The All-Star Game is Missing a Lot of Stars This Time

By Larry Crino and Mike Lynch

Alex Rodriguez went in high on old college buddy Alex Cora trying to break up a double play in a game against the Dodgers Friday night. That's the way he plays. He goes in hard, no matter who the opponent is. As Cora flew over the bag in an attempt to leap over Rodriguez and complete the throw, his knee and thigh hammered A-Rod in the side of the head, grotesquely snapping his head back and causing the All-Star shortstop to fall awkwardly to the ground, where he rolled over limply and laid motionless for several minutes.

A few moments before, he stood at first base with the world of baseball at his fingertips. Then he lay on the ground with his very future in the game in doubt, leaving us to stare at his supine figure hoping for his legs to move. What seemed like an hour went by when A-Rod finally sat up. He walked off, assisted by teammates and trainers, to be evaluated at a hospital.

What they found was that he hurt his knee in the fall to go along with his grade-three brain concussion. His knee injury and concussion pulls A-Rod's name off an AL starting lineup card that has also had the names of Cal Ripken and Manny Ramirez scratched from it. Pedro Martinez was already scratched from a spot on the All-Star pitching staff earlier in the week.

Now, over on the NL side, Mark McGwire's knee problem is keeping him from going to Atlanta. Mark McGwire, the game's biggest star. Greg Maddux got nailed in the shoulder by a liner in batting practice. Maddux's bruised shoulder is taking him out as well. Add to the list the names Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. Those two came up lame and will be scratched from the lineup as well. Mike Piazza's Saturday night beaning by Roger Clemens has also put his status in doubt for Tuesday. He's not a definite scratch, but he suffered his second concussion in a month, so don't count on him. So the NL will also be replacing some future Hall of Famers with players from the vast pool of deserving snubs.

Rodriguez, Ramirez, Martinez, Ripken, McGwire, Maddux, Griffey, Bonds and Piazza. Those are some of the biggest names in The Game. How do you replace an array of stars like that?

This is how: Shortstop Mike Bordick is replacing his legendary Orioles teammate on the AL roster. A-Rod's place will be taken by Blue Jays third baseman Tony Batista. The Reds' bullpen phenomenon Danny Graves has been named to replace Maddux. Bonds' place will be taken by Arizona's Steve Finley. And in a preposterous move, Cardinals teammate Edgar Renteria was named to replace McGwire on the NL roster, even though Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros goes into the break with 25 homers and 70 RBIs and Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell has comparable power numbers but with a .294 average. Karros' average is .260. It has not yet been decided who'll replace Griffey, who is too sore to play in the game, but he's just healthy enough to participate in the Home Run Derby. Interesting.

Well, the .252 guy is staying home, because the fans voted the .352 guy in instead

To their credit, the fans made an amazing comeback in the last week of the voting for the 2000 All-Star Game. The voters choosing the lineups for next Tuesday's classic in Atlanta got their heads out of their Astrodome and voted heavily for the Giants' Jeff Kent to start over the Astros' Craig Biggio at second base for the National League. In a blistering late surge, Kent, the NL's leading run producer in 2000, vaulted over both Biggio and the Mets' Edgardo Alfonzo in the voting to win the starting job.

It was generally conceded that Biggio, a seven-time All-Star enduring his worst season since the 1980s, would be able to outlast the more deserving Kent and Alfonzo to start at second. Instead, he'll be hanging out watching the game like all of his other teammates, except of course, 6-and-5 pitcher Shane Reynolds, Houston's lone representative.

Kent is a guy whose recent run of seasons has him ranking behind only the legendary Rogers Hornsby as the greatest run producing second baseman in NL history! With 85 RBIs at the halfway point, he's coasting to his fourth straight 100-RBI season-something Hornsby never accomplished. In fact, Kent is taking aim at a couple of the more impressive feats that Hornsby did accomplish. Hornsby's record five 100-RBI seasons is the 70-year-old standard for second basemen that now appears well within Kent's reach. So does the total of 152 RBIs Hornsby reached in 1922. Hornsby also drove in over 90 runs four other times-something that Kent may find a little tough to pull off. Kent is featuring a Hornsby-like .353 batting average to go with all the RBIs this time, but Hornsby's batting average record for a second baseman, .424, is also the modern record for all players.

If Kent didn't start it would have been a joke. If Biggio had started, then Alfonzo or the Expos' Jose Vidro might have been snubbed. That would have been an even bigger joke. Vidro's hitting .377, for heaven's sake. Now all three men are going to Atlanta, leaving other players to be snubbed.

 Remember The Big Hurt?

One could say that the biggest snub in this year's group of stars is Frank Thomas of the White Sox. The Big Hurt's batting average took a curious dip two years ago (.265). His power numbers dropped to career lows last year (15 homers, 77 RBIs in 135 games). But at the point in the season that the 2000 All-Star teams were announced, he was hitting .340 with 25 homers and 72 RBIs. That puts him on a pace to put up the best season ever in a career loaded with great seasons. In other words, after a two-year break in his brilliant Hall of Fame rampage, Thomas was supposed to be welcomed back to the All-Star Game in 2000.

Then the phone rang and he was told he would be waiting until next year. How does that work? Thomas was told that he was not on the AL squad because a guy having a comparable season (.350, 22, 76) named Mike Sweeney, from a team that's already represented, is taking his place instead. Sweeney, a converted catcher, enjoyed a breakthrough season in 1999, when he hit .322 with 22 homers and 102 RBIs.

Frank Thomas enjoyed his breakthrough season way back in 1991, when he hit .318 with 32 homers and 109 RBIs. He went on to post seven straight seasons in which he had a .300-plus average, with 100 or more RBIs, runs and walks. He had 40 or more homers three times, 30 or more doubles seven times and won a batting title. He won two MVP awards, and if his season continues on its present course, and his White Sox continue to dominate the league, he may win a third. How is all that forgotten?

