Mormon Baseball

In the history of the MLB All Star Game, seventeen Mormons have been selected, including four current players who have been on a MLB roster this year.

As I watched the game this evening, I did the research and put together a list of those Mormons who have been selected in some year. I was surprised to discover that the first Mormon appeared in 1936! And this is only the 3rd year since 1997 that no Mormon player has been selected.

Can you name the four current players who have been all stars? How about the other 13 Mormons who have been selected?

The spread of when Mormons appeared has actually been very even. Most of the time just one Mormon player was selected as an all star. In 9 years there have been two Mormons selected and in 3 years there have been three Mormons selected. And in the past 50 years, just 15 years have had no Mormon selected to an all star team.

Here is a list, in alphabetical order of those who have been selected for all star teams over the years.

First, the four who have been on MLB rosters this year:

• John Buck (2010)
• Jacoby Ellsbury (2011)
• Bryce Harper (2012-2013)
• Josh Johnson (2009-2010)

Now the other 13, with the number of all star games they have played in:

• Dennis Eckersley (6)
• Shawn Estes (1)
• Roy Halladay (8)
• Bruce Hurst (1)
• Wally Joyner (1)
• Jeff Kent (5)
• Harmon Killebrew (13)
• Ray Knight (2)
• Vance Law (1)
• Vern Law (1)
• Jack Morris (5)
• Dale Murphy (7)
• Monte Pearson (2)

Pearson was the earliest (1936 & 1940), and Killebrew was selected the most times, and the most consecutive times—he was selected for every all star game from 1963 to 1971; 9 years in a row!

And, because I collected it, the years when the most Mormons were selected were 1982 (Eckersley, Knight and Murphy), 1987 (Hurst, Morris and Murphy) and 2010 (Buck, Halladay and Johnson).

Does that give you enough Mormon All Star Game trivia to chew on?