Fabulous Fours
The Major League All Star Game was just played this Tuesday night and it proved to be another fine exhibition of hitting, pitching and fielding. This year’s game was especially fun to watch as we got to see a pregame “show” that featured the unveiling of baseball’s FOUR best players (of all time) for each franchise, as voted on by the fans of major league baseball.
It was the type of creative gimmick that can get baseball fans having all kinds of fun playing around with and guessing who would be THEIR examples of the four best from each franchise. Does a fan base choose long ago stars from the early days of baseball, more recent stars from the more modern era, or even very recent or even current players as their favorite four stars of all time?
A good example of the exercise might be the results of WHO exactly would be selected as the best four all time stars of a team like the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers? The fans chose Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snyder and Don Drysdale. The first two were obvious. There could have been others filling in the spots held by Snyder and Drysdale. Another team like the Arizona Diamondbacks, with a briefer history as a franchise, actually chose a current young star like Paul Goldschmidt. Fans really like to rate the all time stars of their franchise.
Oh to have a franchise like the New York Yankees, where they could very easily come up with a superior list of four all time players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle (even though they couldn’t even find room for such stars as Yogi Berra, Derek Jeter, Whitey Ford, Thurman Munson, etc.).
Or to have the history of the Baltimore Orioles, with an unveiling of all time greats Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Jim Palmer (and having to omit a star like Eddie Murray due to the limit of five).
You have some franchises (Detroit with Ty Cobb and Al Kaline, Boston with Ted Williams and Yaz, Pittsburgh with Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Wilver Stargell) with so much history that the names oozed with greatness. Other franchises couldn’t even piece together a Fabulous Four that could even find a single Hall of Famer. There are cities with history (and their all time greats) and there are cities that are still trying to find and or develop their own heroes.
Because the All Star Game was played at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, baseball revealed live, before the game, the all time four Cincinnati Red greats as Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Barry Larkin and Pete Rose. There was truly great applause and recognition for Johnny Bench, the centerpiece of the great Big Red Machine teams of the 70’s. There was even more for Pete Rose. It was a real treat to see all of the applause and fan support for Pete Rose, for whatever people may want to say about his belonging in the Hall of Fame or not, he really did play an all out, passionate style of baseball that resonated with the fans, and it was possibly the last great hurrah for one of the all time greats.
And speaking of all time greats, there was an unveiling of baseball’s FOUR greatest living stars as Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays. Any time there is an occasion where you can see THOSE four stars together being admired and appreciated in front of a national TV audience, you have seen one of the great, great moments of baseball history. It was similar to that great moment when Ted Williams was saluted at the 1999 All Star Game. In both situations, you remembered the pregame salute to the greats, and you felt good about the celebrations of baseball’s past the following day. Who won the games usually becomes an afterthought.
There is a unique connection between the fans of baseball and its players from the past. Those players played the game the way it was meant to be played and the many of the fans lived vicariously through those players. Or they just simply LIKED their favorite players for providing them with some of the greatest memories of their youth. It might sound funny, but there is a feeling from baseball fans towards their favorite players that borders on reverence. These players become a special part of people’s worlds and lives.
Baseball’s All Star Game was special this year. It was truly a confluence of the old and the new. Its old stars that the people have taken to their heart, being seen as the greats they once were at a point late in their lives; and the players that are playing now, hoping to someday become the stars of tomorrow, that might show up on some playing field thirty or so years from now in another stirring ceremony like the one on Tuesday night.
Baseball has been screwing up a lot of things lately, but this is one time where they got it right. Oh, and by the way, in the game, the American League beat the National League by a score of 6 to 3. Will we remember the score of the game that was played, or will we remember the contributions of the stars that played it?
