Baseball News
Sluggers set for All-Star showdown
Major League Baseball's biggest sluggers will come face to face this weekend in the annual All-Star festivities.The mid-season break features the All-Star game, where on July 14th the top players from the American League tackle the stars of the National League, as well as the brutal Home Run Derby.
Despite the absence of two of baseball's most recognisable hitters, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriquez, the best of the rest will compete in the yearly run-fest.
With the starting players voted for in an open online ballot, it was no surprise that perennial All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols topped the poll with 5.3million votes, closely followed by Chase Utley (5million) and Yankees legend Derek Jeter (4.8million).
Pujols, last season's National League MVP, is having a phenomenal year even by his high standards, comfortably leading the Major Leagues in homers and RBIs.
Yet even his efforts have been hidden this season by Ramirez and Rodriquez. Both have been caught up in drugs controversies, with the former testing positive for a performance enhancing substance and serving a 50 game ban, while A-Rod admitted before the season began that he used banned substances from 2001 to 2003.
Both players failed in the popularity vote as a result and with neither man having played a full half-season (Rodriquez had hip surgery in March, while Ramirez has only just returned from his ban) they will both be forced to watch the Midsummer Classic from home.
After the balloting process the rest of the 32-man rosters are chosen by a combination of players, managers and coaches. Out of this Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield was chosen to make his All-Star debut aged almost 43, making him the second-oldest debutant in the history of the festival.