Vote Emaus! (You Can)

[G-Fafif]

MLB begins All-Star balloting today, April 26, because 22 or so games is an excellent gauge of who the best players at each position in both leagues are. Your Met representatives include David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, Ike Davis, Josh Thole, Angel Pagan and Brad Emaus.

Yup. No time to make that change, apparently. Can't not start balloting for a game in the middle of July on April 26. Gotta include a guy whose tenure with his team ended April 17.

So when Alex Anthony exhorts you to vote Mets in the coming months, don't forget the guy you've all but forgotten.

[Ceetar]

Honestly, it's going to take something stupid happening for them to fix the silly way this is handled..like Brad Emaus making it for the Mets.



Now here's something that does piss me off. Wasn't Reyes not on the ballot last year due to not being ready to go Opening Day?

Chase Utley is on the ballot..


edit: maybe I'm hallucinating?

[Gwreck]

In fairness:

1. Fan voting is and has been pretty good in recent years with mostly the right players getting elected;

2. God love Daniel Murphy/Justin Turner but I doubt either would have won the voting even if they were on the ballot.

[G-Fafif]

In the not so long ago, MLB didn't suck up to every fan base eight times over. If a team didn't have a distinct regular at a position, that team didn't have someone listed. I could live without a Mets 2B candidate on the ballot. It's not going to influence my official licensed apparel shopping decisions one way or the other, which I assume is the kind of thing MLB worries about more than reflecting reality.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: In the not so long ago, MLB didn't suck up to every fan base eight times over. If a team didn't have a distinct regular at a position, that team didn't have someone listed. I could live without a Mets 2B candidate on the ballot. It's not going to influence my official licensed apparel shopping decisions one way or the other, which I assume is the kind of thing MLB worries about more than reflecting reality.

Can you even _buy_ a Brad Emaus Mets jersey?

[seawolf17]

Dude, Brad Emaus couldn't even buy a Brad Emaus Mets jersey. It'd be interesting to hear the discussion in late May when a nine-year-old is sitting in his seat punching his ballot, asking his parents who the hell Brad Emaus is. (And then, of course, getting slapped around for saying "hell.")

[stevejrogers]

Ceetar wrote: Honestly, it's going to take something stupid happening for them to fix the silly way this is handled..like Brad Emaus making it for the Mets. Now here's something that does piss me off. Wasn't Reyes not on the ballot last year due to not being ready to go Opening Day? Chase Utley is on the ballot.. edit: maybe I'm hallucinating?

Mike Schmidt elected as NL starter at 3B in 1989 despite playing 42 games and retiring in early May.

Granted Mike Schmidt IS MIKE SCHMIDT, and it was probably more a "thanks for all the memories through the years" but still, it was rather silly.

[Centerfield]

Is the implication here that Brad Emaus is not BRAD EMAUS? He gave us plenty of memories. He even has his own thread.

[Frayed Knot]

The real reason for early ballots, of course, is to get the sponsor's name out there more often. For years it was Gillette back when I could pick the punch cards up at the local drug store
I don't even know who's backing them these days which is part of the problem. I've long maintained that they'd get better bang for their buck with a shorter but more dedicated voting period. If everyone knew that voting ran from, say, June 1 to July 1 you'd actually have some sort of anticipation in the thing instead of this notion that they're basically available from the start of the year.

I mean, not that it's a big deal or anything, but the fact that they've got guys on the ballot, in this age of computers and on-line voting, who aren't in starting major league jobs (and shirley won't have guys on it who are) is just too stupid for words.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: The real reason for early ballots, of course, is to get the sponsor's name out there more often. For years it was Gillette back when I could pick the punch cards up at the local drug store I don't even know who's backing them these days which is part of the problem. I've long maintained that they'd get better bang for their buck with a shorter but more dedicated voting period. If everyone knew that voting ran from, say, June 1 to July 1 you'd actually have some sort of anticipation in the thing instead of this notion that they're basically available from the start of the year. I mean, not that it's a big deal or anything, but the fact that they've got guys on the ballot, in this age of computers and on-line voting, who aren't in starting major league jobs (and shirley won't have guys on it who are) is just too stupid for words.

Bridgestone I think.


