Dodgers’ Justin Turner joins All-Star team as fan favorite in final vote
Justin Turner did not have a team three years ago, the same year he turned 30. The Dodgers found him unemployed at a Cal State Fullerton alumni game and invited him to spring training to compete for a utility job.
Today, he is an All-Star.
Turner won the “Final Vote” contest for the last spot on the National League All-Star roster, Major League Baseball announced Thursday.
Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals won the American League vote, making it a sweep for Southern California natives: Turner played at Lakewood Mayfair High, Moustakas at Chatsworth High.
After Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen blamed fans for not electing Turner into the starting lineup — the winner at third base was Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies and Lake Forest El Toro High — the Dodgers mounted a spirited and intense “Final Vote” campaign for Turner, including a round-the-clock balloting headquarters at Dodger Stadium.
Turner received a record 20.8 million votes, surpassing the 19.7 million that Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves received in 2013.
“It’s very humbling. I’m so appreciative for everyone, all the Dodger fans across the country and across the world who got out and voted, and helped me get to my first All-Star Game,” Turner said. “It’s something that I don’t take lightly. I’ll forever be grateful to the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans for what they did for me this week.
“It’s incredible. What it did is it set a bar for the L.A. Dodgers and their fanbase for years to come. I think Kenley caught a little bit of heat for what he said in San Diego, but he also sparked a huge mob of voters to get out there and prove to everyone that Dodger fans are the best fans in baseball, which we’ve said all along. They went out and proved it this week. I couldn’t be happier. I get to reap the benefits of it. It’s pretty cool.”
Turner joins Jansen, pitcher Clayton Kershaw and infielders Cody Bellinger and Corey Seager on the team.
If pitcher Alex Wood is selected to replace Kershaw, who will become ineligible when he starts this Sunday, the Dodgers would have six All-Stars for the first time since 1991 (Brett Butler, Ramon Martinez, Mike Morgan, Eddie Murray, Juan Samuel, Darryl Strawberry).
Turner’s emotions were bittersweet on Sunday as he learned that Bellinger and Seager had made the All-Star team. He was happy for them, but Bellinger is 21 and Seager is 23.
Turner, 32, said he would not be disappointed to make his first All-Star team by winning the five-man vote-off.
“I’m not like Belly and Corey,” Turner said. “I’m getting up there in age. Whatever opportunity I get, I’ll gladly take it.”
Turner is batting .384, the highest of any major league player with at least 250 plate appearances. The Dodgers, the team that originally signed him for zero guaranteed dollars, kept him last winter by signing him for a guaranteed $64 million.
The New York Mets, his previous employer, released him from their roster — letting him go, with nothing in return.
“You’d have to say,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told The Times in 2015, “we missed on him.”
Staff writer Andy McCullough contributed to this report.
Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin
UPDATES:
3:45 p.m.: This article has been updated with comments from Justin Turner.
This article was originally published at 3:15 p.m.
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