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Young All-Stars

Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 4, 2010

A simple query via Play Index - All-Stars age 21 or younger...through 2009, there's only been 40 players to pull this trick (albeit some of them did it more than once). Here's the list:

All-Star Game, From 1933 to 2009, (requiring Age<=21)

Rk Player Age 5 Date Tm Lg Opp Rslt PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB BOP Pos. Summary
2 Dwight Gooden 19.237 1984-07-10 NYM NL ALS W 3-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
3 Butch Wynegar 20.121 1976-07-13 MIN AL NLS L 1-7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 PH
4 Jerry Walker 20.172 1959-08-03 BAL AL NLS W 5-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
5 Al Kaline 20.205 1955-07-12 DET AL NLS L 5-6 6 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 RF
6 Johnny Bench 20.215 1968-07-09 CIN NL ALS W 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 C
7 Ivan Rodriguez 20.230 1992-07-14 TEX AL NLS W 13-6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 7 C
8 Ken Griffey 20.231 1990-07-10 SEA AL NLS W 2-0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 CF
9 Bob Feller 20.250 1939-07-11 CLE AL NLS W 3-1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
10 Fernando Valenzuela 20.281 1981-08-09 LAD NL ALS W 5-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
11 Frank Robinson 20.314 1956-07-10 CIN NL ALS W 7-3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 LF
12 Claudell Washington 20.318 1975-07-15 OAK AL NLS L 3-6 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 PR CF LF
13 Alex Rodriguez 20.348 1996-07-09 SEA AL NLS L 0-6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 PH SS
14 Vada Pinson 20.357 1959-08-03 CIN NL ALS L 3-5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 PR
15 Del Ennis 21.031 1946-07-09 PHI NL ALS L 0-12 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 PH LF
16 Carlos May 21.067 1969-07-23 CHW AL NLS L 3-9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 PH
17 Miguel Cabrera 21.086 2004-07-13 FLA NL ALS L 4-9 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 RF
18 Catfish Hunter 21.094 1967-07-11 KCA AL NLS L 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 P
19 Gary Carter 21.098 1975-07-15 MON NL ALS W 6-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 LF
20 Richie Ashburn 21.116 1948-07-13 PHI NL ALS L 2-5 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 CF
21 Garry Templeton 21.117 1977-07-19 STL NL ALS W 7-5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 SS
22 Butch Wynegar 21.127 1977-07-19 MIN AL NLS L 5-7 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 C
23 Willard Marshall 21.148 1942-07-06 NYG NL ALS L 1-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 PH
24 Cesar Cedeno 21.151 1972-07-25 HOU NL ALS W 4-3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 CF
25 Hank Aaron 21.157 1955-07-12 MLN NL ALS W 6-5 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 PR RF
26 Albert Pujols 21.175 2001-07-10 STL NL ALS L 1-4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2B 3B
27 Rickey Henderson 21.196 1980-07-08 OAK AL NLS L 2-4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 LF
28 Al Kaline 21.204 1956-07-10 DET AL NLS L 3-7 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 RF
29 Joe DiMaggio 21.225 1936-07-07 NYY AL NLS L 3-4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 RF
30 Ivan Rodriguez 21.228 1993-07-13 TEX AL NLS W 9-3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 C
31 Johnny Bench 21.228 1969-07-23 CIN NL ALS W 9-3 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 C
32 Ken Griffey 21.230 1991-07-09 SEA AL NLS W 4-2 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 CF
33 Dwight Gooden 21.241 1986-07-15 NYM NL ALS L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
34 Bob Feller 21.249 1940-07-09 CLE AL NLS L 0-4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
35 Fernando Valenzuela 21.254 1982-07-13 LAD NL ALS W 4-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 P
36 Mickey Mantle 21.267 1953-07-14 NYY AL NLS L 1-5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 CF
37 Eddie Mathews 21.274 1953-07-14 MLN NL ALS W 5-1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 6 3B
38 Rod Carew 21.283 1967-07-11 MIN AL NLS L 1-2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2B
39 Mike McCormick 21.286 1960-07-11 SFG NL ALS W 5-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
40 Orlando Cepeda 21.293 1959-07-07 SFG NL ALS W 5-4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 1B
41 Bill Mazeroski 21.306 1958-07-08 PIT NL ALS L 3-4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 2B
42 Frank Robinson 21.312 1957-07-09 CIN NL ALS L 5-6 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 LF
43 Ted Williams 21.314 1940-07-09 BOS AL NLS L 0-4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 LF
44 Justin Upton 21.323 2009-07-14 ARI NL ALS L 3-4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 PH LF
45 Tim Raines 21.327 1981-08-09 MON NL ALS W 5-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 PR LF
46 Buddy Lewis 21.330 1938-07-06 WSH AL NLS L 1-4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3B
47 Buddy Bell 21.331 1973-07-24 CLE AL NLS L 1-7 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 PH
48 Mark Fidrych 21.334 1976-07-13 DET AL NLS L 1-7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
49 Vada Pinson 21.335 1960-07-11 CIN NL ALS W 5-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 CF
50 Ray Culp 21.337 1963-07-09 PHI NL ALS W 5-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 P
51 Vada Pinson 21.337 1960-07-13 CIN NL ALS W 6-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 CF
52 Alex Rodriguez 21.346 1997-07-08 SEA AL NLS W 3-1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 SS
53 Vida Blue 21.350 1971-07-13 OAK AL NLS W 6-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 P
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/4/2010.

