Hey, now. Puig’s an All-Star. Get your game on. Go Play.

Certain words in the English language are over-used.  Travesty is one of them.

I can’t stand when people frivolously refer to things, or events, as travesties.  Travesties are bad break-ups.  Travesties are romances that should have been but never were.  Travesties are failed movies, with great actors, but zero screen play.  Travesties, however, do not describe the inclusion of baseball’s most exciting player into an exhibition game that has no meaning.

Perhaps a pocket dictionary should be required reading for those of us with opinions.

Puig jacks oneI was driving home the other night, listening to sports radio as I’m accustomed to doing, and heard some numbskull, national sportswriter babbling on about how it would be a “travesty” if Los Angeles Dodger, Yasiel Puig, were allowed to play in next weekend’s All-Star Game.  All Puig has done, after a full month in the Majors, is hit .440.  He became the first player in over 100 years to amass 44 hits in his first month of play.  Considering baseball’s obsession with statistics, when a player accomplishes something that hasn’t been done in over a century, it’s safe to say he’s doing something special.  His fielding isn’t bad either.  From deep right field, he’s punching out base runners with line drive assists pinpointed into his third baseman’s glove.

Forget Stephen Strasburg.  Forget Bryce Harper.  Puig is the sport’s hottest, young commodity.  He is must see TV.

Yet because he hasn’t played the entire first half of the season, some feel he’s not All-Star worthy.  Even relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, who hasn’t been relevant since he took off his Red Sox uniform, called the All-Star inclusion of the Cuban-born Puig “an absolute joke.”  At least he didn’t call it a travesty.

Whatever happened to player camaraderie or the general interest in the betterment of the game?  The fact that we’re even having this debate shows how backwards the sport still is.  The ever-silent Commissioner Selig should just man up and mandate that Puig suits up, unless attracting television viewers isn’t his concern.

Yasiel Puig DodgersAs we adjust to our post-basketball doldrums and desperately count down the days until football season, Yasiel Puig is the only reason any of us are watching baseball right now.  He’s the reason Don Mattingly still has a job.  He has nearly singlehandedly lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers out of last place in the National League West to 2 ½ games out of first.  He’d be the reason I watch the All-Star Game as opposed to not watching it at all, and I’m a baseball fan.  Imagine what he’d do for the casual fan.  What if Puig knocks one out of the park, which he probably would, or what if he dazzled us all with repeated moon shots in the Home Run Derby?  Wouldn’t that be a story worth telling?

The All-Star Game is an exhibition game designed for the fans.  Purists like Papelbon or that overpaid, blowhard sports writer are the reason the game has failed to evolve.  For the sake of our national pastime, and some quality entertainment, I urge you all to write Puig onto your ballot so that we can see something out of the ordinary this mid-summer classic.

I read somewhere that ‘travesty’ is an over-used word so let me conclude by saying this.  Excluding Yasiel Puig from this year’s All-Star festivities simply because he lacks the at-bats to qualify would be the biggest travesty of all.

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24 Replies to “Hey, now. Puig’s an All-Star. Get your game on. Go Play.”

  1. Pingback: Hey, now. Puig’s an All-Star. Get your game on. Go Play. - BallHyped Blog Network, MLB | BallHyped Sports Blogs

  2. Puig playing in the all-star game is not a travesty. What the Phillies are paying Papelbon is.

  3. Yasiel who? JK. I don’t care any more about who plays in the game than I do about the game itself, which is pretty much a yawner. Home field, schmome field, me Buccos don’t care. Hoist the Jolly Roger, aaarrrrrgghh!

    I may hafta boycott the game this year in protest of the extra day that’s been added to the Break. That’ll fix Bud’s clock!

  4. Not to mention Buck and McCarver. Criminy, are there any announcers you’d rather listen to less? Bring back Jon Miller and Joe Morgan! 🙂

  5. Aer…

    Your zingers are spot on these days. Nice work, bro.

    Have a great weekend and oh, I’m still waiting for the day you and your girl pop into my bar.

    We have plenty of catching up to do.

  6. Yaz…

    Is that all it takes to awake you from your blissful slumber? A few Pirates victories? If that’s the case, I’ll root for them more often.

    And I’m with ya’ on Buck and McCarver. I guess what we have to ask ourselves is, if nobody in their right mind likes those two, why are they still on the damn air?

  7. Al…

    Good call on Trout. The game’s got some good young talent for sure. Looks like the future of the game will be just fine no matter how hard Selig has tried to sabotage it.

  8. One month? Not an All-Star!

    Lets not build a new wing at Cooperstown until he faces most, if not all, of the league’s starting pitchers more than one time. The list is long with players, pitchers and hitters, that were nothing more than one year, or half-year, wonders.

