vote total, including write-ins that received a material number of votes, and all the way down to the player ranked at the bottom of his position pool. But now all we get is the top five at each position. How many Nationals loyalists voted for Nick Johnson--even though he’s yet to play a game this season? Is Trot Nixon or Emil Brown the lowest ranked outfielder in the American League? How close is Curtis Granderson to cracking the top 15 (and how in the hell did Craig Monroe get in there?) Perhaps this is done for political reasons; nobody wants to hurt Nick Punto’s feelings. But inquiring minds want to know these things.

In fact, not only should MLBAM be providing vote totals for every player listed on the ballot, but it should be breaking those vote totals down in as many ways as possible. Who has received the most votes in the past week? How much of Prince Fielder's support comes from Wisconsin? Are there significant differences between Internet and ballpark ballots? Who is winning the foreign vote?

This sort of thing would increase enthusiasm and participation for the balloting process, especially if tied in with community-oriented elements. Create a Facebook page for J.J. Hardy’s candidacy where fans can write in with their arguments on his behalf. Send text messages to fans when their favorite player rises or falls in the standings. The All-Star Game is the one time each season when baseball just bucks up and has some fun, and yet the balloting counts are treated like some sort of trade secret.