If Managers Picked the All-Stars, Fans’ Favorites Wouldn’t All Start

If managers did the picking, Ryne Sandberg, David Justice, Andy Van Slyke and John Kruk wouldn’t get a vote to start in Tuesday’s All-Star game.

Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett, Wade Boggs, Gary Sheffield and Ivan Rodriguez also would be on the bench instead of in the starting lineup, according to a survey of major league managers conducted by The Associated Press. In all, managers agreed on only seven of the 16 starters voted for by the fans.

Three players were unanimous picks by the managers: San Francisco outfielder Barry Bonds, Toronto first baseman John Olerud and Giant second baseman Robby Thompson, who finished ninth in the fan voting with 331,818, a fifth of Sandberg’s 1,770,559 total.

Andres Galarraga of Colorado would replace Kruk at first in the National League’s starting lineup and Matt Williams of the Giants would replace Sheffield at third. In the outfield, Marquis Grissom of Montreal and Bobby Bonilla of the New York Mets would start ahead of Justice and the injured Van Slyke.

In the American League, Detroit’s Mickey Tettleton would replace Rodriguez at catcher, and Dean Palmer of Texas would replace Boggs at third base. Omar Vizquel of Seattle and Travis Fryman of Detroit tied at shortstop, where Ripken got only one vote. Albert Belle of Cleveland would replace Puckett as the third AL outfielder.

John Burkett of the Giants was picked as the starting pitcher in the NL, and Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners was selected to start in the AL.

Managers weren’t allowed to vote for their own players. Ten NL managers and eight in the AL responded to the survey.

The biggest disparity was at second base in the NL, where Sandberg failed to get even one vote from the managers. Thompson is batting .325 with nine homers and 40 runs batted, but was injured recently. Sandberg is batting .298 with five homers and 28 RBIs.