Major League Baseball: All-Century Team at 25 Years

Major League Baseball: All-Century Team commemorative poster. Courtesy of MLB.

Prior to the Major League Baseball: All-Century Team being a documentary, fans voted to select the players during the summer of 1999. How do these selections hold up following the 25th anniversary of the unveiling in October? This is something that has been on my mind for quite some time.

In watching the documentary, I noticed a few things. Of players living at the time, only three did not sit down for an on-camera interview: Mark McGwire, Sandy Koufax, and Pete Rose. Most of the segments work the same way throughout the documentary. Bob Costas narrates the highlights while baseball historians, teammates, opposing players, Hall of Famers and the All-Century Team themselves appear as talking heads. Despite 30 players making up the team, the documentary itself is only 70 minutes long. Honestly, the run time alone is way too short. There’s not much in the documentary itself from either the Fenway Park or Turner Field ceremonies. But as a baseball fan, I’m taking it all in anyway. Perhaps that helps explain why I read so many Hall of Fame biographies during the past year–plenty more still to come.

Aside from nine outfielders and six pitchers, the top two vote-getters made the Major League Baseball: All-Century Team at each position. Afterwards, a blue-ribbon panel would add another five players to make it a 30-player team. It’s a good thing that they did because Warren Spahn, Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Honus Wagner, and Stan Musial all fell short in the popular vote. Wagner’s selection made him the third shortstop on the team. But even then, there are players missing that one thought would have made the team. Where is Roberto Clemente?!? Among the players who were active at the time, only Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Roger Clemens, and Mark McGwire made the team.

A 4-minute segment from the Top 100 Players Ceremony prior to the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park is included among the bonus features. Maybe it’s because I witnessed it on TV as it happened but I’ll forever be emotional watching the clip of Ted Williams entering the park. We’re talking about one of the greatest hitters of all time. But still, why not include the entire ceremony? The ceremony introducing the Major League Baseball: All-Century Team at Turner Field is just over two-and-a-half minutes. A good portion of this is from the green room, which gets a longer segment on the DVD. To have been a fly on the wall! For a moment that we will never be able to relive, they should have included the entire ceremony! A 10-minute feature is dedicated to the Top 100 players who were nominated.

In revisiting the Major League Baseball: All Century Team for its 25th anniversary, my initial curiosity is to see how well fans did in terms of voting. This will be done through utilizing Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system. Using his system, who should be on the team?

Catcher

Both Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra were selected. However, Gary Carter is the second-best catcher in terms of JAWS. Unfortunately for Carter, he was not one of the nominees for catcher. Of eligible catchers, Carlton Fisk is fourth while Berra is sixth. If we break down their rankings further, Fisk has the better WAR and JAWS rankings while Berra has the better WAR7 (Best 7 WAR Seasons). Berra had the edge in voting because of playing for the New York Yankees. It’s honestly too close to call.

First Base

Fans voted for Lou Gehrig and Mark McGwire. Being a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I’ll admit to voting for Mark McGwire when I voted in 1999. All these years later, I’m not so sure that McGwire belongs on the team. He had the popularity factor at the time but statistically speaking, he stands out like a sore thumb. Interestingly, he had the fewest votes of all the players selected by the fans. Looking back, the player who should be joining Gehrig is Jimmie Foxx. Foxx finished third in voting and is currently ranked 3rd in JAWS at first base, below Gehrig and Albert Pujols. When the next All-Century Team rolls around in 2099, Pujols making the team should be a no-brainer. Regardless, Foxx has McGwire beat in just about every statistical category except for home runs.

Second Base

Fans voted for Jackie Robinson and Rogers Hornsby. Hornsby is the no-brainer as he is the greatest second baseman of all time. I can understand Robinson winning out in the popular vote. Voting for both him and Hornsby just seems like common sense for what they brought to the game. Robinson is historic for breaking the modern-day color barrier in baseball and MLB dedicates a day for him every season. This wasn’t a thing back in the 1990s but maybe it should have been. However, if we are looking at stats and only stats, Robinson is the 10th best second baseman in JAWS. Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie, and Joe Morgan all have a career WAR over 100 and rank 2nd-4th in JAWS, respectively. Of the trio, Morgan was 22,101 votes away from beating Hornsby.

Third Base

Fans selected Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson. In terms of JAWS and WAR, Schmidt is the greatest third baseman to play the game. If we’re talking about defensive skill alone, the honor belongs to the Human Vacuum Cleaner with his 39.1 dWAR. George Brett was less than 100,000 votes away from making the team. A case can be made for Eddie Mathews but it needs to be said that Wade Boggs, who currently ranks 3rd among third baseman in JAWS, was not in the top 100 players at the time of voting.

