Tomorrow, the Blue Jays will send five players to represent them at the All Star game, although Marco Estrada won’t play. When the teams were initially named, it appeared that Sanchez might have been snubbed. Saunders, too. After injury replacements and fan voting, however, it appears every Blue Jay who is deserving of consideration is now a member of the 2016 All Star Team. This is wonderful. In the past, this hasn’t always been the case. Over the years, the team has had it’s fair share of all star snubs. Here are the top nine snubs in Blue Jays history:
9. Jimmy Key and Jim Clancy, 1987
Our list begins with not one, but two deserving starting pitchers who failed to make the 1987 All Star team. Jim Clancy boasted the fourth best ERA in the first half, with 2.92, and his ten wins (which mattered to people back then even more than now) were good for sixth. Jimmy Key was slightly better, with the second best ERA at 2.87, a 9-6 record and the third most innings pitched at 147. Five starters were named to the game, and of them, only Bret Saberhagen deserved it more than either Key or Clancy. Guys like Bruce Hurst, with an identical record to Key but an ERA a run higher, Mark Langston, who struck out a bunch and led the league in innings but had a 4.46 ERA, and Jack Morris, who was leading the league in wins but was worse than the two Jays starters in basically every other category, made the team instead. Both Key and Clancy would make All-Star teams in their storied careers, but for some reason they were both snubbed for the same team in the same year.
Fun 1987 All-Star Fact
The Toronto Blue Jays, in their 10th season, would have an impact at the All Star Game, as George Bell, who was in the midst of what would end up being the MVP season, was voted in by the fans. It marked the first time a Blue Jay had been voted in as a starter (Dave Stieb had previously been the starting pitcher, but named by the coach). It ended up being one of the most interesting All Star games ever, as the two teams remained scoreless until the National League scored twice in the 13th inning.
8. Cliff Johnson, 1983
Slugger Cliff Johnson joined the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the 1983 season. A platoon bat for much of his career, Johnson got out of the gate hitting very well against both righties and lefties, and ended up gaining the lion’s share of the at bats at DH for the Toronto Blue Jays, a team who had vastly improved over previous versions. Playing in all but six games, he went into the All Star break leading every other DH in home runs, RBIs, and Slugging Percentage. Deserving his first ever appearance in the midsummer classic, Johnson instead was left home in favor of two future hall of famers in the twilight of their careers; Reggie Jackson was hitting .214 with 12 Home Runs, while 44-year old Carl Yastrezmski had only two home runs, and had only appeared in 47 games. Both men, based on reputation and star power, were added to the American League roster as the team’s DHs, while Johnson was left off. It would have been the first, and only, all-star appearance for this popular slugger.
Fun 1983 All Star Fact
The American League would set a record for runs scored en route to winning the game 13-3, exactly 50 years since the first All Star Game. This game certainly wasn’t without Blue Jay influence, either. Dave Stieb was the American League starter, the first Blue Jay to start an all star game. He fared very well for himself, too, striking out Andre Dawson, Dale Murphy and Mike Schmidt all in a row in the first inning (after committing an error to allow Tim Raines to reach first)
7. Duane Ward, 1991
Duane Ward was very, very good for more than one season as a Blue Jay as the best set-up man in baseball, but the first half of 1991 was probably his best start and led to his biggest All Star snub. Leading all American League relievers in appearances, innings, and strikeouts, he undoubtedly was one of the best relievers in all of baseball at the time. He even had 14 saves at the break, good for ninth in the American League, despite pitching primarily in the 8th inning. His 2.40 ERA, 11.02 K/9 and 0.96 WHIP were all sparkling. He was left off the roster, however, and likely wasn’t even considered for a spot, due to the high priority at the time given to full time closers. Instead, guys like Rick Aguilera and Jeff Reardon were named to the squad, with gaudy save numbers but far worse stats in basically every other category. Ward would end up having five amazing seasons in the setup role for Toronto, and wouldn’t have been out of place on an All Star team during any of those seasons. He’d have to wait until 1993, his first and only year as a closer, to make his only appearance.
Fun 1991 All Star Fact
The 1991 game was a watershed moment for the city of Toronto. The Skydome, in only it’s third season of existence, was chosen to host the All Star game. Roberto Alomar, the only Blue Jay currently in the Hall of Fame, would be named a starter to the team for the first of many years. Canadian-born hall of famer Ferguson Jenkins threw out the first pitch, and in what seems apropo for a game held in Canada, the winning pitcher was Jimmy Key – a member of the Toronto Blue Jays – while the losing pitcher played for the OTHER Canadian team: Dennis Martinez, of the Montreal Expos. The American League won 4-2.
