Teagarden Affair Once Again Exposes All-Star Voters As A Bunch Of Morons

Here's your triannual reminder that sports fans are stupid, and should be protected from themselves: currently fourth in the voting for AL catcher is a player who has one measly hit on the season, and currently plays in Double-A.

I suppose Taylor Teagarden's numbers aren't so bad, when you really look at them. A .264 BA, 2 HR, 16 RBI. Oh wait, those are his numbers for the Frisco RoughRiders, the Rangers' Double-A affiliate. I guess that's pretty bad.

For the actual Rangers, with whom he started the season, he's batting .037, with zero homers, zero RBI, 4 walks and 17 strikeouts. That's also pretty bad.

But lo! He's still in the running, for July's All-Star Game, behind Joe Mauer, Jorge Posada and Victor Martinez, but ahead of , even the Rangers' actual catcher.

How does this happen? Texas fans voting the party line, apparently. Vlad Guerrero is going to be the starting DH, deservedly so. But Rangers are in the top 5 in voting at every position besides first base. Stuffing the ballot box: cute when the Japanese fans do it, not so cute when it's Texans.

But for all the stupidity, it's still miles better than Ken Griffey Jr. being third in the voting for designated hitter. At least Teagarden may play another major league game someday.