Shortstop

Fans selected Cal Ripken Jr. and Ernie Banks. The panel selected Honus Wagner. Fans gave the panel no choice because Wagner is the greatest shortstop to play the game. He was arguably a better player than Ty Cobb during their era in the early 20th century. In looking at the voting, Wagner finished fourth, below St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith. Defensively speaking, Smith is the greatest shortstop with Ripken coming close. Where things get really interesting here is that Banks was a shortstop during his age 22-30 seasons. During his age 31-40 seasons, he was primarily a first baseman. His games at first base just narrowly edge out the games he played at short. Wagner and Ripken are the no-brainers at short. If you have to add another shortstop after them, I give the edge to the Wizard of Oz over Banks.

Outfielders

Fans selected Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Ken Griffey Jr., and Pete Rose. The panel added Stan Musial. Finishing in 10th and just missing out is Roberto Clemente. Rather than evaluate them as a whole, I’m going to breakdown the outfield by position.

If we break them down further by position, it’s a no-brainer to select Williams and Rose–they rank 2nd and 5th among left fielders in JAWS. Rickey Henderson ranks 3rd among left fielders in JAWS and finished 17th in voting.

Moving over to center field is where this team is really stacked with talent. Five of the seven best center fielders of all time made the team: Mays, Cobb, Mantle, Griffey Jr., and DiMaggio. Tris Speaker, the 3rd best center fielder per JAWS, finished 21st in the voting. He’s largely a forgotten baseball great and I highly recommend reading the Timothy M. Gay biography of Spoke. If you’re wondering, Mike Trout currently ranks 5th in JAWS among center fielders. If he can get healthy again, he’ll probably have a spot on the 2099 team.

Ruth, Aaron and Musial are the three best right fielders according to JAWS. Statistically speaking, it makes sense to pick Musial over Clemente for this reason. Mel Ott, Frank Robinson, and Clemente are the next three in the JAWS rankings at right field.

Pitchers

Fans voted for Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Cy Young, Roger Clemens, Bob Gibson, and Walter Johnson. The panel selected Warren Spahn, Christy Mathewson, and Lefty Grove. According to JAWS rankings, Johnson, Young, Clemens, and Grove were the no-brainer picks. Clemens later disgraced himself and won’t ever join the Hall of Fame. Mathewson and Spahn rank 10th-11th in JAWS for starting pitchers. In terms of records and such, it makes perfect sense why fans voted for Ryan, Koufax, and Gibson. A pitcher that should be on the team is Grover Alexander, currently ranked 4th in JAWS. Grove is 5th and Tom Seaver, strangely missing, is 7th. Gibson is 13th. Koufax (96th in JAWS) had a rather short career but what put him on the team is what he did in a short amount of time. Ryan (30th in JAWS) set a number of records during his 27 seasons.

There were no dedicated relievers making the team. But amongst relievers, both Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers were among the top 100 players nominated. I’d have tried to find a way to add Rich “Goose” Gossage into the mix. The Hall of Famer is the 4th best reliever per JAWS. Hoyt Wilhelm ranks third. Mariano Rivera only pitched five seasons in the 1990s and he’s the greatest closer in the game’s history. In 1999, Eckersley was the best reliever in terms of the overall stats.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: David Gavant
SENIOR COORDINATING PRODUCER: Dave Check
SR. PRODUCER: Bob Bodziner
SR. WRITER: Jeff Scott
NARRATOR: Bob Costas
ALL-CENTURY TEAM INTERVIEWEES: Cal Ripken Jr., Ernie Banks, Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., Stan Musial
FEATURING: Steve Hirdt, John Thorn, Tommy Henrich, Al Milnar, Dave Niehaus, Ralph Kiner, Bobby Valentine, Mike Easler, Tony Gwynn, Jules Tygiel, Don Zimmer, Buck O’Neil, Tommy Lasorda, Sharon Robinson, Jerome Holtzman, Kenneth Shouler, Larry Bowa, Robin Yount, Nomar Garciaparra, Earl Weaver, Derek Jeter, Alan Trammell, Davey Johnson, Billy Williams, Dennis DeValeria, Mike Piazza, Sparky Anderson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Mel Stottlemyre, Boog Powell, Dave Winfield, Ray Fosse, Don Baylor, Joe Torre, Juan Marichal, Lou Brock, Ted Spencer, Ron Fairly, Tim McCarver, Art Howe, Tony Pérez, Tony La Russa, Bernie Williams, Jessie Barfield, Reid Rizzs, Bob Feller, Robin Roberts, Jim Kaat, Joe Morgan, Steve Garvey, Joe Black, Leonard Koppett, Elrod Hendricks, Bud Selig, Julia Ruth Stevens, Willie Stargell, Orlando Cepeda, Al Downing, Tommy Davis, Tom Seaver, Larry Dierker, Dusty Baker, Earl Williams, Phil Rizzuto, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Wesley Fricks, Jimmy Lanier, Joe Garagiola, Alex Rodriguez, Lou Piniella, Fred Lynn
ARCHIVAL: Carmen Hill, Hank Greenberg, Leo Durocher

MLB Productions released Major League Baseball: All-Century Team on DVD on October 10, 2000. Grade: 4.5/5