Midwinter Thoughts on Two National Pastimes

With the free-agent signings of Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, it has been an exciting winter for Mets fans. If new GM Omar Minaya can complete the trifecta with slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado, we'll go into the 2005 season with more than a hope to compete.

Apparently, Delgado's much-reviled refusal to stand for the seventh-inning singing of "God Bless America" in some stadiums as a protest against the war in Iraq hasn't cost him many points among his fellow ballplayers. According to a profile in today's Times, he's considered unusually smart, friendly, thoughtful, and popular.

Sounds like the kind of guy I want in my clubhouse. And although few in the conservative MSSM (mainstream sports media) have said so, isn't it possible that Delgado's antiwar stance is a PR positive if he signs with a New York team? To say nothing of the fact that he hits for power, drives in a hundred runs a year like clockwork, and has a lifetime on-base percentage of .392. Critics claim only that he's weak on defense--which is what they always say about liberals . . .

Which leads me to my other baseball comment for today: a solution, at long last, to declining interest in the "midsummer classic," the All-Star Game.

The underlying problem is that both fans and players apparently don't identify with either the National League or the American League to the degree they once did, thereby diminishing their rooting interest in the game. In response, I propose junking the whole National-versus-American structure. Instead, let's make the All-Star Game a contest between two groupings that people actually care about--red states and blue states!

Based on last year's election results, the Red States team would get to draw stars from eleven major league franchises, including the Braves, Astros, Rockies, Royals, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals. The Blue Staters would have seventeen teams, including the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Giants, and Orioles. To even things up a little, we could give the Expos and Blue Jays to the Red States (don't want to hear their usual whining about bias).

The immediate benefit of this scheme is that it will encourage millions of baseball fans to take a greater interest in politics. The quadrennial battle over swing states would gain piquancy once sports aficionados realize that something even more important than electoral votes is at stake--namely, the allegiance of franchises like the Reds and Indians (Ohio), Phillies and Pirates (Pennsylvania), and Marlins and Devil Rays (Florida).

The other unique new twists would include:

Nifty All-Star uniforms in appropriate colors!
George W. Bush and John Kerry as honorary team captains!
Color commentary by Carville, Novak, Begala, and Carlson!

Uh, come to think of it, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all . . .