6. Lloyd Moseby, 1984
Lloyd Moseby was one of the best center fielders in the game for the 1980s. He was also one of the most unappreciated. In 1984, he went into the All-Star break having a very well-rounded season, with a .289/.369/.535 slash line to go with 14 home runs, 53 RBIs, and 20 stolen bases. Those are All Star numbers by almost every account in almost any season for a center fielder who played close to elite level defense. Chet Lemon was voted in as the centre fielder that season, and there’s no complaints here about that decision, as his .307/.377/.540 was slightly better than Moseby’s (although without the added stolen base dimension). However, for some reason, the other five outfielders on the squad were ALL corner outfielders, and they ALL probably had worse stats than Moseby did at the time (only Dave Winfield had a higher slugging percentage, but he’d missed 20 games due to injury). The Blue Jays were an improving team in 1984, but Moseby was not about to get the respect he deserved over known superstars, even if he was performing at a higher level. His All-Star time would eventually come, but not until 1986.
Fun 1984 All Star Fact
The 1980s feature prominently on this list, in large part because it took the Blue Jays years of being contenders before they were taken all that seriously for all star games. The lone exception to this seemed to be Dave Stieb, who was named the game’s starter for the second year in a row in 1984. He would make six All Star games in his career, a feat matched in Blue Jays history by only Roy Halladay.
5. Juan Guzman, 1996
Juan Guzman was a fantastic pitcher for the Blue Jays for the first three seasons of his career, from 1991-1993. Arguably the staff ace during both their championship seasons, Guzman was injured and ineffective in 1994 and 1995. Returning to health in 1996, he went into the break leading all American League starters with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP, while his 8.12 K/9 innings ranked fourth. Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove selected only nine total pitchers for the all star game, including two from his own team. He seemingly also just decided to look at ONLY pitcher wins to name his starters, as the top four in this category went to the game and everyone else stayed home. Included on this list were Roger Pavlik, with a 4.82 ERA, and Mike Mussina, with a 4.87 ERA. Guzman would actually end the season as both the WHIP and ERA leader, while teammate Pat Hentgten got hot in the second half and won the Cy Young Award that season. But in the first half of 1996, Juan Guzman was almost certainly the best pitcher in the American League, but 1992 remains the only year he made an all star team.
Fun 1996 All Star Fact
Joe Carter was the Blue Jays only representative at this game, and he was the only player booed during the game. Since the game was held in Philadelphia, the hometown fans held a bit of understandable resentment for a particular home run Carter hit a few years prior. Interleague wasn’t introduced until the following season, so this would be the first time the fans had seen him since that series winning home run. The National League would lose the following 13 All-Star Games, but won this one 6-0. Of note as well is that the American League roster was void of the players who would win all the year end awards, as none of Juan Gonzalez (MVP), Pat Hengten (CY Young) or Derek Jeter (Rookie) made the team that year.
4. Marc Eichhorn, 1986
Marc Eichhorn had one of the best seasons for a relief pitcher in history in 1986. He capped it off with an unheard of second half, but his first half was nothing to sneeze at either. His first half included 75 IP, a 9.88 K/9 rate and a 1.79 ERA. He was far an away the best reliever pitcher in the game that season, and easily the most obvious All-Star game snub, as of the three relievers named, none of them were even close to any of those numbers. But, as with today (although slowly changing) saves were the one stat that mattered; Yankee Dave Righetti made the all star team with the second most saves in the American League, despite a pedestrian ERA of 3.66 and a walk rate of 4.18.
Fun 1986 All Star Fact
Future Jay Roger Clemens made his first all star appearance as a rookie in 1986, and pitched a perfect three innings in which he amazingly only threw three balls, en-route to a game MVP selection. Three Blue Jays made their all star game debuts this season as well, as Tony Fernandez, Jesse Barfield, and Lloyd Moseby were all named to the team as reserves. The AL would win 3-2, breaking a losing streak and beginning what would become an era of AL dominance, as they’d go 19-5-1 in the All-Star Game over the next 25 seasons.