I don't think they care. They throw a bone to the fans with voting and if Chase Utley gets picked? Great, one more hand-selected guy MLB gets to pick.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't see why there would be any problem changing the names after the campaign has begun, except I guess it's cheaper to print them all in one run. Still, there's got to be a value in printing a reasonably accurate ballot.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: I don't see why there would be any problem changing the names after the campaign has begun, except I guess it's cheaper to print them all in one run. Still, there's got to be a value in printing a reasonably accurate ballot.

I think we could live with outdated paper ballots if they updated the online ballots. I mean, it's probably one field in one database. I bet even Mr. Met and his giant hands could fix it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'd take the my friend Martin to a game and he'd spend the whole game filling out mock ballots. He'd hand one to me and make me guess, this ballot had all Jewish players, that ballot had all guys with a DWI. "How about this one?" he'd say.

"I have no idea."

"C'mon, John Kruk, Mike Gallego... all guys with one testicle."

"Yeah, I was wondering why you wrote in Josias Manzanillo as your centerfielder."

"You've got to work with what you've got."

"What about these other guys: Greg Colbrunn, Delino DeSheilds?"

"It's not public but they're all flying without a co-pilot."

"And you know this... how?"

"It wouldn't be proper to say."

"Look, just watch the game, OK."

"How about this balllot...?"

[Benjamin Grimm]

I haven't seen a paper All Star ballot in years. Are they still the punch-out variety? If that was the case, then it would be very difficult to change the players. If Daniel Murphy's name replaced Brad Emaus', the computer that reads the ballot would have to know if a hole punched in that position was from an old, Emaus ballot, or a new, Murphy ballot. And factor in that they'd have to potentially change the ballot multiple times, as players come and go from 30 different teams. So it's not like there would be Ballot 1, where the Mets 2B is Emaus, and Ballot 2, where it's Murphy.

I agree that it would be better to leave the paper ballots as they are, but update the online form.

[Frayed Knot]

Maybe the ballots were designed in Florida.

[Gwreck]

They still had the punch-out ballots as of last year. I think a majority of voting is done online now but I still like the old-fashioned paper ballots.

[metirish]

Centerfield wrote: Is the implication here that Brad Emaus is not BRAD EMAUS? He gave us plenty of memories. He even has his own thread.

I'd like to see his birth certificate

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

And speaking of horrible All-Star-related mistakes:

[youtube:2usrtp26]X6-Er6A2KpU[/youtube:2usrtp26]

The enthusiasm is nice, I guess, but... Good Lord. (Also, the mascot for the team named after snakes... is a wolf?)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Clearly the work of an adorable intern got unwisely greenlighted.

[Gwreck]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: The enthusiasm is nice, I guess, but... Good Lord. (Also, the mascot for the team named after snakes... is a wolf?)

A Bobcat, actually. I am told this was done because there was "no way to make a snake look cuddly."

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: The enthusiasm is nice, I guess, but... Good Lord. (Also, the mascot for the team named after snakes... is a wolf?) A Bobcat, actually. I am told this was done because there was "no way to make a snake look cuddly."

Should've hired Disney, they'll figure that one out.

I also miss their purple color.

Although this is still less lame than changing your team name to a ray of light.

[metsmarathon]

Ceetar wrote: Although this is still less lame than changing your team name to a ray of light.

electromagnetic radiation is way cool. is it a wave? is it a particle? is it both?

you don't get any cooler than that unless you start stuffing cats into boxes.

[Ceetar]

metsmarathon wrote: Although this is still less lame than changing your team name to a ray of light. electromagnetic radiation is way cool. is it a wave? is it a particle? is it both? you don't get any cooler than that unless you start stuffing cats into boxes.

Tampa Bay Photons.

Seattles Schrodingers Cats. Opening Day Promotion: A cat. We don't know if it's dead or alive.


It's really the half-assed changing of their name from Devil Rays that annoys me. There's obviously still a connection to the sea animal. Don't think even have Rays you can pet in the park?

[Frayed Knot]

In a way it's a shame Emaus didn't hang with the Mets. Think of the promotion fun they could have made out of his inclusion on the AS ballot.

Cue the music:
Pick Emaus, pick Emaus
Forever let us hold our ballots high (high, high, high)
Come along and stuff the box for all the Mets you see
Pick Emaus, fuck Uggla, shit on Chase Ut-ley