The thrill is gone for White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas, who was voted to the starting lineup of the American League All-Star team but said Sunday it’s a “wasted trip” for him.
But the All-Star thrills may be just beginning for the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa, who was selected to the game for the first time Sunday by National League manager Felipe Alou of Montreal.
“It means a lot to me,” Sosa said. “It took me five years. I’ll never forget this. My time is now. I’m enjoying it. I’ve looked forward to this a long time. Everything is coming together.”
Thomas will be the only White Sox player in the July 11 game in Arlington, Texas. He will be joined by three Cubs–Sosa, first baseman Mark Grace and closer Randy Myers, who has 18 saves.
Sosa finished 16th in fan balloting among outfielders, but is enjoying his best season. He leads the NL with 52 RBIs and is hitting .289 with 15 home runs.
Grace will be making his second All-Star appearance. He’s hitting .343 with nine home runs and 45 RBIs and leads the major leagues with 33 doubles. Grace finished sixth in the voting.
“I’m never at the top of vote-getting, usually fourth or fifth,” Grace said. “There are so many deserving first basemen. I’m very pleased and excited.”
Grace has bounced back from an off year–six home runs and 44 RBIs. “After last year, this is a feeling of accomplishment,” he said.
The Cubs have three All-Stars for the first time since Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson and George Bell in 1991.
Thomas was the only White Sox player selected for the squad, the first time the Sox have had only one representative since 1989, when Harold Baines earned a spot on the team.
Thomas will be making his third appearance and second straight start.
“The first time it’s a big deal,” Thomas said. “The first time I made it as an alternate and last year I made it as a starter. But this year it’s a wasted trip for me because we’ve had a long half here. No off days. But I’m happy to be there.”
Thomas ran away with the voting at first, despite strong competition from Oakland’s Mark McGwire, who leads the league in home runs with 22 and RBIs with 55. Thomas, who has 20 home runs, 51 RBIs and a .320 average, was not about to apologize for being selected.
“I don’t want to say anything, but last time I checked, I’m the two-time defending MVP,” Thomas said. “I’m supposed to be there. I think I’ve been consistent enough to be back. I’ve been hearing a lot about how good a season everybody else is having. I’m happy to be there. I’ll stay focused and go have some fun.”
The Cleveland Indians dominated the selections and will have six players in the game for the first time since 1955. Among the Indians, second baseman Carlos Baerga and outfielder Albert Belle were voted in as starters, and AL manager Buck Showalter said Kenny Lofton will take the place of injured Ken Griffey Jr. in the starting lineup.
The other Indians picked were outfielder Manny Ramirez and pitchers Dennis Martinez and Jose Mesa.
“I could have easily chose a few more,” said Showalter, the manager of the New York Yankees. “I thought long and hard of Eddie Murray. He certainly was worthy of consideration.”
Murray got his 3,000th Friday night but broke two ribs Sunday. The Indians are 42-18, the best record in baseball.
Hideo Nomo, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher with a 2.05 ERA, is the first Japanese player chosen for the game. Nomo was among five first-time All-Stars on the NL staff, joined by Denny Neagle of Pittsburgh, Carlos Perez of Montreal, and Tyler Green and Heathcliff Slocumb of Philadelphia.
Griffey, who broke his left wrist May 27, led AL outfielders with 1,204,748 votes. Matt Williams, who broke his right foot June 3, led NL third basemen with 1,029,519 votes.
Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles, closing in on Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played, led all players with 1,698,424 votes. He has started 11 consecutive All-Star Games, including 1988, when he finished second to Alan Trammell in voting but replaced the injured Detroit Tigers shortstop.
Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith, disabled since May 24 with a sore shoulder, was voted to start for the 12th time. The only player elected more times was Rod Carew (15).
Alou said he intends use Colorado’s Vinny Castilla at third in place of Williams and Cincinnati’s Barry Larkin at shortstop instead of Smith.
The number of votes was down sharply from 1994, primarily because Texaco Inc. didn’t distribute ballots and baseball attendance this season has dropped 20 percent. In 1994, a record 14,040,122 votes were cast. This year, 5,808,000 votes were cast, the fewest since 5.5 million votes in 1987.
