Are themed uniforms bad for baseball?

Tank Spencer is the host of a weekly sports talk show, “The Sports Tank,” on Asheville’s News Radio WWNC (570-AM) that airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Spencer also serves as WWNC’s news anchor, reporter and afternoon producer. This column features posts from his blog.

Special promotion nights are one of the things that makes a 100-plus game baseball season somewhat bearable.

There are giveaways, fireworks, concerts, and other special attractions night in and night out across this great country.

Does it make it better or worse though, when the teams get involved with special theme-based uniforms?

On Thursday, Aug. 6, the Fresno Grizzlies will become the Fresno Tacos as they host the Taco Truck Throwdown. The uniforms are brilliant and maybe should be a permanent change.

On the “FAIL” end of the themed uniform scale, there was Star Wars night at a recent Buffalo Bisons game. The Jedi robe unis are a definite “don’t.”

For even more failure at this game we look to Canada. I know, it’s not surprising Canada could screw up a good thing, but bacon? How do make bacon look bad? Apparently you hold a Bacon Night promotion in Winnipeg.

I’m on the fence about this next attempt. One half of the brain says “Murica!” But the other half says “burn those things.” However, then I think… Redneck Night? In Kansas City? This is gold!

Baseball purists probably hate themed uniform nights, but let’s face facts… they are brilliant. They are a revenue generator (often for a charity) and they are something new to see in one of the most redundant sports on the planet. If only major league teams did more of these. Would you not want to see the Atlanta Braves do a Peach Pit Night where the uniforms are orange and red with a peach pit designed cap? Well, maybe not. But you get the point. Have fun! It’s still a game and you gotta spice things up.

SIDE NOTE: The Indiana Pacers unveiled a new themed uniform for the 2015-2016 season this week. Straight off the silver screen:

“Hoosiers” unis? Hell, yeah! Next, I want to see the Pistons wear Flint Tropics jersey from “Semi Pro.” Or how about NY Mammoths jerseys for the Yankees on “Bang The Drum Slowly” Night? Or... a Yankees-Mets game with Mammoths on one side and the NY Knights (“The Natural”) on the other. I want more of this!

Two thousand fifteen could be the year the All-Star fan voting comes to an end, or at least the determining factor for the starting lineup.

Because of the overwhelming response (ballot stuffing) by Kansas City Royals fans, the system has been broken.

In the early days of fan voting this season, the Royals fans had as many as 8 players in the lead for starting spots.

Yes, the Royals are one of the best TEAMS in baseball, but chock-full-o-all-stars they are not.

The biggest farce will be if second baseman Omar Infante is allowed as a starter. Infante entered Thursday (the last day of fan voting) with a 30,000-vote advantage over the Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve.

Infante is hitting at a “mighty” .230 clip this season. That ranks him 75th in the AL. Infante is not even the best fielder at his position. In fact, he doesn’t rank in the top 10 in any defensive or offensive category.

If the vote stands, I’m hoping the backlash will be such that a rule change is made.

One fan base should not be able to taint the All-Star roster with mediocre or, in Infante’s case, inferior performers.

Maybe the managers of the All-Star teams or the MLB Commissioner should have future veto power over the starting lineup.

The Charlotte Hornets are trying to put a winner on floor for the 2015-2016 season. In the days leading up to the NBA Draft, the Hornets made three trades GM Rich Cho believes will give them a chance to do just that.

The Hornets began the offseason by ending the Lance Stephenson experiment and shipping him to the LA Clippers for Spencer Hawes and Matt Barnes. All indication are that Hawes was to stay in Charlotte and Barnes would be released or traded. The later has apparently occurred with the 35 year-old being shipped to Memphis in exchange for 34 year-old point guard Luke Ridnour. The Hornets, then took Ridnour and flipped him to Oklahoma City for 4th-year player Jeremy Lamb.

The Hornets made another splash Wednesday by completing a trade with the Portland Trailblazers. Charlotte sends last year’s 1st round draft choice, Noah Vonleh, to the Blazers along with Gerald Henderson and will get Nicolas Batum.

The biggest concern for the Hornets to address in the offseason is shooting. The team shot 31.8 percent from 3-point range last season, ranking last in the NBA. The team shot just 42 percent overall, which ranked them 29th of 30. Batum, Lamb and Hawes are all 30 percent-plus-3-POINT shooters. Batum has hit 100-plus 3-pointers in each of the last five years.

Bench – Mo Williams, Brian Roberts (Point Guards); Jeremy Lamb, Troy Daniels, P.J. Hairston (Shooting Guards); Jason Maxiell, Jeffery Taylor (Small Forwards); Spencer Hawes, Bismack Biyombo (Center-Forwards)

With two picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft, that would give the Hornets 17 players. With the NBA roster cap at 12, I think you’ll see Daniels, Maxiell, Taylor, Biyombo, and maybe the 2nd rounder (Int’l player?) left off the roster (released, traded, or shipped to the D-League).

I originally thought Stanley Johnson, SF, Arizona or Devin Booker, SG, Kentucky would be the pick at #9. Now, I’m thinking the Hornets may try to target another big man. The consensus seems to be national player of the year Frank Kaminsky, C, Wisconsin. I still believe Johnson would fill a greater need, especially with scrubs like Maxiell and Taylor filling the back-up roles at small forward.

If Kaminsky is the choice, he starts ahead of Zeller every day of the week, twice on Sundays.