All-Time All-Star Team

A 22 man panel of experts selected a "All Time All-Star Team" for Sports Illustrated a few weeks ago. The team was solid, with good players from top to bottom and all the choices could be justified. However, in many ways the lineup was wrong.

SI's lineup and the article that explains it can be read here

My 25-man roster would be different. It is impossible to really judge who is the best of all-time, because of all the differances in eras. During the early days, contact hitting was valued more than power, during certain eras the pitchers weren't as good and during others the hitters weren't as good. Through looking through stats and the impact players had on their own generation and the game as a whole, a team can be made.

Before getting into the roster I would have, I looked at an article by ESPN's Scoop Jackson, which is linked too in the title of this blog. Jackson does not give his own team, but shows that two of baseball's top players of all-time have been left off, Satchel Paige and Roberto Clemente. Jackson also discusses Barry Bonds and many Negro League stars being left off, insuiating that racism played a role in the selection of the team. While I feel that racism did not play a role, I think it is a disgrace that Paige was left off. Bonds can be justified by the steroid use, because in my opinion, his "post-steroid career" could not have been worthy of this list, and if he had continued at that level of production, would have come close but would have been just left off.

Here is my roster:

Catchers (2)

Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra - I agree with SI on both catchers. While I had to consider whether Mike Piazza belonged on the list, I decided he did not. Bench and Berra dominated their eras, were solid defensively, were good leaders, and also hit well.

First Base (2)

SI cheated when the put Stan Musial in this category, he was an outfielder first, a first baseman second, so I take him off of the list. He played nearly 900 more games in the outfield than at first base. He can and will be considered for the outfield, but Musial is not a All-Star at first base.

Lou Gehrig: I agree with SI again here, Gehrig is deserving of this spot. Gehrig would have reached 3000 hits, at least 500 home runs, and over 2000 RBI if his career was not cut short by disease. Gehrig is the best first baseman of all-time.

Jimmie Foxx: I think the fact that Foxx was not on this team is embarrassing. Foxx was not as good of an all-around hitter as Gehrig, he did not get close to 3000 hits and never had as many doubles or triples or RBI. But Foxx is the best power hitting first baseman that was not influenced by steroids (Mark McGwire). Foxx had 534 career home runs and a .325 career batting average.

Second Base (1):

Jackie Robinson can be considered for this position, but I think he deserves special acknowledgement for breaking the color barrier, but is not the greatest second baseman of all-time. I decided to only put one second baseman on the team.

Rogers Hornsby: Hornsby is one of the greatest hitters ever to play. He hit .400 an amazing three times and had a .356 career average. He won the triple crown two times in is career. While Joe Morgan, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and Robinson deserve recognition, Hornsby is better than all four of them. Hornsby's best season, 1924, represents how good he was, Hornsby went hitless in just 24 games as he batted .424 to win the batting title. Hornsby won seven batting titles and retired with the second highest batting average in baseball history.

Shortstop (2):

Honus Wagner and Alex Rodriguez: I agree with SI on this one. Wagner represents the old school shortstop, with his 3,420 hits and 723 steals. A-Rod represents the new age of shortstops, with his 464 home runs.

Third Base (1):

Mike Schmidt: SI made a good choice here. Schmidt is the perfect third baseman. He was an amazing defensive player, winning ten Gold Gloves, while also winning three MVPs and hitting 548 career home runs.

Outfielders (8):

Outfield is by far the hardest position to pick, as many of the greatest players in baseball have come from the outfield. SI had 7 outfielders, I decided to take away the extra second baseman and add an outfielder because of that reason. Really I decided to move Musial to the outfield as he remains on the team. I decided to take Joe DiMaggio off the team and replace him with Tris Speaker, because Speaker was the better player. Speaker was the second best player of the first 20 years of recorded baseball and he deserves to be on this list.

Babe Ruth
Hank Aaron
Ty Cobb
Tris Speaker
Mickey Mantle
Ted Williams
Stan Musial
Willie Mays

Other than Satchel Paige, the pitchers that SI chose are the ones I would choose as well, they did a good job. I would take Spahn off the team and move Paige on.

Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez both have strong cases to be on the list, but there is no one for them to replace.

Its always a difficult thing for the best players to be picked and SI did a good job trying.