FINAL AL VOTING
FIRST BASEMEN: 1, Frank Thomas, WHITE SOX, 895,576. 2, Eddie Murray, Cleveland, 729,027. 3, Will Clark, Texas, 505,103. 4, Rafael Palmeiro, Baltimore, 355,791. 5, Mo Vaughn, Boston, 350,918. 6, Cecil Fielder, Detroit, 332,550. 7, Mark McGwire, Oakland, 316,076. 8, Don Mattingly, New York, 315,527. 9, Dave McCarty, Minnesota, 290,361. 10, J.T. Snow, California, 285,128.
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SECOND BASEMEN: 1, Carlos Baerga, Cleveland, 1,152,652. 2, Roberto Alomar, Toronto, 1,003,550. 3, Chuck Knoblauch, Minnesota, 583,195. 4, Ray Durham, WHITE SOX, 494,001. 5, Jeff Frye, Texas, 279,072. 6, Damion Easley, California, 258,971. 7, Jose Lind, Kansas City, 232,845. 8, Luis Alicea, Boston, 228,166. 9, Pat Kelly, New York, 194,876. 10, Bret Barberie, Baltimore, 188,864.
THIRD BASEMEN: 1, Wade Boggs, New York, 884,651. 2, Jim Thome, Cleveland, 753,092. 3, Robin Ventura, WHITE SOX, 468,334. 4, Edgar Martinez, Seattle, 398,042. 5, Scott Leius, Minnesota, 392,645. 6, Ed Sprague, Toronto, 379,331. 7, Dean Palmer, Texas, 330,813. 8, Kevin Seitzer, Kansas City, 282,456. 9, Tim Naehring, Boston, 248,782. 10, Gary Gaetti, Kansas City, 242,261.
SHORTSTOP: 1, Cal Ripken, Baltimore, 1,698,524. 2, Benji Gil, Texas, 675,963. 3, Omar Vizquel, Cleveland, 666,506. 4, Alan Trammell, Detroit, 434,699. 5, John Valentin, Boston, 213,683. 6, Alex Gonzalez, Toronto, 209,282. 7, Tony Fernandez, New York, 209,918. 8, Gary DiSarcina, California, 192,567. 9, Mike Bordick, Oakland, 177,666. 10, Ozzie Guillen, WHITE SOX, 169,602.
OUTFIELDERS: 1, Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle, 1,204,748. 2, Albert Belle, Cleveland, 1,056,134. 3, Kirby Puckett, Minnesota, 997,623. 4, Kenny Lofton, Cleveland, 975,801. 5, Manny Ramirez, Cleveland, 863,890. 6, Rickey Henderson, Oakland, 702,257. 7, Joe Carter, Toronto, 418,611. 8, Jose Canseco, Boston, 404,758. 9, Paul Molitor, Toronto, 387,060. 10, Brady Anderson, Baltimore, 255,267.
11, Tim Salmon, California, 248,964. 12, Paul O’Neil, New York, 243,391. 13, Rusty Greer, Texas, 242,423. 14, Juan Gonzalez, Texas, 240,309. 15, Mike Greenwell, Boston, 235,518. 16, Devon White, Toronto, 235,017. 17, Otis Nixon, Boston, 231,558. 18, Tim Raines, WHITE SOX, 195,970. 19, Tim Edmonds, California, 184,748. 20, Mark Whiten, Cleveland, 183,415.
21, Stan Javier, Oakland, 176,090. 22, Danny Bautista, Detroit, 175,105. 23, Jay Buhner, Seattle, 170,231. 24, Kirk Gibson, Detroit, 161,582. 25, Ruben Sierra, Oakland, 158,979. 26, Danny Tartabull, New York, 152,492. 27, Mike Devereaux, WHITE SOX, 146,889. 28, Jeffrey Hammonds, Baltimore, 137,286. 29, Mike Tucker, Kansas City, 123,201. 30, Marty Cordova, Minnesota, 113,354.
CATCHERS: 1, Ivan Rodriguez, Texas, 1,151,708. 2, Sandy Alomar, Cleveland, 958,853. 3, Terry Steinbach, Oakland, 467,853. 4, Brent Mayne, Kansas City, 405,090. 5, Mike Macfarlane, Boston, 399,387. 6, Mike Stanley, New York, 312,513. 7, Chris Hoiles, Baltimore, 305,461. 8, Joe Oliver, Milwaukee, 201,138. 9, Ron Karkovice, WHITE SOX, 175,969. 10, Dan Wilson, Seattle, 166,033.
