The All Century Team - A Retrospective

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Posted By: Eric Brehm

In 1999, a group of baseball players was honored as the best Major League Baseball players of the twentieth century. The All Century Team was elected primarily by baseball fans, who voted in 2 players at each infield position, 9 outfielders, and 6 pitchers. An "oversight committee" then added 5 additional players (Wagner, Musial, Spahn, Mathewson, Grove) who did not receive enough fan votes to make the team initially.

I have listed below the players at each position who received at least 100,000 fan votes, with the total number of votes cast for each.

I thought it would be interesting to re-visit the selections that were made for this team, particularly in light of subsequent career developments for those who were current players at the time of election (Clemens, Griffey, Ripken, McGwire).

It is of course difficult to pick the "best" at each position, especially when the selections span 100 years of baseball history. Anyhow, my thoughts are:

- I'd take Jimmie Foxx over Mark McGwire at first base. I think McGwire got elected mainly because his 70-homer season was still fresh in people's minds.
- Maybe George Brett over Brooks Robinson at third base, because of his hitting ability. Tough call there.
- Bonds over Griffey in the outfield, based on the position Bonds has attained on the all time home run list since 1999.
- Everything else seems about right.

Any other thoughts?


ALL CENTURY TEAM
* = elected by fans
# = selected by oversight committee

Catchers:

1. Johnny Bench (1,010,403) *
2. Yogi Berra (704,208) *
3. Carlton Fisk (322,384)
4. Roy Campanella (247,909)
5. Josh Gibson (233,288)

First Basemen:

1. Lou Gehrig (1,207,992) *
2. Mark McGwire (517,181) *
3. Jimmie Foxx (351,488)
4. Harmon Killebrew (185,622)
5. Eddie Murray (161,564)
6. Hank Greenberg (114,317)
7. Willie McCovey (106,717)

Second Basemen:

1. Jackie Robinson (788,116) *
2. Rogers Hornsby (630,761) *
3. Joe Morgan (608,660)
4. Rod Carew (430,267)

Shortstops:

1. Cal Ripken, Jr. (669,033) *
2. Ernie Banks (598,168) *
3. Ozzie Smith (589,025)
4. Honus Wagner (526,740) #
5. Robin Yount (134,655)
6. Luis Aparicio (129,328)

Third Basemen:

1. Mike Schmidt (855,654) *
2. Brooks Robinson (761,700) *
3. George Brett (656,511)
4. Eddie Mathews (174,529)
5. Paul Molitor (160,271)

Outfielders:

1. Babe Ruth (1,158,044) *
2. Hank Aaron (1,156,782) *
3. Ted Williams (1,125,583) *
4. Willie Mays (1,115,896) *
5. Joe DiMaggio (1,054,423) *
6. Mickey Mantle (988,168) *
7. Ty Cobb (777,056) *
8. Ken Griffey, Jr. (645,389) *
9. Pete Rose (629,742) *
10. Roberto Clemente (582,937)
11. Stan Musial (571,279) #
12. Joe Jackson (326,415)
13. Reggie Jackson (296,039)
14. Tony Gwynn (232,476)
15. Carl Yastrzemski (222,082)
16. Frank Robinson (220,226)
17. Rickey Henderson (180,940)
18. Barry Bonds (173,279)
19. Lou Brock (131,361)

Pitchers:

1. Nolan Ryan (992,040) *
2. Sandy Koufax (970,434) *
3. Cy Young (867,523) *
4. Roger Clemens (601,244) *
5. Bob Gibson (582,031) *
6. Walter Johnson (479,279) *
7. Greg Maddux (431,751)
8. Steve Carlton (405,365)
9. Satchel Paige (399,657)
10. Warren Spahn (337,215) #
11. Tom Seaver (330,219)
12. Whitey Ford (253,120)
13. Bob Feller (252,115)
14. Christy Mathewson (249,747) #
15. Jim Palmer (158,266)
16. Grover Cleveland Alexander (151,255)
17. Dennis Eckersley (143,710)
18. Lefty Grove (142,169) #
19. Dizzy Dean (130,389)
20. Juan Marichal (122,366)
21. Rollie Fingers (106,416)

edited for spelling