Don't Be a Freddy - Vote Votto!

Such a nice looking young man...Vote for me!

Whitey is in a crazy fantasy baseball league with some guys who are just stat freaks. Some of us are like Christmas ornaments: just there for decoration. That said, the stats tell the story.

Which guy would be starting for you if you had the pencil? Look at it like the Reds Fan we'll call “Freddy”. There is a running joke that Freddy is a bandwagon jumper. He'll wear a Reds hat for a week when pitchers and catchers report. He'll be telling us how good the squad looks, the pen is on fire, and the Redlegs are going to the Ship. Lose two, Freddy is ready to fire the skipper and Dusty is the worst manager in the league.

Along comes June and in most years past, the Reds have been less than stellar in Great American Ballpark - but the ladies are o' so cute. Freddy at this point becomes the Freddy we all know and loathe. He pulls out his Cubbies hat and heads to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, only to be let down by another team in the Central Division of the Senior Circuit.

For reasons I can't figure out, the people of Cincinnati aren't jamming the ballot box for their boy! The Reds are in first place, and this guy is a huge reason why. Come on Freddy! Vote for Votto!

PROFESSOR'S NOTE: I'll get this out of the way first - I am an unabashed Reds fan. If you're looking for someone without a horse in this race I am not that person.

I just happened to tune in to Colin Cowherd this morning and voila! Votto had taken over the show. Whitey and I discussed it for a few and decided to run with it.

Cowherd's first point (at least the first one I heard) blamed Votto's snub on Reds' fans sleeping on the job - they should have stuffed the ballot box. In fact, he referenced the famous ballot stuffing campaign Reds' fans pulled off in the 1957 season. That year seven of the eight starters voted in were Reds (the odd one out? Stan Musial made the starting lineup.)

Subsequently the Commissioner at the time, Ford Frick, took the vote away from the fans and substituted two players (Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, I don't know about those choices...) for two of the Reds. The vote returned to the fans in 1969.

Anyway, in 1957 there were only eight NL teams and none west of St. Louis. My point is it was a little easier to do back then. Not that it can't be done now though, and it has happened a few times. I think Votto deserves to be there and will most likely get in with all the publicity this is getting.

Cowherd went on to list three criteria which get you in to an All-Star game - popularity, stats, and legacy - and claimed Votto was short on two of the three. I'll give him that. Usually the manager's picks solve the fans' shortsightedness, but Charlie Manuel took Ryan Howard. Shocker.

I won't run down the stats because if you want them you'll find them elsewhere. Suffice it to say, as Whitey put it, don't be a Freddy...vote for Votto at the link below: