You bring up some very valid points, and I partially agree with you.

But my point is, the fans vote for the players they want to see, and evidently not enough fans such as yourself felt like they wanted to see a massive, one dimensional slugger occupy the spot at first base for the NL.

It’s especially tough for him to make it when his competition is Pujols and Berkman, who is having an MVP-caliber season.

Good debate, though. Keep up the comments.

1. Keeping Howard off because of his strikeouts is like saying the receiver with the most touchdowns should not go the the Pro Bowl because he had a lot of drops. The point is, RBI’s do not lie. The fact that Howard has the most RBI’s (by far) means that, of all hitters in the NL, he has been THE BEST at producing runs for his team. And isn’t that what winning games is about?

2. If you look at the RBI’s of Kingman and Deer, your analogy to Howard breaks down. Deer’s career high was 86, a total almost reached by Howard already this year. and Kingman had just 2 100+ seasons, with a high of 118. Howard is on pace to have about 140-150, a leval he’s reached in each of his first two full years.

3. Yes, his strikeout totals are breathtaking and he’s a below average fielder. But his early career HR’s and RBI’s are unmatched in the history of baseball. And he’s streoid-free (I hope)! Thanks for the dialogue.

With all due respect, Howard is in no way the biggest snub unless you’re talking about the Fantasy Baseball All Stars.

With 123 strikeouts in 93 games, he’s on pace to shatter the all time K record of 199. Plus he’s batting average is lower than that of a scrub infielder. He’s this generation’s Dave Kingman or Rob Deer, an occasional All Star but by no means deserving of the honor every year.

Now the home run derby, that’s another story. He should be candidate #1 in that competition.

Not to mention if you read the piece there is no such thing as being snubbed in a popularity contest.