My early All-Star Ballot

Today I started my voting for this years big league baseball All-Star Game at Citi Field in New York City.

The home of the New York Mets will host the annual clash between the American and National Leagues, a tradition since the very first All-Star Game at Chicago's Comiskey Park, in 1933.

I started filling out ballots as a young fan in the early 1970s.

The balloting was always sponsored by Gillete, and you'd pick up a ballot at the local grocery stores, fill out the ballot, then place the ballot in the appropriate slot in the Gillete display.

You could also send the ballot in the mail, but it always seemed neat to put the ballot in the display slot.

I always voted for my baseball hero, Bill Freehan, as the A.L. representative at catcher.

Then I'd vote for Al Kaline, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Willie Mays, and Harmon Killebrew.

Over the years I've voted at different big league ball parks, and for the past 30 years, or so, at Jacksonville Suns games.

I sit there during the ball game, picking the players in between pitches, making sure a foul ball isn't headed my way.






This year the Suns will host the 2013 Southern League All-Star Game on July 17th at Bragan Field.

As I've noted here before here's how I use my 25 votes.

I vote 5 times right about this time of the season.

Then, in about 3 weeks, or so, I'll vote 5-10 times.

After that I wait until the end of June to use my remaining 0+ votes.

I vote this way because I feel it's the best way to get the most deserving players into the game.

Now, I am a homer at times, as you see below.

Miguel Cabrera is will get all 25 of my votes at Third Base, as will his Tigers teammate, Prince Fielder at First Base.

I try to find deserving players, even this early, like Mets catcher John Buck, Indians catcher Carlos Santana, and Diamondbacks First Baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

The names below are my choice for my first five ballots.

The list isn't perfect, but by the time I finish the other 20 ballots, I believe I've made an intelligent choice in voting the best players in the big leagues mid summer classic.

***I copied my picks from MLB.com***

American League

• 1B - Fielder, Prince
• 2B - Altuve, Jose
• SS - Peralta, Jhonny
• 3B - Cabrera, Miguel
• C - Santana, Carlos
• DH - Martinez, Victor
• OF - Cruz, Nelson
• OF - Hunter, Torii
• OF - Jackson, Austin
• Write-in - N/A

National League

• 1B - Goldschmidt, Paul
• 2B - Phillips, Brandon
• SS - Castro, Starlin
• 3B - Wright, David
• C - Buck, John
• OF - Beltran, Carlos
• OF - Choo, Shin-Soo
• OF - Upton, Justin
• Write-in - N/A