SF Giants’ Willie Mays has All-Star records that’ll never be broken

Ted Williams once suggested that, “They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.”

The former Boston Red Sox slugger, who also is on the shortlist with the Giants icon of the greatest baseball players of all time, might have been on to something.

It’s been 50 years since Mays made his final All-Star appearance as a New York Met at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. But as the cream of the crop of current stars assembled in Seattle on Tuesday night, it was a reminder that no one will likely come close to the Say-Hey Kid’s impact on the Mid-Summer Classic.

Mays is all over the All-Star Game record books. And most of his marks will never be matched. Many won’t come close to being threatened.

One of Mays’ most impressive All-Star achievements – 24 selections during his 22 seasons in the majors – isn’t even a record. Hank Aaron played in 25, and Stan Musial also played in 24.

MLB held two All-Star games per season from 1959-62, and it wasn’t uncommon for the biggest stars to play most or the entire game instead of just a handful of innings, so players from that era, including Mays, were able to accumulate some big numbers — if they performed well against the best of the best. But he also was picked in every All-Star Game from 1954 until his final season in 1973.

Mays’ two All-Star MVP trophies could be challenged – Mike Trout is still active, and also on the list of multi-MVP winners along with Steve Garvey, Gary Carter and Cal Ripken Jr.

But Mays’ records for at-bats (75), hits (23), runs scored (20) and total bases (tied with Musial with 40) probably will never be challenged.

Trout, the Angels star, is the active leader in All-Star Game at-bats with 17. He was selected as an All-Star for the 11th time, but he didn’t play because of a broken hand and didn’t get any closer to Mays. But Trout is in good company. Barry Bonds, Mays’ godson, was a 14-time All-Star and only went to the plate 35 times.

Mays’ other records would appear just as unattainable. He and Musial are the only players with at least 20 All-Star hits. Trout is also the active leader there with seven, as well as runs (four) and extra-base hits (five).

Trout, 31, is second among active players in All-Star appearances to the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera, a 12-time All-Star, and could creep a little close to Mays. But no one else is close. Cabrera just turned 40 and has been an All-Star once in the past seven seasons.

The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw was selected to his 10th All-Star Game, but didn’t pitch because of a shoulder injury. The Mets’ Justin Verlander is next on the active list with nine selections.

Of the young stars in the game, Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. might work his way toward Mays, but it’ll take some doing. Acuna is 25 and made his fourth All-Star appearance on Tuesday night but entering the game had just five at-bats (with one hit) as an All-Star.

ROOKER A RARE TYPE OF A’S ALL-STAR

A’s outfielder/DH Brent Rooker was one of 33 first-time All-Stars in Seattle — as were Giants pitchers Camilo Doval and Alex Cobb — and was not only the team’s lone representative, but one of the franchise’s rare position players selected over the past 20 years.

Since 2003, when catcher Ramon Hernandez was selected along with pitchers Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Keith Foulke, 18 of the A’s previous 27 All-Stars had been pitchers. (It was Paul Blackburn last year.) Three A’s were selected twice during the stretch: pitchers Justin Duchscherer and Andrew Bailey, and catcher Stephen Vogt. From 2004-13, the A’s didn’t send a single position player to the All-Star Game.

Prior to Rooker, the A’s last outfielder picked was Yoenis Cespedes in 2014. That season Oakland sent a league-high six players (seven if you count Jeff Samardzija, who was traded to the A’s a day before making the N.L. team and ruled ineligible to play in the game because he changed leagues) to Target Field in Minneapolis. The A’s had four position players on that squad, and Josh Donaldson started at third base for the American League.

ADJUSTING THE CLOCK? 
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will consider increasing time on the pitch clock for the postseason but is reluctant to adjust an innovation the sport considers a great success.

In the first season of the clock, the average time of a nine-inning game is 2 hours, 38 minutes, on track to be the fastest since 1984. It is down from 3:04 last year and 3:09 in 2021, the last season before PitchCom was introduced.

“We’re going to continue to talk to the players,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I think you ought to play the postseason the way you play the regular season. There’s exceptions. I’m open-minded on that topic.”

The clock is set at 15 seconds with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners. There also are restrictions on defensive shifts and limits on pitcher disengagements. Runs per game have increased to 9.1 from 8.7 and steals per game to 1.4 from 1.0.

DERBY CHAMP, LIKE DAD

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won the All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday night, matching Vladimir Sr.’s 2007 title to become the first father-son duo to accomplish the feat.

Guerrero beat Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena 25-23 in the final round. He was 8 when his father won the crown in San Francisco.

“I don’t remember much about 2007,” Vladimir Jr. said. “I guess I was too young.”

Guerrero totaled 5 1/2 miles of homers — 29,390 feet to be exact. He defeated Julio Rodríguez 21-20 in the semifinals after the Mariners star hit a record 41 in the first round in front of his hometown fans.

Batting against Blue Jays manager John Schneider, Guerrero was the last semifinalist to swing and the first finalist, setting a final round record for homers to top the mark Pete Alonso set when he beat Guerrero 23-22 in 2019.

Vladimir Guerrero Sr. won the 2007 derby while with the Los Angeles Angels, beating the Blue Jays’ Alex Rios 3-2 in the final.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.