Griffey, Piazza Reign In Final All-Star Game Count Broken Hand May Keep Seattle Star Out Of Action For Second Straight Year
Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were the top vote-getters Monday in final fan balloting for the July 9 All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
Griffey, the Seattle center fielder sidelined with a broken hand, received 3,064,814 votes, more than 500,000 more than the next closest player, Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken.
Griffey, a seven-time All-Star, was also the top vote-getter in 1994. However, he had surgery on his right hand June 20 and will not play in Philadelphia. He also missed last year’s All-Star game in Texas because of a fractured left wrist.
Piazza, leading the National League in hitting, was named on 2,272,115 ballots. The Los Angeles catcher will be making his fourth All-Star appearance, and third start.
Major league baseball announced that more than 10 million ballots were cast, an increase of 73 percent over last year’s total.
Joining Griffey in the American League’s starting outfield were Cleveland teammates Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton. Belle, the Indians’ temperamental slugger, received 1,692,409 votes and Lofton was named on 1,337,262 ballots.
The likely replacement for Griffey in the outfield is the fourth-place finisher, Baltimore’s Brady Anderson, who leads the majors with 28 homers. The A.L. manager makes such a selection, although he is not bound to choose the next highest vote getter.
Ripken, the top vote-getter in 1995, will be making his 12th All-Star appearance. He received 2,550,275 votes, easily outdistancing Cleveland’s Omar Vizquel (829,519).
Ripken’s Orioles teammate Roberto Alomar, will start at second base and New York’s Wade Boggs was named the A.L.’s starter at third. Alomar will be playing in his fifth All-Star Game and Boggs his 10th.
Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez and first baseman Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox round out the A.L. starters.
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, San Diego’s Tony Gwynn and Dante Bichette of the Colorado Rockies were voted starters in the N.L.’s outfield.
Bichette, named to his first All-Star team, had not placed among the top three outfielders since the preliminary voting was announced June 4. However, he overcame Atlanta’s David Justice and Montreal’s Henry Rodriguez in recent weeks to get a starting spot.
The National League’s infield also features Atlanta’s Fred McGriff at first base, Houston’s Craig Biggio at second, San Francisco’s Matt Williams at third and Cincinnati’s Barry Larkin at shortstop.
A.L. manager Mike Hargrove of Cleveland and the N.L.’s Bobby Cox of the Atlanta Braves are to announce their reserves and pitchers today.