3. Alex Gonzalez, 2010
The most recent snub on this list played only a half season as a member of the Blue Jays. Not to be confused with the OTHER Toronto Blue Jay shortstop Alex Gonzalez, this one joined the team at the beginning of 2010. A veteran known for playing excellent defense and having a bit of pop in his bat, Gonzalez had previously only made the 1999 All-Star team. 11 seasons later, he went on a bit of a power tear in the first half, hitting 17 home-runs, more than double that of any other American League shortstop, while having 50 RBI and still playing a high level defense at shortstop. When it came down to name the All-Star teams, however, Gonzalez was conspicuously missing. Derek Jeter, in the midst of the worst season of his career, was voted to the team because he’s Derek Jeter, while Elvis Andrus was named as his back-up. Andrus’ reputation was that of a speedy, slick fielding shortstop, but didn’t hit much better than an average back-up shortstop (and still doesn’t). Gonzalez was left off the team, and traded to the Atlanta Braves the day after the game.
Fun 2010 All Star Fact
This one is most notable for the changes made prior to the game that affected this and every game since. As of 2010, rosters are now expanded to include 34 players (actually making Gonzalez’ exclusion an even bigger snub) and the DH is used in every game, even those played in the National League. In addition, teams are allowed to have one player who has previously been substituted for, re-enter the game (a rule to be used in case of injury). In a game in which 14 injury replacements were named to the team, the National League won 3-1, the first time they had won since 1996
2. Fred McGriff, 1988
In 1988, Fred McGriff’s first half slash line of .280/.381/.539 put him behind only George Brett among first basemen. Yet, when it came time to pick the All Star team, three first basemen made the team, none of whom were named Fred McGriff. Mark McGwire was voted in, and Don Mattingly was named a reserve (George Brett was also named a reserve at 1B, but deserved to be there). For his part, Mattingly had missed 15 games due to injury, had hit only six home runs and had a .448 SLG, far far worse than McGriff’s numbers. McGwire, the elected starter, had worse numbers across the board than McGriff, as well. At the All Star break in 1988, McGriff was in the top ten in pretty much every offensive category in the entire American league, and undoubtedly deserved to make it as a first baseman.
Fun 1988 All Star Fact
The Blue Jays had a losing record going into the ’88 All-Star Game. They would improve in the second half and finish only two games out, but as a result of their first half slump, many of their stars were overlooked for selection. After sending at least three people each of the following years to the game, only Dave Stieb was sent in 1988, as he was experiencing a career resurgence after being subpar the previous two seasons. The game itself was fairly uneventful, with the AL winning 2-1.
1. Fred McGriff, 1989
In 1988, in his first year as major league regular, Fred McGriff missed out on the game despite having a much better first half than either Mark McGwire or Don Mattingly, as mentioned above. In 1989, in his second year as a major league regular, Fred McGriff missed out on the All Star Game despite having a much better first half than either Mark McGwire or Don Mattingly, who again made it ahead of him. At the break, McGriff’s 20 home runs, 56 runs and .538 SLG were all the best among first basemen, and by a fairly large margin. In fact, those numbers were all in the top three in the American league, not just among first basemen. He’d also finished the 1988 campaign as the second best hitter in both home runs and SLG in the American league, so it wasn’t like he was coming out of nowhere by that point, either. Over a three year period, from 1988-1990, Jose Canseco and Fred McGriff were far and away the two best power hitters in the American League, but for some reason Fred McGriff was left off the All-Star team each and every one of those years. He would make the game later in his career with other teams, but as a Blue Jay, he wasn’t NEAR as well regarded as he should have been. (He’s still first in wRC+ among Blue Jays hitters in history, higher even than Bautista and Delgado).
Fun 1989 All Star Game Fact
The American League won the game 5-3, and Toronto Blue Jays fans were happy to see both Tony Fernandez and Kelly Gruber named to the team. However, this one is remembered mostly for Bo Jackson, the multi-sport star who stole the show. With two outs in the top of the first, he made an incredible play in centre field to save two runs. He then proceeded to lead off the bottom of the inning with a long home run. He would later steal a base, and be named the game MVP. Despite his tremendous physical gifts, he was much better at football than baseball, and this would be his only MLB All Star appearance, but what an appearance it was.
There you have it. The nine biggest All Star snubs in Blue Jays history. Agree? Disagree? Did we miss someone? Let me know in the comments. As always, I was surprised after doing some research by some of the players on this list, and surprised by some of the players not on it. Specifically, I had always assumed that Aaron Hill and Jesse Barfield had gotten snubbed on more than one occasion. They probably did, but not drastically so, as their best years happened to coincide with similarly great seasons from others at their positions.
Lead Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports