Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez joins select group by winning All-Star Game spot
At 6-foot-3 and 255 pounds, Royals catcher Salvador Perez requires a good-sized jersey, and that’ll come in handy later this month at the All-Star Game.
Major League Baseball revealed Thursday that Perez had been voted to play in the Midsummer Classic for the seventh time in his career.
The players who will gather in Denver on July 13 will wear special uniforms this year. On the back of the jerseys, below the numbers, will be stars to represent their number of appearances in the game, as SportsLogos.net reported.
Perez continues to cement his place in baseball history. He is just the 19th catcher to be selected to the All-Star Game in seven seasons or more.
In Royals history, only George Brett (13) has appeared in more All-Star Games than Perez.
This year, Perez won the American League’s starting catching spot in a landslide. ESPN revealed Perez had 62% of the vote, well ahead of the Astros’ Martin Maldonado (20%) and the White Sox’s Yasmani Grandal (18%).
That’s no surprise to Royals manager Mike Matheny.
“He’s the most recognizable player we have by name, by personality, and then you throw him into a position where he’s standing out. So even just a generic fan who has an opportunity to go online and you’ve got their slash line, it’s pretty obvious,” Matheny said before Thursday’s Royals game.
“And then if you’re a fan at all, you recognize the name, you recognize what the back of his baseball card looks like. And I think you take all those things into consideration. You know that Gold Gloves are there already, what he’s been able to do.”
Perez is batting .278 with a team-best 19 home runs and 48 RBIs. He’s also second among Royals hitters with 15 doubles and 87 hits.
Beyond his statistics, Perez’s love of the game is evident at all times.
“I do believe he’s endearing to baseball fans in general because he plays the game like we all would want to, and that’s with just this passion and this love for the game and it shines through,” Matheny said. “I mean even on rough streaks, his smile’s magnetic. He’s just a great ambassador for the game. You put that together with the kind of season that you can’t turn a blind eye to, I don’t know how he’s not leading in votes overall.”
Here is the list of catchers to make the All-Star Game in seven seasons or more:
15 seasons (18 total): Yogi Berra
14 seasons: Johnny Bench, Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza
11 seasons: Bill Dickey, Carlton Fisk, Bill Freehan, Josh Gibson, Gary Carter
9 seasons: Elston Howard
8 seasons: Del Crandall, Walker Cooper, Rick Ferrell, Lance Parrish, Ted Simmons
7 seasons: Salvador Perez, Sherm Lollar, Brian McCann, Thurman Munson
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 8:12 PM.
