All-Stars Who Started at Multiple Positions Are Hard to Find

By Dan Schlossberg

En route to the Hall of Fame gallery, Robin Yount joined Hank Greenberg and Stan Musial as the only players to win MVP awards at multiple positions (A-Rod did it later.)

Yount, who spent his entire career with the Milwaukee Brewers, won as a shortstop in 1982 and as a center-fielder in 1989.

What he didn’t do, however, is start All-Star Games at both positions.

Yount’s only All-Star years were 1980, 1982, and 1983. He didn’t even make the American League’s All-Star roster in ‘89 even though his red-hot finish enabled him to win a tight race for the MVP trophy.

In fact, no one has started All-Star Games as both a shortstop and an outfielder, though that could change — twice — when the 2024 lineups are announced.

Both Mookie Betts, an outfielder-turned-shortstop, and Fernando Tatís, Jr., a shortstop-turned-outfielder, could start the July 16 game at Globe Life Field for the National League.

Betts, the compact lead-off man of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has started five previous Midsummer Classics in the outfield but showed remarkable versatility in switching to shortstop, filling a rare void in the lineup of manager Dave Roberts.

The All-Star Game is a familiar distraction for Dodgers star Mookie Betts.Photo byDan Schlossberg

He’s hitting so well that Betts and Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani are the early favorites for MVP honors, along with Milwaukee catcher William Contreras, and could join Frank Robinson as the only men to take the coveted trophy in both leagues.

With the season approaching the halfway mark, Betts is also bidding for his first NL batting title. While with the 2018 Boston Red Sox, he was the first man named MVP, batting champion, and winner of a World Series ring, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger.

He did all that as an outfielder but is on the 2024 All-Star ballot as a shortstop, since he’s been playing there — with a few respites at second — all season.

Tatís, on the other hand, was the Senior Circuit’s starting All-Star shortstop just three years ago but is now listed on the ballot in the outfield, where he won a Gold Glove last season.

Three previous players — Ian Desmond, Harvey Kuenn, and Tom Tresh — were All-Stars as both shortstops and outfielders but never started at both spots, the Elias Sports Bureau reports.

Starting All-Star Games at more than one position remains a rare feat, though superstars Hank Greenberg, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, and Ernie Banks did it as both first basemen and outfielders and both Cal Ripken, Jr. and Alex Rodriguez did it as shortstops and third basemen.

Nearly a dozen others have also done it.

The list includes Lance Berkman, Orlando Cepeda, Harmon Killebrew, Paul Molitor, Albert Pujols, Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose, Gary Sheffield, Alfonso Soriano, Vic Wertz, and Carl Yastrzemski.

Thanks to the DH, Molitor appeared at a record five different positions in All-Star play but started in the field only once — as a second baseman in 1988. Oddly, he had played only one game at the position when named to the team.

Molitor also was a starting DH for the Junior Circuit, so he gets credit for starting at two different spots in the lineup.

Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is national baseball writer for forbes.com and contributor to Sports Collectors Digest, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, MLB Report, and Here’s The Pitch, plus other outlets. He’s on the campaign trail for his second Hank Aaron biography, Home Run King (Skyhorse, 2024). Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.