Living in Fear of Ford Frick

Former-Long Beach State "Dirtbag" Jered Weaver of the Angels was making the Los Angeles Dodgers batsmen look like Little-Leaguers as we filled out our All-Star Game ballots.

The National League side of my ballot featured Milwaukee's Prince Fielder at first base even though I would have preferred casting a vote for the San Diego Padres' Adrian Gonzalez, a great clutch hitter and a Gold Glover in the field. I punched a chad for the Phillies Chase Utley even though San Diego's Marcus Giles is family hunting buddy.

Sipping a $12 Dos Equis, I gave great consideration to the outfield slots. Griffey? Beltran? Matt Holliday? A vote for Bonds even though I can't stand the sight of him or his dangling earring?

Meanwhile, sitting on my left, Carlos methodically voted the Dodger party line, from deserving catcher Russell Martin to woefully under-deserving center fielder, Juan Pierre.

When I saw his ballot I felt a twinge of guilt. Carlos and I are both baseball fans and we have both been entrusted by Major League Baseball to deliver a starting team that rewards the best performances. I had done my best to fill out my ballot with true All-Stars while Carlos had taken the Tommy Lasorda way out. If I turned in the ballot for him, would I be an accomplice to a minor case of ballot box stuffing?

That lingering fear in the back of my mind can be traced directly to the All-Star Game held 50 years ago in St. Louis' venerable Sportsman's Park. Cincinnati Reds fans tried to stock the team with Red Stockings. The voting became so preposterous that Willy Mays and Hank Aaron wouldn't have been starters for the National League.

Enter Ford Frick. The commissioner, a former sportswriter, ignored the fans' votes and inserted Mays and Aaron into the starting lineup. Then he gathered the baseball powers together and stripped the fans of their voting rights.

Baseball fans of the 1960s , their general maturity downgraded by the acts of Cincinnati fans, were given the MLB equivalent of a time-out, sent to the corner where they had to watch managers select the teams.