Red Sox players in All-Star game

Red Sox players in All-Star game

The Boston Red Sox had six players in the All-Star MLB game that took place on July 14th at Busch Stadium in St.Louis. This was the first All-star game held in St.Louis since 1966 and the Cardinals wanted to use this opportunity to show the planned Ballpark Village that was being constructed in the former Busch stadium site, across the street from the current one. In this mid-season exhibition of talent, the American League beat the National League to win the title.

The six All-Stars of Boston Red Sox included two starters who were elected in fan balloting and they were outfielder Jason Bay and second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Jason Bay was elected to his third All-Star game with 4,087,450 votes while Dustin Pedroia was elected with 3.404,384 votes. Bay was the starting right fielder for the National League in 2006 in Pittsburg. This is the 10th continuous season in which a fielder from Red Sox was elected for the All-star game. Bay will also have the distinction of being the 13th player from Red Sox to start the All-star game in the outfield. Pedroia, on the other hand, had the chance to become the second player from Red Sox after Bobby Doer to start the All-star game in consecutive seasons. Though, this was his second All-star selection, Pedroia bowed out of the All-star game. The current MVP of the American League cited family health issues to stay out of this game.

Tim Wakefield was another Red Sox player who was selected to play in the All-star game for the first time in his illustrious 17 year career. He is also the second player at the age of 42, since Satchel Paige who got a chance to play in 1952 at the age of 42. Apart from Wakefield, Carl Yastrzemski was the only Red Sox player to play in the All-star game at the age of 42 and 43 in 1982 and 1983 respectively. Infielder Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox also made his second continuous appearance in the All-Star game.

The other two players from Boston Red Sox who played in the All-Star game were pitchers Josh Beckett and Jonanthan Papelbon. Papelbon was playing for the American League for the fourth straight year and he is the third player from Boston to be selected for the All-star game in each of his first full league seasons. Beckett appeared in the All-star game for the second time in his career. Beckett, along with Wakefield, became the sixth pair of Red Sox starting pitchers who played in the same All-Star game and they are the first pair since 2002.

The Red Sox players broke many records in the All-star game besides providing wholesome entertainment to MLB fans. This was evident from 46, 760 people who were present in the stadium besides the millions of fans who watched it live on FOX.