    Burn a timeout and see if this cat can put up the numbers for at least 5-6 months.

  9. And if he does, Han?

    Listen, the All-Star Game is not a lifetime achievement award. The guy is hot as hell right now and, in a month’s time, has proven he’s currently one of the best players in the game.

    He’s got 50 fewer at bats than Bryce Harper and Harper’s gonna make it.

    When it’s revealed who’s in and who’s out, I guarantee you’ll be hard-pressed to tell me Puig shouldn’t be on that roster.

    I’m not staying start the guy but at least give him a roster spot or put him in the Derby.

    It’s not a wing in Cooperstown. It’s an invitation to a game that means nothing and will make all of us more interested in watching.

  10. Chris

    Did you see were the Mets sought to get David Wright an increase in terms of votes for the All Star Game ? They placed his name on several adult websites aimed specifically at females , especially `cougars ` and teens ? One of the sites in question were an ad was posted was a XXX p#rn site .LOL,LOL,LOL !!! WTF ! They asked for it to be taken down when they realized a mistake ad been made . No wonder , no one can take the organization seriously . Sandy Alderson and JP Ricciardi are morons and a complete joke !

    What sort of site must it have been for the Mets not to have first realized where they were actually placing the ad ?

    Why were members of the LGBT left out of that equation ? Do they not attend baseball games as well and might perhaps support the Mets ?

    If Harper and Strasburg (Nats) are voted onto the NL roster , then I will know how much a of fallacy and joke this all has to be ! Why not members of reality sows such as AI , America`s Got Talent and The Voice to ave their say as a final arbitrary act ? Everything about the process is a joke to begin with , is it not ?

    All-Star rosters set for Saturday reveal on FOX

  11. Al…

    They should have mention Wright’s name on that cowboys.com website that Jerry Jones keeps trying to buy. That might have garnered a few votes too.

  12. I said the same thing when people were complaining about Bryce Harper. MLB needs young stars to promote because it’s good for the game. Being a rookie should have nothing to do with it.

  13. Chris

    Jerry Jones lives in his own dream world .

    What a pity former Mets and Orioles` pitcher Kris Benson`s wife , Anna Benson isn`t involved wit te organization . She once promised to have sex with the entire Mets` roster , if Kris Benson ever cheated on her . Think of it as an incentive were she to promise male Mets` fans the chance of unclogging her pipes , if they voted for David Wright . Your thoughts on that premise ?

    Look at the make up of the rosters for this year`s MLB All Star Game and tell me you don`t think its troubling , that there are at least five players both rosters, tainted by the Biogenesis steroids` scandal ? No mentions this , but all they are concerned with is the idiocy of Yasiel Puig`s sudden ascent within the game .

    Another sure-fire clue that baseball and the vast majority of fans remain apathetic in terms of what they deem to be acceptable .

    tophatal …………

  14. Al…

    Why should I be surprised about anything involving baseball and steroids these days? Things can’t get any worse than they already have been, right?

    And when they hell has that court date been set? I haven’t heard anything about it of late.

  15. It would be a travesty if Puig didn’t win the final vote. Crap, I just used the word ‘travesty’. Dang, there it is again….

  16. He’s in because he deserves to be in. Dude’s raking it and single handedly keeping Sports Center interesting through the Dwightmare. The purists and the pundits that think their opinions matter more than the fans or what actually happens on the field need to take a long walk off a short pier.

  17. Thing is… I don’t know that he’s in yet, Bleed. I hear he’s still trailing some other guy for second on that final write-in ballot.

    Way to much has been made of this already.

    Just put the guy in. I guarantee it will affect ratings or, like I suggested in the post, doesn’t Selig care about that?

  18. Who cares if Puig turns out to be the next Jeff Francoeur ? The Dodgers’ rookie sensation is a tremendously exciting, talented and thus far productive major league star, and he belongs in the All-Star game. There is a place in the Midsummer Classic for young, exciting, productive talent. Mike Trout and Bryce Harper both made it last year after just two months in the majors, as well they should have. Mark Fidrych made it in 1976, and though he didn’t go on to have the career that his rookie year suggested, that game would have been incomplete without him, and if Francoeur had done what he did as a rookie in 2005 in time for the All-Star Game (he didn’t debut until July 7), he’d have been worthy of a spot as well.

  19. He’s exciting, Neil, but we’re not gonna get the chance to see him play again til later this week.

    That’s where, once again, the NBA gets it right where baseball once again doesn’t. Basketball has the Rookies vs Sophomores game where they showcase the league’s top young talent.

    If baseball had something like that, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion but of course the likes of Trout, Harper and Puig don’t come around that often.

    Good call with the Fidrych comparison for sure.

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