Managers Polled : Guerrero Picked Over Strawberry; Jack Clark Gets Nod Over Garvey

Jack Clark, Tim Wallach and Pedro Guerrero would start for the National League instead of Steve Garvey, Graig Nettles and Darryl Strawberry if managers, rather than fans, picked the All-Star teams, an Associated Press poll shows.

In the American League, managers disagreed with the fans only at two outfield positions, and even that was a split sentiment.

Dale Murphy of Atlanta and Rickey Henderson of the Yankees were the only unanimous choices.

The survey was taken during a two-week period prior to the release of the starting team for the All-Star Game, which will be played Tuesday night at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

In the NL, all managers voted except Bob Lillis of Houston, Eddie Haas of Atlanta and Dick Williams of San Diego, who will handle the NL team. In the AL, 13 of 14 managers voted. Detroit’s Sparky Anderson, the AL team manager, abstained.

Wallach, Montreal’s third baseman, finished fourth in the fan voting, but was named by eight of the nine NL managers surveyed. He is batting .281 with seven home runs and 38 runs batted in and four errors.

Nettles, elected by the fans and hitting .244 with eight homers, 24 RBI and nine errors, received the remaining vote from a manager who declined to be identified.

“It’s nice to have that kind of respect from managers,” said Wallach, who also trailed Mike Schmidt of Philadelphia and Ron Cey of Chicago in fan balloting.

Still, he said, he supported the fan-election system.

“They have been superstars all their careers,” Wallach said. “They are the ones the fans want to see and the fans are entitled to see them. That’s the way it ought to be.”

He may have been the fans’ choice, but Strawberry, the New York Mets’ outfielder, was not named by any of the surveyed NL managers. Strawberry has been injured most of the season and is batting just .226.

Four managers picked Guerrero, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ outfielder and the NL’s hottest hitter the last five weeks, who was eighth in fan voting.

Guerrero, batting .312, is tied for the major league lead with 21 homers and has 48 RBI. He was selected by Buck Rodgers of Montreal, Jim Davenport of San Francisco, Dave Johnson of New York and another who wished to remain unidentified.

Tony Gwynn of San Diego, last year’s NL batting champion, was second to Murphy in fan voting for outfield positions. Gwynn was picked by three managers, as was Willie McGee of St. Louis, the league’s leading hitter at .347.

“There are several good outfielders. How are you going to pick just three?” asked the Mets’ Johnson, who named four -- Murphy, Guerrero, Dave Parker of Cincinnati and Keith Moreland of Chicago, and then added, “And what about the guy from St. Louis (McGee)?”

Clark, who finished sixth in fan voting for an outfield spot, suffered because of his position on the All-Star ballot. He was listed as an outfielder, where he started the season for St. Louis before moving to first base early in the year.

However, he was named by seven NL managers, mostly at first base, where San Diego’s Garvey, the perennial fans’ choice, will start.

“I’d rather be picked by my peers, people I play against and the managers,” said Clark, who has 19 home runs and 59 RBI. “I feel better about that. That’s what counts the most.

“The fans should have their vote, but sometimes the players most deserving don’t make the team,” he said.

The rest of the NL starting team picked by fans matched the one chosen by managers -- catcher Gary Carter of New York, second baseman Tommy Herr of St. Louis and shortstop Ozzie Smith of St. Louis.

Herr tied Wallach as the second-leading choice behind Murphy among NL managers, getting eight mentions. The only manager who left out Herr was Chicago’s Jim Frey, who selected his own second baseman, Ryne Sandberg.

In the AL, there was solid agreement between fans and managers:

Eddie Murray of Baltimore at first base (“he might be the best player in the American League,” said Milwaukee Manager George Bamberger); Lou Whitaker of Detroit at second; Cal Ripken of Baltimore at shortstop; George Brett of Kansas City at third; Lance Parrish of Detroit as catcher; and Henderson in the outfield.

Two outfield positions, though, produced a split.

Jim Rice of Boston and Dave Winfield of the Yankees, elected outfielders, each received four managers’ votes along with Kirk Gibson of Detroit and Tom Brunansky of Minnesota. They tied for runner-up behind Henderson, who leads the majors with a .361 average.

Brunansky, batting .272 with 19 homers and 55 RBI, finished seventh in fan voting. He said the recognition from the managers “is a nice compliment and makes me proud to know they think that much of me.”

Brunansky, like Wallach, doesn’t quibble with the voting system.

“Fans vote for who they want to see in the game, and I don’t object. I did the same thing growing up. I used to punch out every hole for all of the Angels and Dodgers,” said the Southern California native.

The managers were allowed to choose their own players, and many did.

Pittsburgh catcher Tony Pena got two votes, one from Chuck Tanner; Chicago’s Tony LaRussa was one of three managers to name White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk and one of two to pick Chicago outfielder Harold Baines; Boston’s John McNamara opted for Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs and catcher Rich Gedman; Toronto’s Bobby Cox liked his own George Bell in the outfield; and Seattle’s Chuck Cottier chose two of his Mariners, third baseman Jim Presley and outfielder Phil Bradley, who was named three times overall.