ROOT, ROOT, ROOT FOR NEW VOTING PROCESS.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN

ST. LOUIS - It's time to change the format for selecting the All-Star teams.

The New York Yankees' Joe Torre and Arizona Diamondbacks' Bob Brenly, the managers in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Milwaukee, were on a conference call recently to promote the gala. It turned into a feeding frenzy in which the managers had to defend their picks and explain why 20 or so players weren't selected.

Six of Torre's Yankees are coming, but three were voted in as starters by the fans. Brenly is bringing six Diamondbacks, all reserves. And every other team is annoyed another one of their players wasn't selected.

Therefore, it's time to overhaul the selection process, and here's how to do it:

The game is meant for the fans, and since balloting in ballparks and on the Internet creates excitement and water-cooler fodder, they must remain involved. They still get to pick the eight position-player starters, but with some modifications.

There will be 29 players on each squad. Teams submit names of players for the ballot May 1, and voting begins June 1 and concludes June 30. The top vote-getter in each category goes to the game.

However, the selected player must be on the active roster come the Sunday before the All-Star Game. That player also must have a minimum of 200 at-bats by the end of June. If he fails to qualify in either aspect, the player to finish second in the voting is named to the roster.

It's also time to take the decisions away from the All-Star managers, who load up on talent from their own teams so none of their players are ticked off for the rest of season at being overlooked.

Instead, make it a league-wide vote conducted by managers and general managers. The starters will be named June 30, so the vote should be taken the next morning with results announced that night. The commissioner's office can tabulate the votes.

Each manager and general manager selects five players from each infield position and eight outfielders from their league but are forbidden to vote for players on their own teams.

There also will be guideline on the makeup of the roster to avoid such things as Torre choosing five shortstops and one second baseman. There will be two first baseman, two second baseman, two shortstops, two third baseman and three catchers chosen from the infield. Six outfielders and one utility player are chosen. Each manager can chose 11 pitchers to protect against extra innings.

If there's not enough room for Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez because of the overflow of talent at shortstop in the American League, so be it. Shortstops compete against shortstops, and second basemen compete with second basemen.

With fans selecting the starting position players, it leaves the managers and GMs to pick a backup at each position, a utility player and the pitching staff. The player with the most votes from each category goes to the game, with the caveat that said player must have started at least half of his team's games at that position. The utility player cannot have more than half the starts of his team's games at one position.

If there is a tie in the voting, the managers' votes serve as the first tiebreaker, followed by GMs' votes and then fan balloting.

Also, if a selected player is injured after the voting concludes, or if he declines the invitation, the next player on the list provided by general managers and managers goes to the game.

In addition, scrap the notion that each team needs a representative. That is nothing more than a marketing tool by baseball to drum up interest in every city for the game. If a team doesn't have a worthy player, too bad. Make it so the most deserving players go.

After all, the archaic system by which All-Stars are selected has turned into a joke, sparking nothing but bitterness and sniping from many of the players who weren't selected.