The sun is shining, let's play two
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The 1999 All-Star Game is complete with the American League winning 4-1. Most of the players who displayed their baseball talents for the country to see had every right to be in Boston this week, but there were some who definitely did not belong.
Ron Coomer of the Twins, Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins and Jose Rosado of the Royals are three who come to mind who had no business being in the game. Along those same lines, but a bit less severe, Jose Offerman of the Boston Red Sox and Brad Ausmus of the Detroit "Rock City" Tigers should have been home with their families, too.
Rosado doesn't have a winning record at 5-6, Ausmus, Coomer and Offerman aren't even hitting .280 and none of them have 40 RBIs. Gonzalez has a future as an All-Star, but not yet.
The reason these players had their names engraved in baseball lore as All-Stars is because the league has this ridiculous rule that each team has to have at least one representative, which leaves other players, who are more deserving, out in the cold.
How many players? 34 to be exact.
Each squad is filled with players who belong in the All-Star Game with the few exceptions listed above, but with 34 more players who are just as deserving, something should be done.
Of course the league will never sponsor two All-Star Games in one season, but imagine what it would be like if they did.
Guys like Mark Grace, John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzo, Craig Biggio, Rey Ordonez, Jeff Cirillo, Chipper Jones, Robin Ventura, Brian Giles, Carl Everett, Henry Rodriguez, Roger Cedeno, Fernando Tatis, Russ Ortiz, Hideo Nomo, Jeff Shaw and Greg Maddux could star for the National League.
All these guys can make exceptional cases for the league to extend an All-Star bid to them, especially Rodriguez, Jones, Ortiz, Shaw and Giles.
"Oh-Henry" is hitting .337 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI, Jones is at .313 with 21 homers and 57 RBI, Ortiz is 11-5, Shaw has 19 saves and Giles has surprised everyone with a .313 average, 18 homers and 57 RBI.
The American League can boast a similarly potent lineup with veterans like Fred McGriff, Mo Vaughn, Edgar Martinez, Dean Palmer, Roger Clemens, Billy Taylor, Mike Sweeney and Jamie Moyer along with young stars like Jason Giambi, Ray Durham, Alex Rodriguez, Troy O'Leary, Shannon Stewart, Jermaine Dye, Carlos Beltran, Orlando Hernandez, John Halama and Freddy Garcia.
McGriff is hitting .319 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs, Palmer has 22 homers and 58 RBIs, Rodriguez is back from an injury and is hitting .316 with 18 homers and 48 RBIs, Dye and Sweeney have been almost unstoppable in Kansas City hitting .302 with 17 homers and 66 RBIs, and .319 with 11 homers and 58 RBIs, respectively and Taylor has 22 saves.
Put these two squads out on the field together and you have one heck of a ballgame. The one problem that exists is catcher. If Jason Kendall hadn't gotten hurt it would have been either him or Dave Nilsson, who is currently an All Star for the NL, but no one deserves it from the AL. So, let Ivan Rodriguez play all nine innings in game one, and let the second game belong to Brad Ausmus.
The real stars will shine and each team will still be represented in the great doubleheader.
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