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The first name that jumped out to me here was Carlos May - the 15th youngest All-Star, ever, at age 21.067. That's something I never knew. And, next, I saw two players that I never heard of before: Jerry Walker and Willard Marshall. So, who catches your eye on this list and why?

Related posts:

    2011 WAR-Stars
    2010 All-Stars determined by WAR
    Young & Hot
    Most QS By Young SP Last 3 Seasons
    How many Hall of Famers and All-Stars have a given birthday?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Game Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses to “Young All-Stars”

  1. Scott Horsfield Says:
    July 4th, 2010 at 9:30 pm

    Vada Pinson for being the only one to make the list three times, even though it came at the expense of the 1960 season being one of four with multiple all star games.

  2. sfduke76 Says:
    July 4th, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    I was noodling around in PI the other day and did a search for teenagers hitting HRs.
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/4UUWc
    This was very common in the 50s and 60s but pretty rare in all other decades. This post lends support to the observation that the 50s and 60s saw the evelopment of a lot of very young talent. I'm wondering what historical forces might have caused that to be the case?

  3. sfduke76 Says:
    July 4th, 2010 at 9:58 pm

    "development", not "evelopment"

  4. Gerry Says:
    July 4th, 2010 at 10:27 pm

    Willard Marshall hit 36 home runs for the 1947 Giants. The team hit 221 that year, I think that stood as the NL record for a while. Also, combined with Johnny Mize's 51, that 87 might have been an NL record for two teammates. Walker Cooper had 35, and Bobby Thomson, 29.

    Buddy Lewis shows up second only to Ty Cobb on the HIts By Age 23 list. Then came the war.

  5. Johnny Twisto Says:
    July 5th, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    Sfduke, that's almost certainly a result of the Bonus Baby rule, which forced players who received a big signing bonus to remain on the major league roster for at least two seasons.

  6. sfduke76 Says:
    July 5th, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    Johnny Twisto - I think you're right, the Bonus Baby rule did contribute. But I count 49 different teenagers that hit HRs in the 50/60s, and only 7 are on this list:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_went_directly_to_the_major_leagues
    So something else was in play too. I guess it was just a different philosophy of player development at the time. Of course, there were probably fewer College signees back then, so a higher percentage of the talent was acquired as players in their teens...but that would have been even more true in the pre-war years.

  7. Joe Garrison Says:
    July 5th, 2010 at 9:27 pm

    Two guys named Bench and Aaron were the only ones to drive in runs. Bench was the only one to hit a homer or score twice in the game. DiMaggio must have been something in batting practice the previous day when they were making up the batting order. The kid hit third, but alas when oh for five. Kaline got six plate appearances in the All-Star game at the age of 20. We know Kaline was one of the most impressive players at a very young age in baseball history... but to leave him in the whole game at that age, wow. And he reached base three times (double, walk, hit by pitch). And he gets another hit as a 21 year old the following year. As expected, very few infielders were all stars at that tender age. It takes time to learn how to play all-star caliber defense I suppose. Gooden played in that 1984 (two innings, one hit, three strikeouts), was named in 1985 but did not pitch, and STARTED the game in 1986 at the age of 21. He took the loss by giving up two runs and thee hits in three innings of work. Sweet Lou Whitaker hit a homer with Winfield on base.

    But who can forget the fifth inning of the 1984 All-Star game? Gooden comes in, 19 years old, his first ASG, his first inning, and he strikes out Lance Parrish, Chet Lemon, and Alvin Davis.

    Not bad for a teenager.

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