New Rules: No more token All-Stars in Midsummer Classic

1/39: The official end to Neil Diamond on diamonds outside of Boston. (Graphic: Roland Liwag)

After an All-Star Game with eight Cubs and seven Red Sox in uniform, here comes a rule that could only further big-market representation.

If each team didn't have to have an All-Star Game rep, would Nate McLouth have been in the Bronx? (US Presswire)

Get rid of mandatory attendance from each team, or as superstar member Lets_Go_Bucs! says: "No more charity All-Stars."

Here's the rule in its entirety:

"Eliminate the rule that requires every team to have a representative at the All-Star Game. If your team stinks, then your team stinks. As a Pirates fan, it's more embarrassing to have a sub-par 'All-Star' take the field than to have none at all. No more 'Charity All-Stars.'"

Applied to this past game, there's a chance we'd have no Cristian Guzman, Nate McLouth, Adrian Gonzalez, Joakim Soria, Carlos Guillen or George Sherrill despite their merits if there wasn't the pressure to include players from struggling teams.

It's not known for certain, but after talking with a researcher at Major League Baseball it's believed that bringing a player from every team to the All-Star Game has been the norm since the Midsummer Classic began in 1933 at the World's Fair in Chicago.

Because of the rule, names like Ricky Bones, Carlos Garcia, Rick Reed, Gil Meche, Tony Womack and Jason Dickson don't come to mind when thinking "All-Star," but low and behold, they all were at some point as the lone representation of their respective team.

So now it's your time to determine whether we keep it a game based on votes, managerial selection and a spackle of adequate players from poor teams or transform the All-Star Game into a contest featuring the best players, regardless of uniform?

Seven other rules are listed in the poll. Four will be added to the New Rules of Baseball. Got a rule or tweak you want to see baseball adopt? Submit it in the message board below. Hate one of the current New Rules of Baseball in the book above? Tell us as well, and we'll vote to remove it. Voting ends Monday morning.

---

Seven more potential New Rules of Baseball

Enough with the Nostalgia Rule

All-Star ChokeYouOut: "Joe Morgan cannot refer to his own playing days more than seven times during any given game he is covering.

Poll What rule should be added this week? 4% The Pushup Rule   10% No domes or turf   18% No playoff late starts   17% No HOF votes for writers   6% Enough with the Nostalgia   14% No more token ASG players   16% New deals after down years   15% Playoffs start with 7 game series   Total Votes: 2471

I would really like to limit it to one reference, or ideally none at all, but I'm just trying to be realistic here. If we can get him down to seven we can continue to work on it from there"

Kay: We'll expand this to all former big-leaguers-turned announcers so take that into consideration.

The Think About the Children Rule

Pro doc-man: "No playoff or World Series game shall start after 8:00 p.m. ET (with the exception of West Coast games)."

Sportswriters Stripped of Hall Votes

Superstar Cubsblow: "My new rule places Hall of Fame votes where they should be ... in the hands of (active and retired) players, coaches, and managers. Hack writers are finally eliminated!"

The Push-up Rule

All-Star teen-nat-fan: "In an attempt to punish players who continually show up their team, umpires will be able to assign push-ups to players who:

1. Are ejected
2. Throw equipment
3. Hot dog their way around the bases (unless it is a walkoff hit).

Major League Baseball will review the circumstances after the game to determine that umpires are being reasonable in their judgment. If umpires are deemed unfair, they will have to do twice the number of push-ups the player did the next time he umpires one of their games."

Modify Underperforming Player Contracts

Top1K superstar Waldocruise: "If the players want to be paid better after a career year, then we create a rule that allows teams to file for repayment of salary after a career-worst year.

The filing would go through three levels. First, just like the All-Star Game, fans vote on those who did not live up to the promise of their contract. After that MLB officials look at the contracts of those voted on and send the worthy candidates to the third level, which is an impartial mediator.

This will hopefully prevent so many athletes from trying to hold out after one decent season or may help keep decent players from leaving small-market teams after a few years if that big contract may get refunded later."

First Round of Playoffs: Seven-game Series

All-Star krakoose: "The first round of playoff matchups will be increased to seven games, utilizing a home/away sequence of 2-3-2.

MLB plays a whopping 162 games for a team to make the playoffs, then the first round is a short five-game series. We all know what the Red Sox did to the Yankees after being down 0-3 in the second round. Why shouldn't a team be given a chance to rally from 0-3 down in the first round of the playoffs?"

Eliminate Domes and Artificial Turf

Superstar bearswillwin06: "Baseball, like football, was meant to be played outdoors on real dirt and grass. Therefore we should eliminate all domes and artificial turf."