Mo Vaughn could have a taken a guilt-free, three-day vacation. His father convinced him to instead take a trip to Philadelphia.
Vaughn has a strained ligament in the middle finger of his right hand, an injury that caused the Boston Red Sox first baseman to consider skipping the All-Star game. He changed his mind after talking it over with his dad."I'm going to go. I talked to my father, and he said you don't get too many chances to go to All-Star games," Vaughn said Sunday. "He said, `You've been playing this long, and under the circumstances you owe it to yourself to go.'
"I'm going and I'm going to play and have fun," said Vaughn, who played in his first All-Star game last year. "I guess (my father) was saying you don't want to give that away, it doesn't come around a lot."
Baltimore second baseman Roberto Alomar also has an injured finger, and he also plans to go to Veteran's Stadium. Alomar was selected by the fans to start the game.
Alomar, who has a sprained left ring finger, said, "I received treatment last night and today my finger is feeling better. I will have to miss the workout, but my hope is to be able to play Tuesday because it's an honor to be on the team."
Baltimore manager Davey Johnson said, "The trainer said it might be a week before he plays. I know Robbie wants to go to the All-Star game, and he's going to go tomorrow night."
Alomar has played in every All-Star game since 1990, but this one will be different because of his newfound friendship with Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken.
"It would be extra special to play with Cal in the game now that we are teammates," Alomar said.
"I'd just as soon he didn't play in the All-Star game," Johnson said. "But he wants it. And I know if he's going down there, he's probably going to end up playing. I know Robbie."
Vaughn, meanwhile, is undecided whether to participate in the home-run hitting contest. He had gone 13 straight games without a home run before Sunday's game.
"I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know if I'm going to swing in it," Vaughn said. "You never know how you feel. You might get excited. I just want to be able to give myself an opportunity to do the best I can."