NEW YORK (AP) -Joe Girardi is handing his office in Yankee Stadium over to Boston’s Terry Francona for the All-Star game.
Girardi and Detroit manager Jim Leyland were announced Friday as Francona’s coaches for the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium, which is in its final season.
“He doesn’t want me to move. I told him, `It’s your office. You earned it,”’ Girardi said.
The pennant-winning managers from the previous season manage in the All-Star game. Colorado manager Clint Hurdle selected Mets manager Willie Randolph and San Diego manager Bud Black to be on his staff.
Girardi remembered his one All-Star appearance as a player, when he replaced injured Mike Piazza in 1999. Girardi, then with the Chicago Cubs, planned to go away for the All-Star break but his daughter, Serena, then less than a year old, was ill. So they stayed home.
He was called by baseball executive Phyllis Merhige and asked whether he wanted to go to the game, which was in Atlanta that year.
“My first question was: As a player?” Girardi recalled.
Randolph played from the Yankees from 1976-88, then coached for the Yankees from 1994-04, so he has a long history in the AL and in the Bronx.
“It’s going to be a tremendous honor to be a part of Clint Hurdle’s staff and win a game for the American – National League, and then say your final goodbyes to a grand stadium, a stadium I love,” Randolph said. “I’m not a very nostalgic or sentimental guy, but I do reminisce a lot when we come here.”
Several Red Sox coaches will handle batting practice and field duties. Those coaches include Luis Alicea, John Farrell, DeMarlo Hale, Dave Magadan, Brad Mills and Gary Tuck.
Colorado coaches working on the NL staff include Bob Apodaca, Alan Cockrell, Mike Gallego, Glenallen Hill, Rick Mathews and Jamie Quirk.
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