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AL all-stars - and young blood - come up winners

SAN DIEGO - Kris Bryant scanned the National League clubhouse before the 87th All-Star Game, and the 24-year-old Cubs star saw colors. Bright colors. The players' cleats were orange and lime green, one sign of how Bryant said his generation is "way different."

SAN DIEGO - Kris Bryant scanned the National League clubhouse before the 87th All-Star Game, and the 24-year-old Cubs star saw colors. Bright colors. The players' cleats were orange and lime green, one sign of how Bryant said his generation is "way different."

Baseball does not reward individuality, but as dozens of the game's best young players gathered this week in California, they vowed to change it. It is difficult to remember a time with such a strong group of budding superstars all at once, and it was on display Tuesday in the American League's 4-2 win at Petco Park.

Flashy footwear is one thing. Bryant and his contemporaries are thinking bigger: They want to inject real personality into the game.

"We can learn from the other sports with how they do that," Bryant said. "You see a lot of the fun in that in the NBA. Baseball is slowly getting there."

Slow is an understatement. Major League Baseball has annually struggled with marketing its stars on a national level. The All-Star Game, inflated as something meaningful to decide home-field advantage in the World Series, remains nothing more than an exhibition. It at least served as a showcase Tuesday to demonstrate how production in baseball has shifted to the younger players in the post-steroid era.

Bryant smacked a first-inning home run for the NL, making him the youngest player in a decade to homer in an All-Star Game. Two 26-year-old Kansas City Royals - Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez - pushed the American League ahead in the second inning with long home runs. Hosmer captured MVP honors.

"I came in here with one major thing in mind and that was I wanted to make sure that every team got represented on the field," National League and Mets manager Terry Collins said. ". . . So I did the best I could to try to get everybody in the game that represented our league, and it was still a great game and our guys, they did a nice job."

Fifteen of the 18 players in the starting lineups were 27 or younger, which eclipsed the previous record of 12 in 1969. Seven were 24 or younger, which had not happened since 1955. The rosters, as a whole had 34 players (41.6 percent) age 27 or younger.

That, players union chief Tony Clark said, makes it a prime chance for baseball to embrace its inner flair.

"I have never seen an influx of young, talented, gifted players across every position and every ethnic and cultural background than we have right now," Clark said. "So I don't know that there is a better time than right now. We have guys who are itching to share with the world who they are and what they're about."

Odubel Herrera, the young Phillies centerfielder who plays an energetic brand of baseball, is one example. He appeared on the national stage Tuesday, played for three innings, and flied out in his only at-bat. What will he remember most from the festivities?

"Everything," Herrera said, "especially when the manager told me I was going onto the field."

He did not have a chance to flip his bat, a practice Herrera has perfected. Traditionalists will often view it as a sign of disrespect. The flips are a rallying point for the younger generation.

That style is all Herrera has known. "Since I was little," the Venezuelan said. "I grew up with it."

After Giancarlo Stanton's arresting performance in the Home Run Derby, Clark wondered how many of his game's stars could walk down the street without being noticed. That, he said, is a problem. Other leagues have done better at personalizing their players.

But it is baseball's culture not to self-promote. A good hitter is one who fails 70 percent of the time. How can that gap be resolved?

"I don't know if there is any other sport that exists like that," Clark said. "So, as it relates to self-promotion, you have an atmosphere of caution in general as a result of how difficult our sport is. We also have had a climate for a very long period of time that suggests, 'Fall in line. Uniform, uniform, uniform.' A lot of our individuality on a lot of different levels has been stunted, I believe, as a result."

This All-Star Game was a chance for David Ortiz, 40, to enjoy a national farewell in what is his final season. He walked in his final plate appearance and was removed for a pinch-runner as the American League players and coaches came onto the field to hug him.

Then, in a news conference, Ortiz lauded Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, 23, as the standard bearer for a new generation - even though Fernandez threw him a first-pitch change-up after he promised to groove him a few fastballs. The Boston slugger recalled how he cried while watching a documentary on Fernandez's background as a Cuban defector.

Ortiz is one example of a player who eschewed baseball's uniformity. There could be others who follow him.

"I recognize that there needs to be a philosophical shift and change," Clark said. "But I believe we have the right group positioned to share a lot of that."

mgelb@philly.com

@MattGelb