By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Many baseball fans will long remember the emotional ceremony preceding Tuesday night's All-Star game where baseball's all-time greats gathered and Ted Williams threw out the first pitch.
The question of who were the game's best this century is sure to be a hot topic for the rest of the season as fans across the nation get to pick 25 players for the MasterCard MLB All-Century Team.
As most baseball followers know, fans get to choose who starts in the All-Star Game. Each year favoritism takes over as ballots are stuffed in cities like Cleveland and Denver. That means more deserving players are frequently left out of the starting lineup, while popular players get the nod instead (just ask Juan Gonzalez, who actually snubbed the festivities after not being voted in).
What's going to stop the same thing from happening with the All-Century Team?
Fans get to narrow a list of 100 greats to a team of 25. They'll have to choose two players for each infield position, two catchers, nine outfielders and six pitchers. This task, after taking a quick look at the list, is nearly impossible.
Major League Baseball executives are obviously trying to get fans involved in the game. But do the fans, young or old, really know enough about the game in the early 1900s to decide who should make the team and who shouldn't?
Just running down the nominees, names like Mickey Cochrane, Napoleon Lajoie, Tris Speaker and Christy Mathewson stick out like sore thumbs.
Cochrane was a great catcher for the Detroit Tigers, second baseman Lajoie once hit .420, Speaker holds the all-time record for career doubles and Mathewson pitched for the New York Giants.
But how many fans actually know who these guys are so they won't be passed over? My guess is at least 25 percent of the fans' team is made of current stars like Ken Griffey, Jr., Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux and Barry Bonds. Maybe they're deserving, maybe they're not (Griffey definitely is, maybe McGwire and Maddux).
Thankfully the same "special panel" of media members, baseball executives and historians who chose the 100 nominees have the authority to add a few names to the final team. The panel can include up to five additional players on the team to compensate for oversights.
I'll bet Cochrane is added, as well as Honus Wagner (Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Ozzie Smith will all probably receive more votes).
Baseball execs are just trying to do something fan-friendly, but it may be too much. Picking All-Century teams should be left to people who actually know a lot about each era of the game. It shouldn't be left to somebody who doesn't even recognize the names of 25 percent of the nominees.