Lone Ranger Rides to Game’s MVP Award

Entrusted with representing the Texas Rangers in the All-Star game, Julio Franco took the responsibility seriously.

“Back in Texas, the guys told me, ‘You’re the lone Ranger. Do us proud,’ ” the second baseman said. “I’m just happy I got the chance.”

The lone Ranger came to the American League’s rescue Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. After waiting out a 68-minute rain delay in the seventh inning, Franco stroked a double off Cincinnati’s Rob Dibble to score Sandy Alomar Jr. and Lance Parrish with the only runs in a 2-0 AL triumph, in the process winning the most valuable player award.

Franco finished second to Steve Sax of the New York Yankees in the fans’ All-Star voting to start at second base, even though his .292 batting average is 22 points higher than Sax’s and he easily outweighs Sax in runs batted in, 41-18. Franco was voted to the starting lineup last year and was rankled when he didn’t repeat, but that didn’t matter Tuesday after he became the first Ranger to win the MVP award and only the second second baseman to win it. His predecessor was Cincinnati’s Joe Morgan in 1972.

“This is the All-Star game, the only thing the fans got control over,” said Franco, whose double was the only extra-base hit of the game. “I just want to be here. It feels great to win the MVP.”

Franco entered the game in the fifth inning, grounding out to shortstop in his first at-bat. “I had no strategy in putting him in then. I was just trying to get as many players on the squad into the game as I could,” AL Manager Tony La Russa said. “You could flip a coin. It wasn’t any strategy. Franco made it work.”

It worked in the seventh inning. With San Francisco’s Jeff Brantley on the mound, Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar reached on an infield hit. Parrish, of the Angels, pinch-hitting for Bret Saberhagen, moved Alomar to third with an opposite-field single to right.

“I was just concentrating on hitting the ball. By the time I got up, the batters’ box was pretty torn up,” Parrish said.

“I managed to get myself fairly comfortable. I knew Sandy was running. I was just trying to stay on the ball. It was a fastball, in on me a little bit, but I was able to do pretty much what I wanted to do.”

When the game resumed after the rain delay, with Franco facing Dibble, Parrish knew what his mission was. “I was running,” Parrish said. “They told me I was going--my instructions were to just keep going.”

That he did, scoring his first run in his seventh All-Star contest.

“I had a long run. Maybe a little too long,” said Parrish. “My legs had turned to stone. I was slipping and sliding. I don’t claim to be the fastest guy in town, but it was slippery out there.”

Franco had never faced Dibble and studied the hard-throwing Cincinnati Red reliever carefully. “I knew he was going to throw the fastball because he had been warming up for 20 minutes, and that’s what he was throwing,” Franco said. “I was looking at him warming up and saw that he had a lot of body motion. Everybody said he threw hard, so I just tried to get it to right field. “

Dibble wanted it to go outside, but threw it “right down Broadway,” he said. “I have no excuses. I threw the pitch and the guy got the hit.”

Franco was elated to go home with a car for being named the MVP. Parrish was elated to have gotten his second hit in 12 All-Star at-bats--for three different teams--and to have also caught two pitchers he admires: Angel teammate Chuck Finley and A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley.

He guided Finley through a hitless eighth inning in Finley’s All-Star pitching debut and got Eckersley through the ninth with only a single to Len Dykstra to close out the AL’s third consecutive victory.

“I wasn’t sure (La Russa) was going to leave me in the game. It might be the first time two catchers have hit back-to-back in an All-Star Game,” Parrish said. “I was looking forward to catching Chuck and Eckersley, especially Eckersley from a hitting standpoint. I like to see what makes those guys tick. I was looking forward to seeing what he had from a catcher’s standpoint, too.

“It was fun catching Chuck. I figured they’d have Eckersley be the closer. I’ve always appreciated his control. He seems to be able to throw wherever he wants whenever he wants.”

Finley was thrilled to get into the game after being chosen but not called upon to pitch last year. “It took me two years to accomplish this. I was really pumped,” said Finley, who struck out Greg Olsen on three pitches in the eighth inning. “I had two days to think about what I was going to do out there. It’s not like I had to pace myself. The way the guys before me were pitching, I didn’t want to be the one to mess things up and have people point a finger at me.”

Parrish got what he wanted--a chance to not only play, but play a big part in an AL victory.