Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Hockey legend Don Cherry desperately wants Josh Donaldson to start the All-Star Game

Don Cherry wants Donaldson to start All-Star Game

By Mike Bertha

To baseball fans in America, Don Cherry might just be some crazy Col. Sanders lookalike in a suit covered in the fruit from Pac Man. But, to hockey heads in Canada, Cherry might as well be royalty. In fact, he was rated the seventh greatest Canadian back in 2010, so the guy's got some clout north of the border.

Cherry.GIF

Usually Cherry's focused on analyzing hockey, but recently felt compelled to join the MLB All-Star Game debate. Cherry donned his Sunday best and sat down for Rogers Sportsnet in a desperate plea to get Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson into the AL's starting lineup for this year's Midsummer Classic.

"Josh Donaldson is -- without a doubt -- the best third baseman in the world ... Among the 33 in the American Hockey League, he's first in homers, he's first in RBI, he's first in runs, he's first in doubles and he's first in slugging percentage."

Not exactly, but he's pretty close there. The Blue Jays have scored 88 runs in their last 11 games, all of which have been notched in the "win" column. Donaldson leads MLB in runs and total bases. He's also top among AL third baseman in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS. 

But he's not first among AL third basemen in All-Star voting.

To rectify this (and to get Don Cherry to cool his jets), you can cast up to 35 votes for Donaldson to start at the hot corner in Cincinnati on July 14. Voting ends July 2, 2015, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

And lest you think having a night to sleep on it has made Cherry rethink things, here he is reaffirming his position Monday morning on Twitter:

Donaldson.GIF

Read More: Toronto Blue JaysJosh Donaldson