Which legends are the best performers in MLB All-Star Game history?
For 85 years now, the MLB All-Star Game has served as a showcase for the very best that baseball has to offer. But despite all the iconic names that have starred in the Midsummer Classic -- from Ruth to Aaron to Trout -- a select few have shone just a little bit brighter than the rest during the game. Which icons were good enough to make the All-Star Game All-Star Team? Read on to find out:
C: Johnny Bench
All-Star teams: 13 (12 appearances)
Career line: .357/.400/.679, three homers, six RBIs
Best moment: 1969, when a 21-year-old Bench took Mel Stottlemyre deep in his first-ever All-Star Game at-bat:
(Bench made the NL team for the first time in '68, but entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning and didn't get a chance to hit.)
1B: Steve Garvey
All-Star teams: 10 (10 appearances)
Career line: .393/.433/.821, two homers, two triples, 7 RBIs
Best moment: 1978, when the Dodger star went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth en route to being named All-Star Game MVP:
2B: Charlie Gehringer
All-Star teams: 6 (6 appearances)
Career line: .500/.655/.600, 10 hits, nine walks
Best moment: The Tigers star only made six Midsummer Classics, but that's not entirely his fault: By the time the game debuted in 1933, Gehringer was already 30 years old. He made up for lost time, though, consistently crushing NL pitching -- no more so than in 1937, when he finished 3-for-5 with a run scored in the AL's 8-3 win.
SS: Derek Jeter
All-Star teams: 14 (13 appearances)
Career line: .481/.517/.667, 13 hits, one homer
Best moment: There are plenty to choose from, but we'll go with the last one: 2014, Jeter's final All-Star Game, in which The Captain went 2-for-2 with a double -- and was sent off with a standing ovation.
3B: Ron Santo
All-Star teams: 9 (8 appearances)
Career line: .333/.500/.333
Best moment: 1969, when all four members of the Cubs' starting infield -- Santo, Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert and, making his final ASG appearance at age 38, Ernie Banks -- were named to the NL squad.
LF: Ted Williams
All-Star teams: 17 (16 appearances)
Career line: .304/.439/.652, four homers, 11 walks, 12 RBIs
Best moment: We very easily could've gone with 1946 -- when Williams went 4-for-4 with two homers in a 12-0 AL romp -- but it's hard to ignore the first walk-off homer in All-Star Game history:
CF:
All-Star teams, including 2018: 7 (5 appearances)
Career line: .462/.533/1.000
Best moment: There's a lot of competition here (Willie Mays was a .307 lifetime hitter in the Midsummer Classic, for one) but Trout's resume is already historically awesome. Consider: Back in 2015, he led off the game with a homer, giving him a natural cycle -- single, double, triple, dinger -- in his first plate appearance of his first four All-Star Games.
He also became the first player to win back-to-back All-Star Game MVP Awards that night, because of course he did.
RF: Stan Musial
All-Star teams: 20 (20 appearances)
Career line: .317/.394/.635
Best moment: The story goes that, as Musial stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 12th during the 1955 All-Star Game, AL catcher Yogi Berra started complaining that his feet were killing him. "Relax," Musial responded, "I'll have you home in a minute." Sure enough:
SP: Juan Marichal
All-Star teams: 9 (7 appearances)
Career line: 2-0, 0.50 ERA, 18 IP, 7 H, 12 SO
Best moment: 1965, when Marichal got the start and -- despite facing a lineup featuring Harmon Killebrew, Brooks Robinson and Al Kaline -- faced the minimum over three dominant innings. The NL won, 6-5, and Marichal took home MVP honors:
RP: Mariano Rivera
All-Star teams: 13 (9 appearances)
Career line: 0.00 ERA, 9 IP, 5 H, 5 K, 4 SV
Best moment: Again, plenty to choose from -- Mo is the all-time leader in All-Star Game saves, after all -- but nothing can top the ovation he got from fans and players alike as he strode to the mound for his final ASG appearance in 2013.
