WASHINGTON – Fan balloting for the annual All-Star Game started June 1. As Archie Bunker might say, ‘Whoop-dee-do.’Before Major League Baseball turned the Midsummer Classic into a cash cow, starting an All-Star Game meant something. When the first All-Star Game was staged as a Depression-era morale booster in 1933, and for many years thereafter, the vote meant something. But any semblance of integrity disappeared in 1957, when Cincinnati fans stuffed the ballot box, electing seven of the eight Reds to the National League lineup. He said the Midsummer Classic was “the fans’ game” and they should have a stake in it.

Source: Forbes June 02, 2018 20:14 UTC