In the middle of the NBA Finals and the end run of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the public was "talking about a baseball exhibition game that doesn't happen until the middle of July," and MLB really "loves this," according to Jeff Passan of YAHOO SPORTS. Having Royals players leading the fan vote at eight of the nine starting positions for the AL roster for next month's Mid-Summer Classic is the "comeuppance for all those years of trying to make the All-Star Game mean something, the cruel twist lobbed back at baseball for it marshaling out home-field advantage in the World Series ... to the winner of an exhibition that by comparison makes spring-training games look serious." That the "revolution germinated in Kansas City, for most of three decades a baseball wasteland, makes it all the more delicious." It is a "triumph of the people" and an effort that, "in truth, is mutually beneficial." All of this is "such a novelty that the fallout is as fascinating as the buildup" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/18). Tigers VP/Marketing Ellen Hill Zeringue said, "Any time you can get people focused on baseball on a national landscape, it’s great for the game. With this being the first year of online-only voting, there might be tweaks made, but for me as a baseball fan and as someone who works in baseball, it's exciting" (Charlie Frankel, Staff Writer).
CONSPIRACY THEORIES: FOXSPORTS.com's Rob Neyer wrote it "remains hard to believe that this process has been legitimate." Neyer: "What I think is most likely is that Royals fans simply had more enthusiasm when this process began, and then became even more enthusiastic when a few Royals led after the first round. ... Maybe the Internet really has changed everything" (FOXSPORTS.com, 6/18). NBCSPORTS.com's Joe Posnanski wrote it is "payback time." Posnanski: "I hear people complaining that Royals fans are ballot stuffing, but this is silly: the All-Star Game voting has ALWAYS been about ballot stuffing." Everybody is "ballot stuffing," but right now, K.C. is just "ballot stuffing better." Posnanski: "I suspect that Royals fans just want this more" (NBCSPORTS.com, 6/18).
