SAN FRANCISCO -- What, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson weren't available?
Barry Bonds* and Ken Griffey Jr. will comprise two-thirds of the National League's outfield when the 78th All-Star Game begins on Tuesday night, and the most notable thing about that is how old those two seem now.
Those aren't bats cracking, they're bones creaking.
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| Oakland's Dan Haren, just 26, will start for the AL All-Stars. (US Presswire) |
NL shortstop Jose Reyes was 3 when Bonds broke in with Pittsburgh in 1986, and he was 6 when Griffey broke in with Seattle three years later.
And on and on it goes.
"Bonds, he's the oldest, he's gotta answer all those questions," said Griffey Jr., 37, on Monday afternoon, smiling big. "Until I'm the oldest guy, he can do it."
In Griffey's days as an All-Star neophyte, he would sit in the clubhouse on workout day, beaming, soaking up everything he could from Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken Jr. and others. Especially Puck.
Ah, the years roll by, the calendar changes and new elder statesmen emerge.
"They just look at me like I'm crazy," Griffey jokes of his younger teammates. "It's different. They just ask me what to do, when to go do it, where to go, what's going on. ... I tell 'em to just have fun and enjoy themselves.
"I tell 'em obviously you've done enough to get here. Enjoy yourselves."
Reyes and Cleveland's Grady Sizemore -- making his second All-Star appearance as a reserve this year -- dominate the who's-the-most-exciting-player-in-the-game conversations that periodically break out during batting practice around the cage and during rain delays in press boxes. Each is 24.
"Those NL shortstops," one veteran NL scout was saying during a recent such discussion. "Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes ..."
