Royalty comes to the All-Star Game.
This year, the Royals will have four representatives at the 2024 All-Star Game to be played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Salvador Perez earns All-Star honors for the ninth time while Bobby Witt Jr., Seth Lugo, and Cole Ragans are part of the 32 players going to the All-Star Game for the first time.
It is just the seventh time in Royals history the team has sent as many as four players to the Midsummer Classic. Let’s look back at the past All-Star Games populated with four or more Royals.
The 1971 Royals surprised the league by winning 85 games, the most in club history, and finishing in second place in just their third season. They stumbled out of the gate in 1972, and were a game under .500 by the All-Star break, but Orioles manager Earl Weaver still chose five Royals to join his American League squad for the All-Star Game in Atlanta.
Second baseman Cookie Rojas and outfielder Amos Otis had been All-Stars in 1971, and returned to the Midsummer Classic in 1972. Outfielder Richie Scheinblum had been picked up from Washington in a minor trade the previous off-season, but led the league in batting at the All-Star break and was selected. Right behind him in the batting race was fellow outfielder Lou Piniella, who nearly missed being voted in as a starter by about 60,000 votes. Rounding out the group was shortstop Freddie Patek, who was making the first of three All-Star appearances in his career. Manager Bob Lemon was also named a coach for the game.
Otis and Patek had to bow out of the game due to injury, but Piniella and Scheinblum both appeared as pinch-hitters, neither getting on base. But Cookie Rojas entered the game in the eighth, only because starter Rod Carew was feeling soreness in his ribs. Facing Bill Stoneman with the AL down a run, Rojas smacked a two-run home run that would give the AL the lead. Had Wilbur Wood not blown the game in the ninth, Rojas likely would have won MVP honors. “It was the greatest thrill I’ve ever had in baseball,” he remarked afterward.
George Brett became just the second Royals player elected to start the All-Star Game (joining Amos Otis in 1973), earning the fourth-most votes by an AL player. He led the league in batting at the time, and right behind him was fellow All-Star Hal McRae in a race for a batting title that would be decided on the final day of the season. Otis - who would lead the league with 40 doubles that year - would earn the last of his four All-Star nods, and Patek would also be tabbed to go to Philadelphia for the game.
Brett hit third in the starting lineup and walked against Padres pitcher Randy Jones in the first and flew out against Tom Seaver in the fourth before being lifted for a pinch hitter. Hal McRae pinch hit for pitcher Mark Fidrych in the third and grounded out against Jones. Patek entered the game as a defensive replacement and did not hit, and Otis made the last out of the game - striking out against Astros pitcher Ken Forsch in a 7-1 National League win.
The Royals were on their way to winning a third consecutive division title, and for the first time in club history they had two starters elected to the All-Star team - George Brett at third and Freddie Patek at short. Royals skipper Whitey Herzog - who attended the game as a coach - successfully campaigned for second baseman Frank White to make his first All-Star team. Catcher Darrell Porter also earned All-Star honors for the second consecutive year, although he did not get into the game.
Brett got the scoring off to a bang in San Diego, doubling off Giants pitcher Vida Blue to score Rod Carew to put the AL on the board in the first inning, later scoring himself on a Carlton Fisk sac fly. Brett’s sac fly in the third put the AL on top 3-0 and he singled in the fifth off Expos pitcher Steve Rogers. He was probably on his way to earning All-Star Game MVP honors, but his nemesis, Yankees closer Rich Gossage, gave up four runs in the eighth to blow the game open for the NL, extending their win streak to seven All-Star Games in a row over the AL.
Brett was elected to start at third for the AL squad for the sixth consecutive year. A’s skipper Billy Martin managed the AL squad because defending pennant-winner Bob Lemon of the Yankees had already been fired by George Steinbrenner. Martin, in consultation with Royals manager Dick Howser, who was named a coach, tabbed White to make his fourth All-Star appearance, and designated hitter Hal McRae, who would the last of his three All-Star appearances.
Speedster Willie Wilson, who was leading the league in batting and would win a batting title that year, was named to his first All-Star Game, as was closer Dan Quisenberry. Howser lamented that catcher John Wathan should have made the team as well.
In Montreal, Brett singled in the first off Expos pitcher Steve Rogers, part of a rally to score a run in the first for the AL squad, then singled again in the fifth before being lifted for a pinch hitter. Willie Wilson entered the game in the fourth and went 0-for-2 while White struck out in his only at-bat, and McRae walked against Fernando Valenzuela. Dan Quisenberry entered the game in the sixth, and gave up a run to the hometown Expos - a double to Al Oliver and single to Gary Carter, as the AL against lost 4-1.
Royals fans were accused of stuffing the ballot for their team after a surprise run in 2014 had led the team to the World Series. Four Royals would eventually be elected as starters - catcher Salvador Perez, shortstop Alcides Escobar, and outfielders Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain. Mike Moustakas won the fan vote for the final roster spot. Manager Ned Yost chose his trusted relievers Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera to round out the squad that would play in Cincinnati.
Royals fans looked smart for voting their boys into the game in the fifth inning, when Alcides Escobar opened the frame with a single, part of a two run-inning that included an RBI double by Lorenzo Cain. Wade Davis worked a scoreless eighth as Yost guided the American League to a 6-3 victory.
“He’s got a knack,” says Twins closer Glen Perkins, who would pitch the ninth inning, “for pushing the right buttons.”
Royals fans still had voting fever following their championship season, sending Salvador Perez to the All-Star Game with the most votes of any American League player. They also sent first baseman Eric Hosmer, who topped Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in voting, earning his only All-Star appearance. Yost again brought his feared relievers - Davis and Herrera - for the game in San Diego.
In the second inning, it looks like the Royals show with both Hosmer and Salvy smacking home runs off former Royals starter Johnny Cueto - now with the Giants - to give the AL a 3-1 lead. Hosmer added an RBI single in the third off Marlins starter José Fernández to make it 4-1. Herrera pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, but it was Hosmer who earned All-Star Game MVP honors, only the second Royals player to ever win the award (Bo Jackson, 1989).
