Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
July 15, 2010, Washington Post

Should the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg have gone to the All-Star Game?

The All-Star Game was played Tuesday night. Baseball's biggest stars were there, including shortstop Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, slugger Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and catcher Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins.

One star who was not in California for the game was the Washington Nationals' new pitching sensation, Stephen Strasburg. Some fans argued that Strasburg should have been named to the All-Star Game. But count me as one who is glad that Strasburg was not an all-star.

Don't get me wrong, I think Strasburg is terrific. He has a record of three wins, two losses with a 2.32 earned run average (ERA). That means the other team only scores a little more than two runs every nine innings against Strasburg.

But Strasburg has only pitched seven games and 42 2/3 innings. It's too early to call Strasburg one of baseball's best. Some National League pitchers, including Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies (148 innings) or Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies (15 wins), have pitched many more innings and won lots more games than Strasburg. They are real all-stars.

What I like about sports is that athletes have to earn what they get. No one can give a player a home run or a touchdown or a better time in a race. And no one should call a player an all-star or a superstar before the player really deserves it.

Kids understand this. Sometimes parents and coaches give out trophies and awards to every kid on every team no matter how hard the kids try or how well the team does. That's okay when kids are younger. But kids catch on quickly. They know that a trophy for a team that just fools around and loses every game is not as important as the trophy for the team that tries its best and has a winning season.

That's why so many kids love their swim teams in the summer. In swimming, if you practice hard, you swim faster and your times go down. So even if you don't win a race or aren't the best swimmer on the team, you know you are getting better. Kids earn every second of their times in swimming, and that's why their times are so important to them.

By the way, someone else thought Stephen Strasburg should not be an all-star: Stephen Strasburg! The rookie right-hander told a Washington Post reporter: "I really didn't feel like I was qualified to make the team. . . . You look at the guys who are going to the All-Star Game and the years they've had, they did that from opening day. I haven't been here since opening day. They deserve it. Hopefully, some day I will deserve it, too."

Strasburg wants to become an all-star the right way: He wants to earn it.

Fred Bowen is the author of 14 sports books for kids, including "Soccer Team Upset" and "Dugout Rivals."

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