This is fun: a different kind of MLB annual All-Star Game ethics controversy! We’ve never seen this one before: usually the controversies over baseball’s “mid-summer classic” (This is All-Star Game week, with the teams taking a break around Wednesday’s game televised on Fox News.) involve fairness in the selections (there are always more deserving players than the limited rosters can hold, whether every team should have at least one representative even when that means selecting a mediocre player having a so-so season, whether there was bias in the selection of the reserves, whether aging great players should be included on the squad because they really are the players the fans want to see, whether the fan voting system is absurd, stuff like that. (Some past controversies are discussed here,)
Never this, however: MLB added Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski to the National League All-Star team last week. “Who?”you well may ask? Misiorowski is a highly touted rookie who has only been in the major leagues for about a month. He’s been the starting pitcher in just five games, and now holds the record for fewest games ever played in by a player making an All-Star team—by a lot. Wails Yahoo Sports,
“The main goal of the Midsummer Classic is to recognize the players who have performed at a high level through the first half of the MLB season. With that, it also allows fans to see the stars of the game they might not watch on a regular basis. But by adding Misiorowski to the NL All-Star roster, MLB has sent a message to players that not only does the game not matter, but performance doesn’t matter, either.”
Misiorowski is what baseball jargon refers to as a “phenom.”
He’s viewed as a future superstar, and has looked like it, beginning his career with 11 perfect innings, no hits, no walks. Nobody had done that in the history of the game, He regularly tops 100 mph on his fastball, which has been clocked as speedy as 103. Yes, he’s an exciting newcomer who may do great things…eventually.
But picking him for the All-Star Game is like, oh, let’s pick an absurd hypothetical, like giving a Nobel Peace Prize to a newly elected U.S. President before he’s actually done anything related to peace at all. Not that such a thing could ever happen….
Your Ethics Alarms All-Star Ethics Quiz of the Day is…
Is it unethical for Misiorowski to be selected for the All-Star Game?
My view: nope.
The silliest thing in the Yahoo article is this statement: “Unfortunately, in this case, MLB opted to go the route of entertainment over merit.” The All-Star Game’s main purpose, just like baseball’s main purpose, just like every professional sport’s main purpose, is entertainment. The game was the inspiration of a sportswriter in the 1930’s who wrote about what a hoot it would be if the greatest stars of both leagues, which in those days never appeared on the same diamond until the World Series, could play against each other in one dream game. The spectacle was then mounted in Chicago, that writer’s city, as a one-time only event.
Players were selected for the first game based on their fame and popularity, not how well they had played in the 1933 season so far. The concept was so popular, however, that the All Star Game became an annual tradition, in part spurred on by the famous second game, in 1934, in New York’s Polo Grounds, where National League future Hall of Fame screwballer Carl Hubbell struck out five consecutive future Hall of Famers to begin the contest: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx in the first inning, then Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in the second.
The All-Star Game has declined in viewership in recent years for a variety of reasons, interleague play being a primary one and the fact that the multi-millionaire players no longer try very hard to win, not wanting to get injured in an exhibition. Nonetheless, it is still one of the highest-rated televised sports events every year. That’s because it is still considered entertaining.
There are some valid counter arguments. When BBWAA members consider candidates for the Hall of Fame after players have been retired for five years, All-Star appearances are considered significant. They are considered important career credentials. Many players also have bonuses in their contracts tied to All-Star appearances.
Nonetheless, this big kid is a big story, he plays in a small market for a team I seldom see, and I know I am interested in seeing what all the fuss is about. This fanatic baseball fan more likely to watch the game now than I was before, and that, all by itself, justifies Misiorowski’s selection.
Ethics Alarms 
Le Miz is a certifiable flame-throwing fire-baller, something to which my small-market Brewers has rarely made claim; makes me think of Talent for the Game, a (IMO) good baseball flick if you haven’t seen it.
Also IMO, he deserves a roster spot, but I’d disagree with the Obama hypothetical.
Despite one stinker game (from which he was yanked so quickly it made heads spin), Misiorowki’s play speaks for itself…LOUDLY!
Hope-n-Change hadn’t done squat when the Nobel Committee cravenly elevated him to secular American Idol.
