What MLB Players Get For Being An All-Star

Home field advantage in the 2016 World Series will go to the American League due to their 4-2 victory in the All-Star Game last night.

Eric Hosmer of the Kansas City Royals was named MVP and as a reward was presented a ‘midnight black’ Chevy Colorado truck (which he promptly gave to his dad) valued at either 37K or 51K (pending the engine).

Mr. Hosmer and the contending Royals both benefited from the 2016 All-Star Game. The former got a nice new truck and the latter got an easier (and potentially more profitable) path to another World Series win.

Pretty much everyone else? Not so much.

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I was on WhatsApp last night talking about the All-Star Game with some friends. Specifically how stubborn MLB has been about ‘making this game count’.

It’s weird, right?

There are lots of things that used to be very popular in American history that aren’t so much anymore. Stagecoaches, bowler hats, Akon.

But you’d be hard pressed to find a more overt pining for nostalgia than MLB’s refusal to take the ASG for what it currently is – a fairly entertaining exhibition that features the best players in the first half of any given season.

Why?

The only logical reason I can think of is that the overall demo for baseball skews a bit older and older people miss stuff like this?

The game has changed.

The players have changed.

And if you expect to see plays like the one above in an exhibition, you’re probably going to need to incentivize everyone much better to even have a shot at players/managers going HAM.

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According to Mental Floss, here’s what the players that participated in either the Home Run Derby or the All-Star Game got:

Each player elected or selected to the All-Star team or as a participant in the Home Run Derby and who attends the event shall receive the following: (a) six complimentary tickets to the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby for use by player guests (players may request fewer complimentary tickets and players may purchase additional tickets for guests in accordance with past practice); (b) first-class air transportation for himself and two guests (to the extent that such expenses are actually incurred); (c) first-class hotel accommodations for himself and two guests (up to two rooms, if necessary) for a maximum of three days; (d) the applicable in-season meal and tip allowance for three days; (e) a $1,000 cash stipend; (f) a gift from the player’s League; and (g) merchandise that is made available by Major League Baseball’s 27 business partners. Players elected or selected to the All-Star team also shall receive a ring and, if they are attending their 5th, 10th or 15th All-Star Game as an All-Star, shall also receive a gift/memento and special recognition. (See Article XV(O)(7).)

TL;DR

Here it is in bullet point form.

• 1,000 dollars
• First-class plane ticket to San Diego
• Hotel room
• Per diem
• Tickets to ASG
• Gift from either AL or NL
• Some corporate swag

I know that some of you reading this are going to say ‘noooice’. And you’re not wrong. That’s a beautiful getaway package for any of us. San Diego is an awesome city to spend a few days in all expenses paid.

But I also know that others are going to say ‘hmmm, I think I’ve actually got better incentives from my company for doing XYZ’ and be telling the truth.

That’s the problem.

If you’re really going to ‘make this one count’ then the players are going to need to be more invested than Jake is in a quarterly sales contest.

Mike Trout? He makes roughly 99K/game during the regular season. He’s taking – literally – almost a 98% pay cut to play in this game. But you want him to bust it so the Royals or Rangers or Red Sox can get home field advantage in October?

Lulz.

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It’s hard to gain any fan momentum to enact change.

By the time a game 7 rolls around in early November it’s going to be hard to muster the retroactive anger over a single contest that happened 4 months earlier. After all, we (mostly) still have hope for the season. For fans of 28 teams this game didn’t even matter.

And on the other side, MLB has dug in. This rule is probably here to stay. At least for the foreseeable future.

But if you expect the level of giveacrapness to increase from everyone involved, MLB is also going to have to take an honest look at what’s going to move the needle for everyone involved.

In short… more ca$h.

Otherwise? We’ll see you back here this time next year talking about how silly it is that this game decides home field advantage for the World Series.

Photo: Jester Journals