Baseball All-Star Starters Announced

By
Ronald Blum
January 7, 2006, 5:06 AM ET
3 min read

N E W  Y O R K, July 4, 2000 -- San Francisco’s Jeff Kent overcame a138,000-vote deficit in the final week to overtake Craig Biggio andEdgardo Alfonzo and win the NL’s starting spot at second base innext week’s All-Star game.

Kent, who leads the National League with 80 RBIs, finished at1,018,430 in totals released today. Houston’s Biggio was secondat 964,316, followed by New York’s Alfonzo at 865,853.

In voting through last week, Biggio was first at 452,863,Alfonzo second at 387,893 and Kent third at 314,907.

Rodriguez Is Top Vote Getter

Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez received the most votes(2,808,456), ending the streak of Ken Griffey Jr., the topvote-getter the previous four years and five times overall beforehis offseason trade from Seattle to Cincinnati.

Rodriguez, the first AL catcher to top voting, will be appearingin his ninth consecutive All-Star game, his eighth straight as astarter.

Mets catcher Mike Piazza, elected for his seventh straightstart, received the most votes among NL players, 2,780,452, markingthe first time the top vote-getters in both leagues were catchers.

Piazza, who had the largest margin of victory, finishing2,034,838 ahead of Pittsburgh’s Jason Kendall, also led NL votingin 1996 and 1997 while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The rest of the NL lineup has Mark McGwire of St. Louis(2,347,317), at first, Barry Larkin of Cincinnati (1,593,944) atshortstop, Chipper Jones of Atlanta (1,553,944) at third, andGriffey (2,188,169), San Francisco’s Barry Bonds (2,015,590) andChicago’s Sammy Sosa (1,800,444) in the outfield.

Griffey was elected to his 11th All-Star game, his first in theNL. McGwire was picked for the 12th time, his eighth as a starter.Larkin was selected for the 11th time.

Also elected to the AL lineup for the July 11 game at Atlanta’sTurner Field were Oakland’s Jason Giambi (1,229,295) at first,Cleveland’s Roberto Alomar (2,615,501) at second and Seattle’s AlexRodriguez (1,654,852) at shortstop. The Yankees’ Derek Jeter(1,516,492) was second at shortstop, followed by Boston’s NomarGarciaparra (1,341,550).

Ripken Will Sit Out

Baltimore third baseman Cal Ripken (2,169,993) was picked forthe All-Star game for the 18th time, the 16th as a starter, but heis on the disabled list with a bad back. Cleveland’s Travis Fryman(824,402) was second, followed by Anaheim’s Troy Glaus (812,538).

Elected to the AL outfield were Bernie Williams of the New YorkYankees (1,568,209), Jermaine Dye of Kansas City (1,486,448) andManny Ramirez of Cleveland (1,232,335).

In the closest voting for a starting spot, Boston’s Carl Everettwas fourth at 1,202,637, just 29,698 behind Ramirez, who is on theDL with a strained hamstring.

Dye and Giambi were the only elected starters who have neverbefore been on an All-Star team.

Ripken gets a $100,000 bonus for his election, while Alomar,Dye, Giambi, Griffey, Kent, McGwire, Piazza, Ramirez and Alex andIvan Rodriguez get $50,000 each.

Pitchers and reserves for the 30-man rosters will be announcedWednesday by the Yankees’ Joe Torre, who will manage the AL, andAtlanta’s Bobby Cox, who will manage the NL.