All-Star selection process

Been there, done that. I think we all have. Our league has the kids vote for 8 spots (you can't vote for a player on your own team); the coaches vote to pick 6, and the All-Star manager picks 2. Two players serve as alternates, so the league fields fourteen players.

General thoughts on the selection process:

(1) The kids know who the best players are. Their top fourteen selections, year in and year out, would make the best team. Coaches often pooh-pooh the player voting procedure as a popularity contest, but the coaches' vote becomes a choice of coaches' sons and of political tradeoffs ("if you don't take Joe, I won't vote for Larry"). Respect the kids' selections, even if they aren't all followed.

(2) The All-Star manager must have a say in who's on his team. His selections can be awkward or bizzare, but he's the one going to war. This year, our manager picked his own son, who would never make the top fifty of the league's players. I had no problem with that -- the manager put in lots of his time and effort into building the team; he should, if he wanted, have his son there. Besides, the 16th player on an All-Star team is not going to make or break the squad. Now, if he were the starting pitcher, we'd have problems. But let the manager have some direct selections.

(3) The other posts are right on point -- the manager is the key. Remember: almost all the kids on this team will have supeior stats and will be the big boppers on their teams. Leadership (both from the coaches and the kids) comes to the fore. Suddenly, the prima donna shortstop who played every inning discovers that he will be on the bench unless hew can cover right field. And kids from winning teams can make it clear to their friends that temper tantrums aren't tolerated. Forget the coaches -- the team leaders (if you have a couple) will handle that problem.

(4) Until the kids have experienced the process, they won't realize how tough & competitive All-Stars can be. Every team is tough, and an eighth place batter might just be a ringer dropped down in the order to get fat pitches. Thus, if you can, it's good to have a few younger kids (11 y.o. on a major team, for example) who are likely to be back next year. Unless they're superior players they will be of limited value this year, but their experience will pay dividends next season.

(5) Don't despair. Every league's selection process is subject to criticism, and even if you get all the best players, the parents will still complain. It's like an umpiring job -- if you can't handle criticism, learn to keep the scorebook. If you can, make the kids your priority because the parents will be a pain regardless of what you do. (Jeff Borroughs' book on his back-to-back LL World Championship teams mentions two parents who moaned that LL All-Stars was the worst experience of their son's life!?!?!?!)

(6) Remember that your efforts will improve the league for years to come. Most leagues have a reputation -- they may be up or down a particular year, but they usually finish in a certain part of the order. It's also surprising how much this carries across divisions -- one league played for the field championship (minors), won the district championship (majors), won a district championship (juniors), and lost a field championship (seniors). Their softball program was also competitive. Once you get one area going, the others start to gear up as well.

Good luck.