MILWAUKEE -- He has more shortstops on his roster than relief pitchers. He has as many shortstops on his roster as 20-homer men. Heck, Joe Torre has almost as many shortstops on his roster as Yankees.

That's five All-Star shortstops on one American League All-Star team if you're scoring at home. (In other words, score it: 6-6-6-6-6.) And that's more than just an All-Star record. That's an All-Star managerial challenge.

Joe Torre may have won four World Series. And five AL pennants in the last six years. And it may be true that he's never lost an All-Star Game as a manager (4-0). But now we'll find out how great a manager he really is.

So many shortstops. So few innings to play them all.

"We'll get as many in as we can," Torre said Monday. "They'll all play."

OK, remember those words: They'll all play. But when? And where?

Fortunately for Torre, some of his shortstops had suggestions.

"I can play right field," said Omar Vizquel. "I can play right if he really needs me to."

"I've caught before," said Nomar Garciaparra. "Tell him I caught in high school."

"Catcher?" gulped Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski. "If he catches, I don't think Mr. (Grady) Little will be very happy. I know he plays for the Red Sox, and Joe Torre manages the Yankees. But if they stick him behind the plate, I think Mr. Little will be on the phone to Milwaukee real quick."

And if Nomar catches, Pierzynski said, he wants to play shortstop. Or at least second. But he might find another shortstop at second base, too.

"If they say I have to play second base, I'll do it," said Miguel Tejada. "If they say I have to play the outfield, I'll do it. Even if they told me to be the batboy, I'd do it."

Cooperative guy, that Miguel Tejada.

Of course, Alex Rodriguez doesn't have to worry about where and when he'll play, since he's the starter. And Derek Jeter has a sore knee, so Torre says he might just pinch-hit. A likely story.

But even if only four play in the field, that's still a lot of shortstops.

"And we're all different, too," said Garciaparra. "We all have different styles, and we're all successful. That's what's great about baseball."

There's some deeper meaning in the presence of all these great players at one position. We're just not sure how to explain it.

No one can say for sure how or why shortstop became America's glamour position. But A-Rod had a theory Monday -- that shortstops are "the best-looking." So having five of them around, he theorized, will help the ratings. It's a sex-appeal thing.

"Yeah, he can say that," Garciaparra laughed. "I know I can't. He's got the face to say it. I need the glove to help me out."

And he doesn't mean a catcher's glove, either.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.