All-Century Losers?

Dave Paisley

Front row seats to the World Series: $500.
Parking: $20.
Beer: $8.
The look on Pete Rose's face when Jim Gray pops the question: Absolutely priceless.

But let's set aside that Rose was the least deserving of all the players on the All-Century squad. He wasn't the only one that should have been at home watching this on TV. Let's not cry for him, but let's have a moment of silence for the poor guys who got stiffed big-time, by not only the voting public, but also by the "experts" who filled out the roster.

Let's take a look position-by-position, shall we?

At catcher, we had Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra. These aren't two bad picks, but first, Berra should have been ahead of Bench, and second, where the hell was any support for Negro League giant Josh Gibson?

It was evident from the early voting that Negro League players were getting short shrift from Joe Q. Public, but I did think that the "experts" would have found a way to pick at least one Negro League star. I thought that Gibson might be the one, but this whole exercise has proved to be one giant slap in the face to the legacy of the Negro Leagues.

Player                 Votes
Johnny Bench       1,010,403
Yogi Berra           704,208

Stiffed - Josh Gibson
My picks - Berra, Gibson

If at first you don't succeed, you must not be Lou Gehrig. Gehrig and McGwire are perfectly acceptable picks here, with a mild stiffing to Foxx and Leonard.

Player                 Votes
Lou Gehrig         1,207,992
Mark McGwire         517,992

Stiffed - Jimmie Foxx, Buck Leonard
My picks - Gehrig, Leonard

Now here's a really ugly situation at second base. I'll admit to picking these two candidates myself, but fully expected the "experts" to have added Lajoie. It's absolutely unbelievable that they didn't.

Player                 Votes
Jackie Robinson      788,116
Rogers Hornsby       630,761

Stiffed - Nap Lajoie
My picks - Hornsby, Robinson

At third we have the best pick, Schmidt, and a really bad one -- a paean to aging boomerism -- Brooks Robinson. Including Brooks totally stiffs the much more deserving Eddie Mathews, but hey, we didn't see him play, so it doesn't count, right?

Player                 Votes
Mike Schmidt         855,654
Brooks Robinson      761,700

Stiffed - Eddie Mathews
My picks - Schmidt, Mathews

At short, we have modest voter success. Ripken, for many reasons, is a good overall pick, while Banks wouldn't have made my team, not least because he spent half of his career at first. But at least the "experts" finally did something right, adding Honus Wagner. Too bad they left Arky Vaughan off the original ballot altogether.

Player                 Votes
Cal Ripken Jr.       669,033
Ernie Banks          598,168
Honus Wagner*        4th on ballot

* added to the roster by the "experts"

Stiffed - Arky Vaughan
My picks - Wagner, Ripken

Finally, the scene of the crime -- and I don't necessarily mean betting on baseball. Six of the top seven are totally deserving, with only DiMaggio undeservedly exalted. Barry Bonds should be where Griffey is, and Pete Rose should have been on a bus to Poughkeepsie instead of on the podium in Atlanta. Totally stiffed in the process were Bonds and the almost invisible Tris Speaker. That will apparently teach him to have a funny name.

Player                 Votes
Babe Ruth          1,158,044
Hank Aaron         1,156,782
Ted Williams       1,125,583
Willie Mays        1,115,896
Joe DiMaggio       1,054,423
Mickey Mantle        988,163
Ty Cobb              777,056
Ken Griffey Jr.      645,389
Pete Rose            629,742
Stan Musial*         11th on ballot

Stiffed - Barry Bonds, Tris Speaker
My picks - Ruth, Williams, Cobb, Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Bonds, Speaker, Musial

Finally, over on the mound, we have our final debacle. With the lack of Nap Lajoie and anyone from the Negro Leagues staring them in the face, the experts elected to add pitchers with three of their five picks. Nothing wrong with the three picks, but please, let's find some balance.

So, given that the voters threw in Ryan and Koufax (aging boomer choices both) getting at least Grove in the lineup was imperative. Perhaps the biggest irony in the whole voting was that voters were instructed to vote for at least one left-handed pitcher. One would have thought that "Lefty" Grove might have picked up a few votes due to that stipulation, but apparently not.

Given the lineup, if I were one of the experts, I would have left Spahn and Mathewson out to make other choices. Stiffed by both the voters and the experts were Greg Maddux (just out of it at 7th in the voting), Grover Alexander and Ed Walsh.

Player                 Votes
Nolan Ryan           992,040
Sandy Koufax         970,434
Cy Young             867,523
Roger Clemens        601,244
Bob Gibson           582,031
Walter Johnson       479,279
Warren Spahn*        10th on ballot
Christy Mathewson*   14th on ballot
Lefty Grove*         18th on ballot

Stiffed - Greg Maddux, Grover Alexander, Ed Walsh
My picks - Young, Johnson, Grove, Spahn, Gibson and Clemens.

And now, as a tribute to all those players deemed unworthy, let me give you the All-Century "Losers" Lineup :

  Josh Gibson
 Buck Leonard (or Jimmie Foxx)
Nap Lajoie
 Eddie Mathews
 Arky Vaughan
 Barry Bonds
 Tris Speaker
 Frank Robinson
  Greg Maddux
  Grover Alexander

Not too shabby, I believe. I think they might give the MasterCard starting lineup a run for their money.

about the author

Dave Paisley is dressing as Jim Gray for Halloween. Pray that if he shows up at your party that he knows nothing of your 1992 extramarital affair, or attempt a bribe at drdjp@strikethree.com.

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