FINAL NL VOTING
FIRST BASEMEN: 1, Fred McGriff, Atlanta, 871,904. 2, Andres Galarraga, Colorado, 802,672. 3, Jeff Bagwell, 717,663. 4, Eric Karros, Los Angeles, 418,454. 5, Dave Hollins, Philadelphia, 417,846. 6, Mark Grace, CUBS, 332,235. 7, Hal Morris, Cincinnati, 228,325. 8, Cliff Floyd, Montreal, 168,402. 9, Greg Colbrunn, Florida, 128,899. 10, Todd Zeile, CUBS, 125,427.
SECOND BASEMEN: 1, Craig Biggio, Houston, 825,062. 2, Mickey Morandini, Philadelphia, 737,270. 3, Delino DeShields, Los Angeles, 438,235. 4, Bret Boone, Cincinnati, 401,041. 5, Mike Lansing, Montreal, 387,018. 6, Mark Lemke, Atlanta, 361,215. 7, Robby Thompson, San Francisco, 319,718. 8, Jeff Kent, New York, 283,001. 9, Geronimo Pena, St. Louis, 241,598. 11, Rey Sanchez, CUBS, 206,322.
THIRD BASEMEN: 1, Matt Williams, San Francisco, 1,029,519. 2, Scott Cooper, St. Louis, 899,505. 3, Vinny Castilla, Colorado, 604,823. 4, Bobby Bonilla, New York, 476,375. 5, Charlie Hayes, Philadelphia, 398,609. 6, Chipper Jones, Atlanta, 394,060. 7, Ken Caminiti, San Diego, 280,620. 8, Terry Pendleton, Florida, 247,683. 9, Steve Buechele, CUBS, 195,121. 10, Tim Wallach, Los Angeles, 171,896.
SHORTSTOP: 1, Ozzie Smith, St. Louis, 1,367,518. 2, Barry Larkin, Cincinnati, 948,945. 3, Wil Cordero, Montreal, 634,885. 4, Walt Weiss, Colorado, 395,992. 5, Jose Offerman, Los Angeles, 329,142. 6, Kevin Stocker, Philadelphia, 313,567. 7, Jeff Blauser, Atlanta, 224,360. 8, Shawon Dunston, CUBS, 190,196. 9, Jay Bell, Pittsburgh, 181,271. 10, Royce Clayton, San Francisco, 145,433.
OUTFIELDERS: 1, Barry Bonds, San Francisco, 1,392,130. 2, Lenny Dykstra, Philadelphia, 903,952. 3, Tony Gwynn, San Diego, 898,951. 4, David Justice, Atlanta, 851,644. 5, Dante Bichette, Colorado, 706,249. 6, Larry Walker, Colorado, 579,722. 7, Deion Sanders, Cincinnati, 564,231. 8, Ron Gant, Cincinnati, 532,814. 9, Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles, 446,119. 10, Moises Alou, Montreal, 392,183.
11, Jim Eisenreich, Philadelphia, 388,540. 12, Reggie Sanders, Cincinnati, 377,468. 13, Gregg Jefferies, Philadelphia, 366,884. 14, Andy Van Slyke, Philadelphia, 343,124. 15, Brian McRae, CUBS, 336,277. 16, Sammy Sosa, CUBS, 290,033. 17, Gary Sheffield, Florida, 250,660. 18, Ryan Thompson, New York, 239,297. 19, Marquis Grissom, Atlanta, 218,423. 20, Ellis Burks, Colorado, 208,775.
21, Steve Finley, San Diego, 195,888. 22, Derek Bell, Houston, 195,678. 23, Roberto Kelly, Los Angeles, 187,273. 24, Brett Butler, New York, 175,423. 25, Chuck Carr, Florida, 161,172. 26, Rondell White, Montreal, 152,076. 27, Luis Gonzalez, CUBS, 145,042. 39, Scott Bullett, CUBS, 94,736.
CATCHERS: 1, Mike Piazza, Los Angeles, 1,195,136. 2, Darren Daulton, Philadelphia, 780,126. 3, Joe Girardi, Colorado, 473,210. 4, Javier Lopez, Atlanta, 248,818. 5, Ed Taubensee, Cincinnati, 189,989. 6, Don Slaught, Pittsburgh, 176,959. 7, Darrin Fletcher, Montreal, 170,395. 8, Charles Johnson, Florida, 154,910. 9, Tom Pagnozzi, St. Louis, 145,306. 10, Kirt Manwaring, San Francisco, 140,870. 14, Scott Servais, CUBS, 105,445.