Kansas City Royals: Five Worst Royals All-Star Selections

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

*THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED IN THE SUMMER OF 2015*

With all the recent debate over the appropriateness of Kansas City Royals fans stuffing the ballot box and the significance (or lack thereof) of fans voting for the All-Star Game starting lineups, I still find myself having to take a step back and remember that the discussion here is about too many Royals getting voted into the All-Star Game.

I know the Royals went to the World Series last year, and they do own the best record in the American League, but the thought of the Royals having too many players on an All-Star team is something out of the Bizarro world.

For the past 25 years (since the 1990 All-Star Game), the Royals have had more than the one obligatory All-Star just four times. Two of those four occasions were in 2013 and 2014, and only twice during this period has a Royal actually been voted in to start (Danny Tartabull in 1991 and Jermaine Dye in 2000). Simply put, Kansas City fans are not used to this. Even in 2012 when the Royals hosted the event, only Billy Butler made the squad, and he went 0-2 with one strikeout after subbing in for David Ortiz.

So, as the world watches on as a record-setting number of Royals close in on getting selected for the game, we should not forget how much times have changed. In honor of the Royals recent success and the potential of an upcoming All-Star game monopoly, let’s take a look at the five worst Royals All-Star selections in team history (and yes, if it happens, Omar Infante would be an immediate addition to this list).

Honorable Mention: In 1969, Royals All-Star catcher Ellie Rodriguez batted .236 with 20 runs batted in, but it was the Royals inaugural year as an expansion team, so we’ll let it slide.

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