What we have here is one of baseball's greatest ideas ever.

Correct injustice. Fight voter fraud (uh, with more voter fraud). Stand up, be counted and, most importantly, make sure those hefty All-Star Game incentives, especially the ones that are larger than your annual income, go to the men who truly deserve them.

Yes, friends. This is your chance. It's time to dial in, log on and vote for The 30th Man. (Hey, wait. Not yet. You have to finish reading this column first.)

If you're unfamiliar with this brainstorm from the creativity department down at Major League Baseball, let's first explain what The 30th Man is. Or isn't.

It has nothing to do with Madonna's love life. The 30th caller will not win an Ichiro bobblehead. And this isn't one of the new labor proposals involving roster expansion.

It's a chance for you, the American public -- at least those members of the public with internet access and an insatiable desire to vote several times daily on something, anything -- to vote on the final member of the All-Star team in each league.

Now that the teams have been announced, the five men in each league whose omission was considered most painful (or, depending on how you look at it, most insane) have been placed on a whole new all-star ballot for 48 hours. And you, the fans -- for whom this game is truly played -- will get to stuff the ballot cyber-box one final time and try to get your cause celeb on the team.

Then, on Tuesday, the results of that balloting will be announced, the two winners will be added to the team, and justice will have been done. Except for the eight losers, who are expected to immediately file a grievance demanding a vote for The 31st Man.

(Of course, we know they'll all wind up making it anyway, due to some mysterious last-minute groin pulls suffered by other All-Stars. But suspend that skepticism for the moment and vote, vote, vote.)

This is a brilliant stroke. For one thing, it enables us to continue to fill valuable programming time on our assorted networks and fill space on this Web site with still more debates about who should make the All-Star team and who got jobbed big-time. And who ever gets tired of those debates?

But the difference between this concept and what usually happens after the teams are announced is that this time, you actually get to do something about it. (Unless your modem blows a circuit, in which case you're not reading this in the first place.)

"Although controversial, I like the idea," Tigers general manager David Dombrowski said. "Our All-Star Game is one for the fans, and this gives them a chance to participate in an even more in-depth manner."

That, of course, is the spirit in which this bonus voting opportunity was created. But not everybody out there likes The 30th Man concept. We know because we asked.

"I don't like the idea," one former All-Star told us. "Five players are left out to dry, not knowing whether to plan a three-day vacation or not. Just announce the 30, and get on with it."

We understand that point of view, by the way. And we know many travel agents who sympathize way more than us.

Meanwhile, Mets pitcher Al Leiter said he was also opposed to this particular concept -- but only because he'd like to see it used to inspire yet more innovation.

"The 30th Man should be the non-superstar name who deserves it because of the year he is having as a role player -- in other words, a bench player or a setup reliever," Leiter said. "Will baseball finally have two spots for the best utility player and best setup guy? 30th Man, schman. Give these two valuable positions their long-overdue credit. Give them a spot!"

Great idea, we say. And we appreciate Al Leiter clearing up the proper spelling of "schman," too.

Then there was Curt Schilling, who called this 30th Man voting "a fantastic idea." But Schilling also thinks it doesn't go far enough in addressing the real problem with the All-Star selections here in the post-expansion-expansion-expansion-expansion-expansion-expansion age:

Thirty spots aren't enough anymore.

"The All-Star rosters should be increased by at least five more players," Schilling said, "with only the host city being required to have a player on their team's roster. The fans have, at times, voted on undeserving players. But the managers are sometimes forced to pick undeserving players to get one player from each team on the roster."

So both Schilling and White Sox GM Kenny Williams endorse adding more All-Stars. Williams would keep the every-team rule, though, on the theory that "the more we can celebrate the game and the best players in the various cities, the better."

Schilling, on the other hand, is against that. If the fans in other cities want to see one of their players on the team, he said, they ought to vote them in as starters. (Your attention, please: Voting patterns by Devil Rays fans will be closely monitored.)

We think Schilling, Williams and Leiter are onto something here. This 30th Man deal should be just the beginning. There are still ways to make the voting better. And there are still ways to make the event itself better.

"I'd like to see baseball reward the area scout who was responsible for first identifying each all-star to his original club," said Dodgers GM Dan Evans, "by inviting that scout to the festivities, because their hard work gets overlooked far too often."

A beautiful idea. Without scouts, there would be no players. And without players, there would be no All-Star Game. In fact, without players, there would be no sport. And then we would probably be working at a dry cleaner. So let's honor the scouts. Absolutely.

And that's not all. We've often suggested in the past that one All-Star spot be designated a "living-legend" spot. That could have been used last year to honor Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn. This year, we could have sent, say, Jesse Orosco to face one last left-handed All-Star, and Rickey Henderson, to steal one last All-Star base.

"We should honor players who are still active but have made significant contributions, on or off the field, to the sport," said one general manager. "Recipients of the Clemente Award, veteran players on their way out of the game, the most recent Hall of Fame inductees and longtime coaches should be included."

Excellent. Tremendous. We hope Bud Selig is listening. Or reading.

Finally, who knows where The 30th Man voting concept might lead? Dan Le Batard, of the Miami Herald and ESPN The Magazine fame, suggests that next year, this idea be expanded to vote undeserving guys off the All-Star team, too.

If you're outraged that some Tigers pitcher with a 4-9 record is an All-Star -- or that Joe Torre has selected 14 Yankees, including Enrique Wilson -- why not address that All-Star injustice by vote, too?

So by voting on The 30th Man now, you're not just filling out the teams. You're telling the powers that be you want a say. On this. On everything.

And we know they want you to have that say, too. Who knows? Maybe they'll even let you vote on what the labor deal ought to be in the final 48 hours before the strike date.

OK, maybe not.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.