A.J. Burnett didn’t get a chance to play in his first and only All-Star Game
There was no grand send-off for A.J. Burnett. No carefully choreographed moment to honor his career at Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star game. He’s not Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter — the players for whom the last two All-Star games also served as retirement parties.
Burnett, 38, suited up Tuesday for the first time as an MLB All-Star. Though, he’s been a productive big leaguer for 17 seasons, it wasn’t until this season — his final season — that Burnett was elected an All-Star by his peers. He even had custom Batman-inspired cleats made for his All-Star trip.
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One problem, though, Burnett never got called out of the bullpen. National League manager Bruce Bochy had his chances too. He could have, for instance, gone to Burnett instead of Francisco Rodriguez in the seventh inning. Burnett wasn’t the only NL pitcher who didn’t play. Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, Jonathan Papelbon and Shelby Miller didn’t pitch either, such is the nature of the All-Star game when you’re a pitcher.
Give credit to Burnett, he didn’t fume afterward. He said he was only half disappointed and gave an amusing reason why:
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After the game, Burnett was in good enough spirits to take pictures and sign autographs with baseball fans in Cincinnati too:
It probably wasn’t how A.J. Burnett dreamed his first All-Star game would go, but there are worse ways to spend a Tuesday night than hanging out with the baseball players in the world and getting some pizza afterward.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