PWS
If the idea is to increase viewership, then putting Le Miz on the roster is justifiable. The Allstate Game extravaganza is more about viewership then anything, anyway. Hence the home run derby. It is fun and, yeah, the players don’t play to win but fans love it, so it is a win for MLB.
As for Obama, the only reason he won the peace prize, besides for his skin tone, is because he wasn’t George Bush the Younger. I wonder what they thought in Oslo when St. Barak dropped bombs and drone strikes all about the Middle East and Middle West without UN or Congressinal approval? I suspect they didnt really reconsider whether they should rescind his medal.
jvb
“I wonder what they thought in Oslo when St. Barak dropped bombs and drone strikes all about the Middle East and Middle West without UN or Congressinal approval?”
So, that’s the only non-peaceful knock on Hope-n-Change?
Not exactly; to wit:
Care to guess who The ONLY PRESIDENT To Preside Over Eight Years Of Uninterrupted War was?
PWS
That’s because St. Barack truly believes his own PR and his exhalted place in history.
jvb
I’d say even just his performance is enough to justify the spot. How many up and coming stars (in baseball and other sports) from feeder leagues end up being mediocre or worse when facing the competitors at the top? The fact that he’s done what he did over five games is enough information to support his selection.
I think it ties in with our short attention span these days.
Back in the day, the Diamond Backs had a kid named Matt Mantei, was just stellar for a few games, but his stint with the team was short lived after injury, or a slump, or something, and if memory serves (I should probably google it), he had sort of an up and down career, and I don’t recall it being a long one.
I haven’t seen this kid, but, 5 games is not enough.
Lots of guys were throwing 100mph back at the time of Mantei (probably performance enhanced), and how do we know this kid isn’t juicing?
A lot of hay would/could be made in the press to generate interest. If he’s more than a flash in the pan, he’ll be in it next year.
I think it is unethical to put him in the All Star game for the facts above.
I am of two minds on this. On the one hand, with such a short resume, it doesn’t really seem right to have this kid in the All Star game — he’s been a shooting star, but sometimes that’s all such a prospect turns out to be.
On the other hand, given that it’s for entertainment purposes only, if I might coin a phrase, it isn’t a bad deal to have this kid on the field. If he can get people interested in watching and following baseball, it is a win for MLB (and fans). Somewhat like Mike Trout was going to be the face of baseball a while back (and is still a darn good player).
On the gripping hand, I recall a hot prospect named Evan Carter. He came up Sept 8, 2023 and hit .306 with an OPS of 1.058 for the three weeks he was with the Rangers. Carter was highly anticipated, and was one of the reasons the Rangers tied for the division title, and went on to some modest success in the post season that year.
However, he’s been injured a lot, only playing 45 games in 2024 and 42 so far this year. He’s great — if he can just stay healthy. But based on his first three weeks in the majors, he would’ve had the same claim to being an All Star if his three weeks had come at the right time.
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Oh, and speaking of the All Star game, I read a story a few days ago that MLB will be using its robots to call balls and strikes this year. That’s giving me an itch to tune in and see how that goes.
I read a rumor that a number of pitchers were offered an All Star spot but refused when MLB said they had to take the mound. Apparently he was the first one down the list to actually accept. If true, how does that change the ethics equation ? It seems that the bulk of unethical behavior is the refusal by the pitchers who refused to protect their arms. MLB would be presenting the best option available to them. In today’s player focused (vs fan focused) league, I’m not sure what pressure they could put on those who turned the offer down.
Unethical? Yes.
I think the kid has a terrific chance for success, but in no way does he deserve a place on the All-Star team. He is being given a spot as a way to create attention for the game, and maybe based on some speculative future performance that has only a chance of coming to fruition. But even if it does, he has done nothing this year, other than pitch the equivalent of one quality start and five additional innings.
Good for Jacob, but in my opinion he has only succeeded in taking the spot of someone who really should be given the honor.
Actually I can identify one of those someones who is certainly deserving of being on the All Star team.
Nathan Eovaldi has been one of the stars all year for the Rangers’ pitching staff that has the best ERA in the major leagues so far this year.
Eovaldi has started 16 games, 1 complete game, 91 innings, and an ERA of 1.58. He’s struck out 94, walked 14, and has a WHIP of 0.85
You don’t get too much better than that for a starting pitcher. He did pitch Sunday, so he wouldn’t be available for the All Star game, but still….