There are a lot of nice aspects of being a manager in the All-Star game. It means your team won the pennant last season; plus, the job gives you a chance to manage a great team without great pressure to win.
There is one thing, as Tom Kelly and others have learned, that is not so much fun: Picking your players.On Thursday, Cecil Fielder, Dave Winfield and Dave Fleming were added to the ever-growing list of stars who've been left off All-Star rosters when the American and National Leagues filled out their squads.
"Picking the extra players within the guidelines of the system - at least one from each team - is difficult," said Minnesota's Kelly, the AL manager who joined with league president Bobby Brown to select the pitchers and reserves. "Taking the best player from one team affects the players picked from other teams."
"The whole deal is affected with the positions voted in. When the fans miss a couple of spots it affects everybody," he said. "I mean, I love Sandy Alomar, but should he be the starting catcher this year? I think he's a great catcher, but how many games has he played this year? He's hitting .240. Wade Boggs is a great player, but he's hitting .260."
Fielder was batting just .242 for Detroit when Kelly made his selections at 11:45 a.m. EDT on Thursday. But Fielder was leading the majors with 70 RBIs and had hit 16 home runs, and on Thursday night he hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat against California.
"It's nothing to worry about. It's a petty thing compared to the other things I've gone through," Fielder, still smarting from finishing second in the MVP voting in each of the last two years, said before the game.
The AL did not add a full-time first baseman to back up starter Mark McGwire. Instead, Milwaukee designated hitter Paul Molitor can play there, while Travis Fryman (.299, 13 HR, 56 RBIs) was chosen as Detroit's only representative.
"What can Tom Kelly do?" Detroit manager Sparky Anderson said. "I've managed these games, and there's no way he could take three of our guys. They've allowed the fans to create something that isn't an All-Star game. How can it be an All-Star game without the best players?"
Dave Winfield, however, was not as forgiving as Fielder. Winfield is in his 20th season in the majors and was hoping to play in his 13th All-Star game.
Winfield was fifth in the AL in batting at .309 with 14 homers and 47 RBIs, but was left off in place of Toronto teammate Joe Carter, who was hitting .280 with 19 homers and 62 RBIs.
Going into the final week of fan voting, Winfield was third for an AL outfield spot, but he finished fourth behind Oakland's Jose Canseco.
"I don't want to talk about it," Winfield said, visibly disappointed. "I earned a spot and deserved to be there."
Carter agreed, and said that's what he told Winfield. "I talked to Dave and said I was very sorry. He picked up the team for the first month and I just got it going recently. In my book, he's an All-Star."
The host Padres will feature five players this time, most in the majors. Third baseman Gary Sheffield and shortstop Tony Fernandez were added to the NL roster to join outfielder Tony Gwynn, first baseman Fred McGriff and catcher Benito Santiago, who were elected to start.
Six other players the Padres traded away in recent years also are on All-Star rosters. Outfielder Bip Roberts of Cincinnati, second baseman Carlos Baerga of Cleveland, Carter and John Kruk, the Philadelphia first baseman who leads the majors with a .351 average, were added as reserves. Toronto second baseman Roberto Alomar and his brother, Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., are former Padres who were elected as AL starters.
The AL's reserve outfielders are Carter, Brady Anderson of Baltimore, Roberto Kelly of the New York Yankees and Ruben Sierra of Texas.
The NL took St. Louis' Tom Pagnozzi and Philadelphia's Darren Daulton as backup catchers. The backup infielders are Sheffield, Fernandez, Kruk, Craig Biggio of Houston, Will Clark of San Francisco and Mike Sharperson of Los Angeles.
Backup outfielders in the NL are Gant, Roberts and Larry Walker of the Expos.