Fan Starts Rally To 'Vote For Manny' | 
Major League Baseball might want to start preparing for Manny Ramirez’s appearance in St. Louis on July 14, 2009.
Ramirez, who was suspended by MLB after testing positive for steroids, is eligible to be reinstated on July 3. Just 11 days later, the cream of the major leagues will take the field at Busch Stadium. Manny might just be among them.
Ramirez even has some fan backing. Through Tuesday, Ramirez is currently fourth in All-Star balloting, trailing Ryan Braun, Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Beltran.
With 442,763 votes, Ramirez almost has a 10,000 vote lead on fifth place, Mike Cameron. He trails third-place Beltran by 33,000 votes.
A blog has even been born trying to rally fans to vote Manny into the All-Star Game. Vote For Manny was started on Tuesday by Jason Rosenberg of Ardsley, NY.
Rosenberg, a “orthodox Yanks fan from birth” is not the person you would expect to start a campaign for the former Red Sox player.
“The issues surrounding Manny, the All Star Game, PEDs represents the ‘perfect storm’ for MLB,” Rosenberg said. “I started the "Vote For Manny" site to illustrate the joke that the voting, the ‘this time it counts’/World Series home field advantage rule, the mandatory representation and the still-soft PED rules have become.”
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt also believe Manny should be an All-Star, but for a much different reason.
“Do I want to see him? Sure, if he gets voted in . . . The fans are going to make up their own minds about this. I think fans think for themselves and they’re entitled to do that,” McCourt told the LA Times.
“Cheating has been in the game forever,” Rosenberg said. “Only recently has it become a pharmaceutical race, rather than cunning and tongue-in-cheek stuff that we all wink at – spitballs and scuffed balls, etc.”
There are loftier goals for Rosenberg outside of getting Ramirez into the All-Star Game.
“I have great respect for Mr. Selig, but I think there are some glaring errors in policy, errors that this site is seeking to magnify and change,” he said.
Rosenberg also laid out some changes he would make if he was appointed commissioner.
“I can’t say I am a ‘one and done’ supporter, but I am in favor of strict penalties, including exclusion from the all star game and all season awards (Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, etc.) for 12 months following the date of a player’s initial suspension.
“Make the game an exhibition, like it used to be. Let the fans vote however they wish. If a contingent of fans want to stuff the ballot boxes for one player, so be it,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg, though critical of MLB and it’s rules, did lay out his love for the game.
“I love baseball. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be critical of it, just as I am critical of my favorite team. I’m not afraid of calling either out if I think they have made mistakes.”
“You cannot have a game that counts with a selection process that is fit for an exhibition,” Rosenberg said. “It’s dumb.”
Topics: Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez
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