Are you satisfied the way the All Stars are selected?

No, it's nothing more than a popularity contest, especially in the AL where the biased and ignorant fans in Boston and New York are trying to load the starting lineup with home town players.

Anyone who thinks that Pedroia and Jeter deserve to start over Kinsler and Young or Renteria is delusional. Or a Red Sox/Yankee fan. At catcher Joe Mauer holds just a 45,000 vote lead over Varitek even though his average is 100 points higher and he's scored 29 more runs. HR and RBI are equal but Varitek should not even be under consideration for an All Star spot because he's been terrible this year.

And Ortiz has missed 22 games but leads DH voting.

As long as MLB allows uninformed fans to pad the voting totals this system will be a joke. There are reasonable alternatives that would allow puny brains to cast their ballot while having knowledgeable baseball people temper that vote but baseball refuses to make changes. I outlined a plan in this forum several weeks ago.

And just for the record, I think McCann deserves to start over Soto, that DeRosa is not the 2nd best second baseman in the NL, and that Soriano should not make the team.

Well fortunately they do not give "Complete" control to the fans. At least they can play the fans players for one or two innings then bring the "real" All-stars in for the remainder of the game!! I like the fact that the fans do not select the pitchers, if that was the case the All-Star game could last an extra hour!! The coaches will select the candidates that didn't make it due to ballot box stuffing, etc so it all works out in the end. The fans are the ones that pay to watch these clowns so they should get to see their favorites for a few innings.

Someone wrote that the game is for the fans but that's not true since the game determines home field advantage for the World Series. The game counts more than an exhibition game so allowing fans the determine who starts is as ridiculous as the rule the requires a player from each MLB team make the game roster. The system is seriously flawed but we've learned from the steroids scandal that no changes will be made until it blows up in the owners' collective face.

The reality is that the game is for the FANS, so FAN voting is the logical way to select the starting line-up. Managers then choose the rest of the team based on their judged merits.

As for all-team representation, I love it. Everyone has a favorite team, that favorite team isn't always performing well. They should have a chance to see at least one member of their team as an "all-star." It also gives us a chance to see someone who we might not notice toiling away in Tampa (before this year), Kansas City or Pittsburgh.

The advantage of full representation is that we don't see an AL team that's all YANKS and SOX. There are some managers (****Ahem**** Torre) who would send every member of their team to the All-Star game given the chance. I want to see the AL vs. the NL, and the Yank/Sox vs. NL.

Yes. Look, it's a Hollywood show. It doesn't mean anything, even with the retarded attempt to make it worthy by using it to determine home field advantage for the World Series. It's show. Pure and simple. Yes, it's a popularity contest in the voting. So? The manager gets to pick his bench and can pick the good players who were overlooked in the voting. The fans, the ones who get to shell out thousands to enjoy the game, want the regular star, even if he's having an off-season. They want to old-timer, even if he's old. So what? One year, late in his career, Nolan Ryan missed the game. The announcers, fans, writers, and players all thought it was a shame. So did I. It's show. Let there be show.

What, the starters fan ballot? I stop caring ages ago. It's a showcase, Fox wants big ratings, and ratings go up when big names are in the starting lineup.

And, since there is no wrong way to cast votes, it largely boils down to a popularity contest. The reserves, selected by the managers, coaches, and the leagues, tend to represent the better performers reasonably (far from perfectly) well.

It's all about marketing and selling it. Don't like it? Don't vote, don't worry about the voting results, and don't bother railing against it. Just wait for the game itself, watch, and skip off to the kitchen or bathroom whenever Fox's overloaded ad breaks come on.

No. I am a Red Sox fan, and even I know that the system is now flawed. As a baseball fan, I want to see the actual best players at the half play in the all-star game. As people before mentioned, whichever team has the biggest fan base gets more players, as undeserving as they may be.

What the MLB needs to do is have fan voting count as a percentage and have players/managers vote as well. The Pro Bowl uses the player/coach poll and it works for the NFL, and every year it has the best players at their respective positions.

Not every team deserves an all-star selection. And the fact the fans vote is a joke. I mean maybe we should vote on some back ups or whatever, but it's too much of a popularity contest now. The fact that Hideki Matsui has made it every year just means that the Japanese have the internet. Its just a joke

I would think why not, since people can vote for the players to play in the game, and then it is up to players/mangers to decide who will pitch in the game, and I bet that there will be players that people vote for, will not make it to the all star game. Either as a starter, or off the bench. And once the voting ends, then when the rosters are annouced, then people can go on-line, and vote for one more player to fill the final roster spot on both sides.

Why do people elect a participant to be a starter of the All action picture star activity? only because of the fact he's physically powerful-looking? i assume no longer. no count that's Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or Michael Jordan, they're chosen for his or her greatness. they're the starters for sturdy motives. So only enable the bench boys get better and grow to be the starters.