Thoughts on the All-Star game and being white

This Fourth of July, I got burnt.

No, it was not another mishap with the fireworks or an… This Fourth of July, I got burnt.

No, it was not another mishap with the fireworks or an accident at the grill. I sat in the sun too long and turned my back into something that looked like a fried wookie.

What was the reason for this? Maybe the sun is just too bright sometimes, or maybe my dumb ass forgot to put sunscreen on my back.

But according to Cubs manager Dusty Baker, my back got toasted because I’m a white boy from New Hampshire.

“It’s easier for most Latin guys and it’s easier for most minority people, because most of us come from heat,” Baker said in a press conference on Saturday. “You don’t find too many brothers in New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Right?”

Baker went on to say that this, according to history, is why black people were brought over here – because they “could take the heat.”

“That’s a fact. I’m not making this up,” he continued. “I’m not seeing some brothers walking around with some white stuff on their ears and noses.”

While it’s true that there aren’t that many “brothers” in New Hampshire or Maine, I’m willing to bet that the need for players who can take the heat probably doesn’t carry over to baseball.

Don’t worry, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. We know you’re playing in the All-Star game because you’re good, not because you can stay in the kitchen.

For this year’s All-Star game, make sure you get yourself a program.

This year’s game features 30 players making their first All-Star appearance, 15 from each league. Two of those first-timers, Marcus Giles and Hideki Matsui, are starting.

More than half of the new guys (17) are pitchers. In fact, no pitcher on the American League roster has been to more than two All-Star games. Only Roy Halladay, Eddie Guardado and Barry Zito have made an All-Star roster before.

What could this possibly mean?

My guess would be that the face of baseball is changing. Some of the guys not appearing in Chicago next Tuesday include Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Derek Jeter and Ivan Rodriguez.

Those seven players have collectively participated in 40 All-Star games since 1993, topped by Rodriguez’s nine straight appearances during that span.

While guys like Jeter, Martinez and Sosa are still in their primes, the others are closing in on the end of theirs, and their names have been replaced by Pujols, Zito and Giles.

One good reason for guys like Sosa and Jeter not being at the All-Star game is that they don’t deserve to be.

Had it not been for injuries and, in Sosa’s case, a suspension, these guys probably would be putting up All-Star type numbers. But that’s not the case.

Compared to the two shortstops on the AL roster – Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra – Jeter is hitting four points better than Rodriguez, but trails Garciaparra by 32 points. Jeter has also hit fewer home runs (five) and driven in fewer runs (20) than both Rodriguez (21, 54) and Nomar (13, 57).

Rondell White is the only outfielder on the NL roster to have a lower batting average (.284) than Sosa (.286). With his 13 home runs and 41 RBIs, Sosa trails all seven NL All-Star outfielders in both categories.

With his announcement that this would be his final season, some have said that Clemens belongs on the AL All-Star team for a final time.

The problem with that is that Clemens isn’t even one of the best pitchers on his team, let alone in the AL. David Wells, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte all have more wins (10 each) than Clemens (eight), and only Pettitte has as many losses (six).

None of those three pitchers, nor either Baltimore’s Sidney Ponson (11 wins) or Boston’s Derek Lowe (10), made the All-Star team.

If guys with better numbers aren’t going to the game, why should Clemens get to go?

And if he should get to go because it is his last season, then let commissioner Bud Selig make him a special invite, like he did with Tony Gwynn during Gwynn’s final season.

Clemens shouldn’t take a roster spot from someone who deserves it more just because this is his last chance to play in an All-Star game.

Joe Marchilena is the sports editor for The Pitt News and he has given up his roster spot at the All-Star game because, face it, he’s just not that good.