MILWAUKEE — Matt Holliday has spent his Rockies career collecting trophies — Swiss watches for player of the week honors, Silver Sluggers and National League Championship Series MVP crystal.
Tuesday in Yankee Stadium, he will experience a lifetime memory. Because of an injury to the Chicago Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano, Holliday will make his first All-Star Game start, manning right field in the last Midsummer Classic at the stadium.
Holliday, normally a left fielder, was moved into the lineup because he received the most votes from his peers in the all-star voting.
“It’s pretty cool,” Holliday said. “There have been a lot of great players who played right field there.”
Babe Ruth comes to mind. He built the house. Reggie Jackson stirred the drink and spawned a candy bar bearing his name. Holliday, who has played right field in his previous two all-star appearances, is the first Rockies player to start since first baseman Todd Helton in 2003.
Larry Walker and Dante Bichette are the only other Rockies outfielders to crack the lineup. Clint Hurdle will manage the National League squad, and he felt Holliday was a better fit in right field than Milwaukee left fielder Ryan Braun. The Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome will shift to center.
“To have Matt wearing a Colorado Rockies uniform in the last All-Star Game there, it’s good stuff,” Hurdle said.
Milwaukee’s Corey Hart won the Last Man online fan vote, leaving Hurdle to add one more player to replace Soriano on the roster. San Francisco’s Aaron Rowand is a possibility, given the lack of center-field depth.
Holliday, for now, plans on leaving with memories, not memorabilia.
“I don’t think you will look over and see me ripping out a (ballpark) chair or anything,” he said.
