One of major league baseball’s biggest stages in right around the corner, and admittedly, I’ve lost a bit of excitement about it.

I’ve been a lifelong baseball fan, and what’s happening next Monday night is flat out wrong.

Early next week marks baseball’s All-Star activities. It’s the time for the brightest stars in the recently maligned sport to shine brightly in an attempt to put on a dazzling display.

But this time around, some of the sport’s deserving stars will be sitting at home due to the lack of creative brain power in assembling a portion of the showcase. In this year’s Home Run Derby, each league was represented by a captain – which turned out to be none other than the past two Derby champions, David “Big Papi” Ortiz and Prince Fielder. Each captain was assigned the responsibility of picking three other participants from his own league.

The result? Well, let’s look at this year’s contestants:

American League:
David Ortiz (captain) – 17 HRs
Jose Bautista – 28 HRs
Adrian Gonzalez – 16 HRs
Robinson Cano – 14 HRs

National League:
Prince Fielder (captain) – 22 HRs
Matt Kemp – 22 HRs
Rickie Weeks – 15 HRs
Matt Holliday – 12 HRs

Based on the home run production from the potential participants, it’s clear to see that each captain had his own agenda regarding his selections. Predictably, both Fielder and Ortiz hand-picked a teammate (Weeks and Gonzalez, respectively) to co-star in the festivities.

When being interviewed about having to contact other performers from across the league, Ortiz responded with the following remarks:

“First of all I talked to [Adrian Gonzalez], my teammate. We hit in the same group in batting practice. I said ‘Gonzo, you should go with me to the Home Run Derby,’ and he was like ‘Papi if you want me to I will.’ And then I called my boy [Jose] Bautista. He told me the same thing. At the same time [Robinson] Cano told me he would do it. Cano’s one of my boys. And that’s how I put my team together. It was kind of easy for me.”

Holliday's one of the best hitters in the game, but others have displayed more power this year.

In a similar fashion, the Milwaukee Brewers first baseman offered:

“It was very tough, I wanted everybody to be in it. I definitely wanted someone from the Diamondbacks to be in it, but these guys, I know these guys really well, and these are my picks, no hard feelings.”

Granted, Big Papi appeared to be more upfront about the nature of his choices, but both sluggers clearly chose players that they had befriended. This within itself is not necessarily a bad thing. However, we don’t have to look far to notice a half dozen other players who have belted at least 20 homers prior to the upcoming break – Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson (25 apiece), Lance Berkman (23), Paul Konerko (22), and Nelson Cruz and Mark Reynolds (20 each). Jay Bruce and Ryan Howard would have also been great selection in the senior circuit, each having swatted 18 longballs to this point in the season.

But can we really blame the captains?

Their participant selection basically amounts to captains choosing their teammates for, say, a game of pick-up hoops. Those given the task of choosing their roster, all talent equal, would most likely go with their friends. This form of team creation is about as elementary as it can get.

From another perspective, there is a dose of undeniable truth which comes along with the captains’ selections. The sad reality is that the player choices that Fielder and Ortiz made are no more popular, and will bring in no more fanfare than the players who should probably have been chosen to participate.

The American pasttime lets an opportunity slip by without putting its best foot forward.

And we can blame it on the third grader who thought this would be a good idea.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author