Sweeney is having a great year, and Big Hurt's already been to five All-Star games, so they're giving the new guy a shot!

Why?

Good heavens, The Big Hurt is BACK! There's no excuse for keeping him off the team. If Sweeney had to go then he should have gone at the expense of someone else like Travis Fryman or Chuck Finley, whose team is already well represented and whose numbers are not eye-popping. Sweeney, Fryman and Finley are stars. Sweeney is having a monster year. But you don't leave a Hall of Famer sitting at home because some new guy's having a monster year-especially when the Hall of Famer's having a monster year too. DH or no DH, NL park or no NL park, too many first basemen, too many White Sox-the arguments are all lame. Frank Thomas belongs on the All-Star team.

The list of All-Stars not going in 2000 is staggering

Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Mark Grace, Mo Vaughn, Rafael Palmeiro, Eric Karros, John Olerud, J.T. Snow and Jim Thome head an impressive array of all-star talent that won't be in the All-Star Game this time. And they're just the first basemen!

 Major League Baseball in the year 2000 is so rich in premier baseball talent that many of The Game's greatest stars-some of whom are having outstanding seasons like the Big Hurt-are staying home or enjoying the game from a fine complimentary seat at The Ted.

Most of the prominent stars staying home are simply having an off year. Many other notables have missed all or part of the season due to injury. And a couple players are on the downside of a fine career.

Still, the number of big-name players not included on this year's squads is huge, and it points directly to the fact that an array of fine new stars grace the baseball landscape. It also speaks highly of the fans, whose choices are becoming more consistent with reality as each year passes. Frank Thomas is staying home, but Jason Giambi and Carlos Delgado are going. Craig Biggio is missing the game, but Edgardo Alfonzo and Jose Vidro are taking their rightful place as 2000 All-Stars.

It has become an age when an all-star player is going to have to perform like an all-star if he is not voted in by the fans. One can no longer expect to be named based on career achievements if he's having an off year. Nor can a member of the All-Star manager's team expect too much favoritism. Just ask Paul O'Neill.

Cal's not going to try to play, ending his amazing string of starts

Let's take a look back to the 50^th anniversary contest in 1983 at Old Comiskey. Going into the game, the AL had won only one All-Star game since 1962, and that came in 1971. The Reds' Mario Soto faced the Jays' Dave Stieb. Remember them? Angel Rod Carew did something you don't see too often: he batted leadoff and played first base. Hall of Famers George Brett of the Royals and Robin Yount of the Brewers, who went into Cooperstown side-by-side, started this game side-by-side, with Yount at short and Brett at third. Red Sox left fielder Jim Rice hit a missile to left that was hit about as hard as a man can hit a ball; it left the park in about 1.2 seconds. The Angels' Fred Lynn made All-Star history when he hit the first and only grand slam ever struck in the midsummer classic. With a 13-run outburst, the AL ended its astounding 11-year All-Star drought with a 13-3 win.

But something else happened in that game. The eventual 1983 AL MVP, Cal Ripken Jr. of the Orioles, took over for Yount at shortstop. Beginning with the 1984 game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Ripken started every single All-Star game since. Sixteen straight All-Star starts! According to The Game's greatest iron man, who's suffering back problems, his plan to come off the D.L. and start No. 17 on Tuesday, have been changed. He won't even don a uniform for the contest. Too bad for Cal, too bad for The Game. Good for Angel Troy Glaus, who might start instead.

Cox has only five Braves on the club

Good for Bobby Cox: He backed off on his usual brand of shameless lobbying and named only four additional Braves to the All-Star team, not the six or eight that we have grown to fear every time the Braves win the pennant and he gets to manage the team. One might even characterize all four added Braves-Andruw Jones, Tom Glavine, Andres Galarraga and Greg Maddux as deserving this time. The fact that there are only five Braves going means that Jose Vidro AND Edgardo Alfonzo get to go and not Vidro OR Alfonzo.

When Maddux went down, Cox had to replace him with super-snub Danny Graves. Kevin Millwood would have been too brazen a choice even for Cox.

Congratulations to Bob Wickman, the Brewers' lone representative

Thanks to the should-be-abolished every-team-must-be-represented rule, the family of the Brewers' Bob Wickman gets to have an All-Star party. They get to have all their friends and relatives over to watch the pre-game introductions, where their Bob gets to have his name announced. They also get to watch him trot out uncomfortably and line up with the other true All-Stars-Bob's only expected appearance of the evening.

The every-team-must-be-represented rule is an abomination. It is a ridiculous rule. The only time such a rule should be in force is when the host team doesn't have a clear All-Star and would otherwise have no player on the team. That is rarely the case.

Do you want a case that makes the rule look absurd? Look at the case of the Phillies in the late-'60s and early-'70s. The Phillies were a horrible team in those days. They had four different lone representatives from 1968 through 1971 who never saw a minute of All-Star action: pitchers Woodie Fryman, Grant Jackson, Joe Hoerner and Rick Wise. In the storied 1971 contest at Tiger Stadium, the NL staff comprised, among others, Juan Marichal, Ferguson Jenkins, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver and Joe Hoerner. What an embarrassment! The Phillies traded Wise to St.Louis for Carlton in 1972 so they could have an All-Star who was worthy of playing in an All-Star game.

The rosters are not sizable enough to let the rule continue to have life. It's an All-Star team. The key word there is ALL.

The rosters for the 2000 midsummer classic (as of 5:00 p.m. Sunday):

*   injured, will not play guy

** injury-replacement guy

Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune