REVISITING A POST FROM 2013: EXPANDED 1976 TOPPS ALL-TIME ALL-STARS: SECOND BASE

Thought it'd be fun to revisit a post from 2013, this one the second basemen in my 1976 "expanded all-time all-stars" sub-set that I whipped up back then, adding a second player from the other league per position, in this case all-timer Nap Lajoie:

Topps issued all-timer: Hornsby

My pick for A.L. all-timer: Lajoie

The Sporting News selected legend Rogers Hornsby as the All-Time second baseman for their team, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Major Leagues, and I have no problem with that pick!

So for the American League, I went with the great Napoleon Lajoie, someone I don't think people would have a problem with.

Here's the original text I wrote-up back then:

The next installment in my thread regarding the 1976 "All-Time All-Stars" sub-set moves on to second base, where the Sporting News picked Rogers Hornsby as the all-time all-star at the position.

Now what if there was both an N.L. AND A.L. Team picked? Who would have been the American League second baseman?

First off, I can't really argue with the Hornsby pick for the "all-time" team outright, as " the Rajah" was second only to Ty Cobb in career batting average at .358, along with seven batting titles, just under 3000 hits (2930), as well as some feats that may never be seen again, such as his five year stretch where he AVERAGED over .400 between 1921 and 1925!

He TWICE took home a Triple Crown (in 1922 and 1925), and was the first National League player to hit over 40 homers in a season when he smashed 42 in 1922.

He batted over .400 three times, topped by an astounding .424 average in 1924, and just missed out on another when he hit .397 in 1921.

Hornsby was a hitting machine, and his spot on an "all-time" team is A-OK by me!

However, as I mentioned earlier, I always wondered who would have been the American League representative for an all-time team had they picked one, and  I decided that in all probability it would have been early 20th Century SUPER star Napoleon Lajoie.

Already a star for the Philadelphia team of the National league the final few years of the 1890's, Lajoie famously jumped leagues during the tumultuous player-snatching between leagues in the first few years of the new century, and he didn't miss a beat when he suited up for the American League's entry in Philly.

All he did in 1901 was tear the league to shreds, and when the dust settled on the American League's first season, Lajoie was the king of the hill, claiming the Triple Crown as he lead the league in runs, hits, doubles, homers, runs batted in, batting average, on base percentage, slugging and total bases!

His .426 average is STILL the high-water mark for the league and will almost assuredly never be topped.

A five-time batting champ, Lajoie finished his 21-year career with a .338 average to go along with 3243 hits, 1504 runs scored, 657 doubles, 163 triples and just under 1600 runs batted in with 1599.

In 1914 he joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner as the only players with 3000+ career hits, and even after his Major League days were over in 1917, while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the ripe old age of 42, he won the International league batting title, hitting a smooth .380!

Like Hornsby, Lajoie was a machine at the plate, and was one of the first Hall of Fame inductees, getting elected as part of the second class in 1937.

As far as picks go for second base, I think Lajoie is a "gimmie" for the A.L. slot, so I've kind of had it easy so far with my picks on this topic.

So take a look at the Sporting News pick that Topps issued, Rogers Hornsby, as well as my design for the American League counterpart, Napoleon Lajoie.

 

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #11: MANAGERS

The last installment on my thread reflecting on the 1976 Topps "All-Time All-Stars" sub-set will be something they didn't have: Managers.

Would have been nice to throw some respect to the filed managers after-all.

So today the final piece in this thread will be my picks for the all-time managers in each league (as I see picked back in 1976): Connie Mack in the American League and John McGraw in the National League.

Take a look at the cards first:

All we're looking at here is 86 years of Major League managerial leadership, eight World Series wins, and pennants!

Mack of course lead the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 years, and is still the winningest (and "losingest") manager in baseball history, with McGraw, who lead the mighty New York Giants in the early 20th-century, as the second most winning manager in the game's storied past.

Mack's first taste of managerial experience came with the Pittsburgh club between 1894-1896, before taking the helm of the Philadelphia club (and ownership) in the newly formed American League in 1901, a job he'd have until 1950, at the age of 87!

I remember being enthralled at the images of Mack in his suit, peering out of the dugout in all the baseball history books I came across as a kid. I STILL wonder why they don't let managers wear civilian clothes while managing, instead of squeezing into a baseball uniform like players decades younger than them!

Mack was far ahead of anyone I considered as far as "all-time manager" for the American League. Sure you had Stengal, McCarthy or even Miller Huggins with their championships. But "nah", not even close. Mack stands head and shoulders above the rest.

In the National League, who'd argue with McGraw as all-time manager of the league?

The ornery bastard carried the fire and hard-nosed play of his younger days right into his on-filed managing, first with the Baltimore Orioles in 1899 as player manager, then onto the Giants, whom he managed from 1902 to 1932, amassing 2763 wins along the way.

Again, we have a manager that was indeed far and away ahead of the pack as far as leaders are concerned in his league. 

While many may not have liked the way "Little Napoleon" handled his duties along the way, no one could argue with his Hall of Fame induction in the second class of 1937, along with who else but Connie Mack.

That wraps up my 1976 "All-Time All-Stars" thread sub-set. Not a bad squad representing both leagues…

Hope you all enjoyed it.

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #10: LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS

Next up on my "All-Time All-Stars" thread are the lefty pitchers on the team, and when you're nickname is "Lefty" and you win 300 games, you can see why the Sporting News picked Robert "Lefty" Grove as their all-time left-handed pitcher back in 1976 in honor of Major League baseball's 100th season.
Now for the National league, I went ahead and picked one of my all-time favorite players: Warren Spahn.
Take a look at the cards, Grove's as issued by Topps for the 1976 set, and Spahn, which I designed myself:

Starting off with Lefty Grove, we can see why it was so easy to pick him as the all-time lefty.
Starting out at the age of 25 because his Minor League team refused to sell him earlier in his career, all Grove did was go on to win 300 games against only 141 losses, good for the best winning percentage among all 300-game winner at .680.
He won nine E.R.A. titles, four games won titles, and seven strikeout titles in his 17 year career.
In 1931 he won the first BBWA American league M.V.P. award when he went 31-4 with a 2.06 E.R.A. and 175 strikeouts, all league leading numbers. That would also be his second straight pitching triple-crown, as he lead the league in the same categories in 1930 as well.
His .886 winning percentage that year is second all-time among 20+ game winning seasons, behind Ron Guidry's .893 winning percentage when he went 25-3 in 1978.
How about this for a cool performance: in 1930, as Grove went 28-5 with a 2.54 E.R.A. and 209 strikeouts for his first pitching triple-crown, he also lead the league in saves with nine.
By the time Grove retired after the 1941 season playing for the Red Sox, he was a sure fire Hall of Famer, and was inducted his first year of eligibility in 1947, getting named on 123 of 161 ballots cast.
But also take into account those "lost" years pitching for the Baltimore Orioles Minor League franchise in the early 1920's, when the team owner refused to sell him to a Major League franchise. Those were some of the all-time best Minor League clubs, and all Grove did in his five years there was go 111-39! That's a .740 winning percentage. Imagine some of those wins tacked on to his Major League totals. Just awesome.
As for my National League pick, I've already gone and described at length the insanity of Warren Spahn's incredible career.
Here's another guy who didn't get started in the Majors until he was in his mid-20's, 25 to be exact after military service took three full seasons from him, and he STILL went on to have 13 20-win seasons, pitch for 21 years, and win an incredible 363 games before he was said and done!
Spahn was amazing. Between 1947 and 1963, that's 17 seasons, he won 20+ games 13 times! Can you imagine that type of consistency?
In that time he won the second Cy Young Award in 1957 as he lead the Milwaukee Braves to their only World Championship over the Yankees, lead the league in wins eight times, E.R.A. three times, and strikeouts four times.
It's easy to see how if not for the outbreak of World War II, we'd be looking at a 400+ game winner, perhaps only behind Cy Young himself in career wins!
In 1973 he was inducted in the Hall of Fame as well, his rightful place among the legends of the sport.
Two fantastic pitchers who threw from the "South-Side".
That wraps up the position players on the All-Time team. But I have one last entry in this thread: All-Time Managers, something I wish Topps put out with this sub-set back in '76.
Keep an eye out for it next week.

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #9: RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS

Today we will be taking a look at right-handed pitchers for my "All-Time All-Stars" 1976 sub-set "tweak".

We've already covered the infield, outfield and catcher positions in previous posts, adding in who I thought would have been selected by the Sporting News in the non-selected league almost 40 years ago when they picked the all-time team celebrating the 100th season of Major League baseball.

First up we take a look at who they did pick for the all-time team as their right-hander on the mound: Walter Johnson.

 

"The Big Train".

 

Yeah, who is going to argue with THAT pick!?

Perhaps the greatest all-time pitcher PERIOD when you consider all the bad teams this guy pitched for.

All Johnson did while pitching his entire career for the Washington Senators was win 417 games (second all-time), throw 110 shutouts (all-time high), whiff 3509 batters (the record until the late-70's), and post a stellar 2.17 earned run average.

Can you imagine if Johnson pitched for good teams most of his career!? He'd probably have an extra 50-100 wins thrown in!

His 1913 season is just too sick: a 36-7 record with a 1.14 E.R.A, and 243 strikeouts, all league highs, as well as leading numbers in complete games (29), shutouts (11), winning percentage (.837)and WHIP (0.780). 

Needless to say he won the first of two M.V.P. awards that year, with his other award coming in 1924 when at the age of 36 he went 23-7 with a 2.72 earned run average and 158 K's (again winning the pitching Triple Crown) as he lead Washington to aWorld Series win over the New York Giants.

He actually won a third "Triple Crown" in 1918 as well, when he posted a 23-13 record with a 1.27 E.R.A. and 162 strikeouts.

All told he lead the league in wins six times, E.R.A. five times, shutouts seven times and strikeouts twelve times, twice topping 300 for a season (1910 & 1912).

For the National league I think my pick is just as clear cut: Christy Mathewson.

 

"Matty"

 

How can anyone really argue with "Big Six" as the N.L. representative!?

All Mathewson did during his career was win 373 games, post a 2.13 career earned run average, throw 79 shutouts and whiff 2507 batters.

He won 30+ games in a season four times, with a high of 37 in 1908 that is still the N.L. record post-1900.

Twice he'd win the Triple Crown, 1905 & 1908, and until Sandy Koufax came along Mathewson held the N.L. record for strikeouts in a season with his 267 in 1903.

How's this for all-time baseball performances: in the 1905 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics, Mathewson single-handedly won it for the Giants by pitching THREE shutout wins in six days!

Just colossal!

It's no surprise that both Johnson and Mathewson were part of the inaugural class inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936.

Two of the all-time best right-handers, two of the all-time best PERIOD.

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #8: OUTFIELDERS (3rd SET OF THREE)

Time to take a look at the final outfield slot in my "All-Time All-Stars" expanded sub-set from the 1976 Topps set.

And while we revisit the Sporting News pick for the third outfield position, Ted Williams, we also take a look at who I picked to fill out the National League team, Cardinal great Stan Musial.

I thought it would be appropriate to have Williams and Musial together on my "team" since they were contemporaries during the "Golden Age" of baseball.

Take a look at the cards: the Williams card as issued by Topps in 1976 and my design for the Musial card…

"The Splendid Splinter"

"Stan the Man"

What is really needed to say here regarding these two guys?!

Ted Williams and Stan Musial: two of the greatest all-around hitters in Major League history.

Power, average, getting on base. There was nothing they didn't excel at!

All Ted Williams did was win six batting titles, four home run titles and four R.B.I. titles, ending up with 521 homers, 1839 ribbies and a .344 career average while MISSING about five prime years of his career to military duty! Seriously, we could be talking of Williams having 700 homers, 4000 hits and about 2300 runs batted in if it wasn't for his missed playing time.

And for Musial, the numbers are almost as absurd: Seven batting titles, two R.B.I. titles, five triples titles and eight doubles titles, with career numbers of 475 home runs, 1951 runs batted in and a .331 career average. Throw in his 725 doubles, 177 triples and 3630 hits along with 1949 runs scored and the numbers are staggering. 

And don't forget that Musial also lost a year to military duty, easily putting him over 500 homers, close to 3900 hits and around 2100 runs batted in if he played in 1945.

Combined we're looking at five Most Valuable Player Awards, eight second place finishes, and an astonishing 88 league titles in important offensive categories over their 41 combined Major League seasons.

What a tandem right here. Monsters of the game if there ever were any.

Funny thing is I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades leading to his death last year.

When talk of "Greatest Living Player" came up it was always Williams, DiMaggio, Mays or even Aaron that would come up. But Stan Musial would always kind of be that after-thought. 

Go figure.

Anyway, next up we leave the outfield positions and move on to pitchers, starting off with the All-Time right-handers for both the National and American Leagues.

Stay tuned…

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #7: OUTFIELDERS (2ND SET OF THREE)

Next up on my all-time all-stars thread for the 1976 set is the second outfield position, a position which the American League "swept" in Sporting News votes back on our nation's 200th birthday, and baseball's "unofficial" 100th.
While we revisit Ty Cobb, who was picked for the all-time team, I also serve up my pick as one of the National League outfielders I thought would have (or could have) been picked had they done so: Hank Aaron.
First, let's look at the cards:

I think it's fair to say that Ty Cobb is a reasonable choice as an outfielder on your all-time team even today. Granted the guy was a  maniac, a misanthrope and a bigot, but let's not get into the "politics" here.
Basically all the man did between the foul lines was win 12 batting titles, reach 200 hits in a season nine times, hit .366 for his entire career, a triple crown in 1909, score over 2200 runs, hit over 720 doubles, just under 300 triples, and even drove in 1938 runs during the dead-ball era! Oh, and let's not forget the 897 stolen bases!
It's even funny to think that's it's so easy to overlook the fact that Cobb also lead the league in slugging eight times!
It's Ty Cobb for pete's sake!
The man was incredible, and it is somewhat understandable that he became bitter when Babe Ruth came along and put the offensive focus on power as opposed to "small ball", almost erasing all appreciation for those "intangibles" that Cobb was famous for.
As for my National League pick I went with another contemporary player (like Willie Mays), who I think would have gotten picked anyway if they filled out both an A.L. and N.L. team: Hank Aaron.
How can anyone argue with baseball's all-time home run king (at the time), along with career leader in runs batted in and total bases?
Aaron was the model of consistency, never hitting 50 homers in a season but hitting 40 eight times and 30 fifteen times! He also drove in 100 runs in a season 11 times while never topping more than 132, and had 3771 career hits while topping 200 in any year three times out of his 23.
For 21 consecutive seasons, Aaron was selected for the National league all-star team, and garnered M.V.P. votes nineteen straight years! Think about that, every single year between 1955 and 1973 the man got some attention for Most Valuable Player. That is incredible!
So this is the second set of "All-Time All-Star" outfielders, with the final set coming soon: Ted Williams as picked by the Sporting News back in 1976, and my final pick for the National League team, Stan "The Man" Musial.
Keep an eye out for it!

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #6: OUTFIELDERS (1ST SET OF THREE)

Today we move on to the outfield for my "all-time all-stars" expanded sub-set from 1976.

The Sporting News went and picked three American Leaguers for their all-time outfield: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Ted Williams.

And while many can't really argue with an outfield like that, it's fair to say the National league had their own powerhouse outfield trio that stacked up pretty well with their A.L. counterpart.

For this installment, the first of three for the outfield, I teamed the "Bambino" up with Giant great Willie Mays.

Take a look at the Ruth card as issued by Topps in 1976, as well as my design for the Mays card:

There's no question as to Babe Ruth's place in all-time baseball history, and picking him on ANY all-time team goes without saying, and I feel the same way about Willie Mays, the "Say-Hey Kid".

Even back in 1976 when the Sporting News was picking players in celebration of the 100th year of Major League ball, Mays would have been an obvious choice had they picked both American League and National League rosters.

Nice combo of players here: arguable the greatest American League player of all-time along with possibly the greatest National League player. Just awesome.

Who are the other two N.L. guys that fill out the outfield? Well you can pretty much guess, but if not keep an eye out here as I post them up in the next couple of weeks along with Cobb and Williams.

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #5: CATCHERS

Next position up on my "All-Time All-Stars" thread is catcher, and today we look at who the Sporting News picked for their all-time team in 1976, Mickey Cochrane, and who I figure would have been the National League pick had they chosen an A.L. and N.L. back then, Roy Campanella.

First off, let's take a look at the original Cochrane card as issued by Topps, as well as my design for the "Campy" card:

The Sporting News pick back in 1976.

My National League pick.

Ironically enough, both catchers ended up having somewhat tragically short careers, as Cochrane's playing days were cut short because of a beanball in 1937, while Campanella's career was cut short because of a traffic accident during the off-season in 1957-58.

Mickey Cochrane was an easy choice at the time as the All-Time catcher for the American League (I'm still torn as to whether Campanella would have been a better choice outright).

A two-time Most Valuable Player, once for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928 and then for the Detroit Tigers in 1934, he was the first catcher to ever score and drive in 100 runs in the same season in 1932, and was the lynch-pin for two powerhouse "mini-dynasties" in the Athletics of the late-20's/early-30's and Tigers of the mid-30's.

In 1930 he batted .357, followed by .349 in 1931, and he finished his career with a .320 lifetime average.

But as stated before, his career was cut short, and life almost ended, by a pitched ball on May 25th, 1937 when New York Yankees pitcher Bump Hadley hit him in the head, which hospitalized Cochrane for seven days.

His lifetime .419 on-base percentage is still the all-tme best among catchers, and his .320 average is only behind current catcher Joe Mauer.

Roy Campanella, who is MY personal pick for all-time catcher (as of 1976), was simply a powerhouse of a player throughout the 1950's for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Three times he was M.V.P. (1951, 1953, 1955) and an important part of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Gil Hodges.

Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year career.

During his second M.V.P. season, Campy lead the Brooklyn offense by driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103 runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.

Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home, flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process, rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.

Who do YOU think should have been named "all-time all-star" at catcher back in 1976? Anyone have a pick OTHER than the two here?

A close friend of mine strongly feels that Yogi Berra should have been picked over Cochrane to begin with. 

However, he's about as rabid a Yankee fan as there is, so I take his argument with a grain of salt.

Next up on this thread, we move on to he outfield, where the American League had a clean sweep by the Sporting News picks in 1976.
But my National League picks are no joke either!
So we'll start with Babe Ruth and the N.L. superstar next week.

Stay tuned here for that one…

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #4: THIRD BASEMEN

OK now, wrapping up infielders on my "All-Time All-Stars" 1976 thread, we move onto third basemen.

In celebration of Major League baseball's 100th anniversary, the Sporting News picked Pie Traynor as the all-time best third baseman.

At the time, it wasn't necessarily a bad pick.

However I think if I had a pick back then, I would have gone with the guy I chose as the all-time all-star at third for the American League, Brooks Robinson.

First off let's take a look at the Topps card from the awesome 1976 sub-set, Pie Traynor, and my design for the A.L. representative as mentioned above:

As picked by the Sporting News

Almost a lock for the A.L. pick back in '76

Traynor was incredible. It's easy to overlook the fact that he drove in 100+ runs six times while hitting under 10 homers!

And this is NOT a guy who played in the dead-ball era. He was driving in runs in bunches for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1920's and 1930's.

As a matter of fact, just like his American League counterpart Brooks Robinson, Traynor played his entire 17-year career with only one team, the Pirates.

And by the time he was wrapping up his Hall of Fame career in 1937, he was good for over 2400 hits, 1183 runs, 164 triples and 1273 ribbies while hitting a cool .320.

Like most national Leaguers in 1930, Traynor feasted on pitchers to the tune of a .366 average with 119 runs batted in while only hitting nine homers.

Two years earlier, in 1928, Traynor drove in 124 runs while only hitting THREE homers! 

Just amazing stuff, and in 1948 he received his hard earned spot in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Now while all of this truly IS amazing stuff, as I stated earlier I think I STILL would have picked Brooks Robinson in 1976 as the all-time all-star at the position over Traynor.

Robinson really did redefine the position over the course of his incredible 24-year career in Baltimore.

After a few false starts as a teenager out of Arkansas in the mid-to late-50's, Brooks hit the ground running in 1960 and never looked back.

That season began a run of SIXTEEN straight Gold Gloves at third, while also running 15 straight years as an all-star!

In that run he also had seven years of top-10 M.V.P. finishes, winning the award in 1964, (beating out Mickey Mantle), and was the anchor of all those great Oriole teams of the late-1960's/early-1970's, winning two World Series in 1966 and 1970 and four A.L. Pennants.

And WHO can forget the fielding display he performed against the Reds in the 1970 World Series? 

By the time the "Human Vacuum Cleaner" retired after the 1977 season, he totaled 2884 hits, 268 homers, 1357 runs batted in, and 11 fielding titles at third.

He also lead the league in assists at third eight times while establishing a few records that STILL stand today: most games at third with 2870, most double-plays turned with 618, most putouts with 2697 and most assists with 6205.

Both on the field and at the plate this guy was top-notch, so with no disrespect to the guys over at the Sporting News, THIS should have been the third baseman picked as "All-Time All-Star". (Unless he wasn't eligible for some reason. I don't know what the criteria was for that vote).

Next up, we take a look at the all-time all-star catchers, Mickey Cochrane, who was picked by the Sporting News and depicted on the 1976 sub-set, and my pick, which really shouldn't surprise anyone, Roy Campanella, representing the National League.

Keep an eye out for it…

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #3: SHORTSTOPS

Next up in my thread regarding the 1976 "All-Time All-Stars" sub-set are shortstops.

This may be the first position where some of you may not agree with who I picked, so let's see…

First off, as far as THE all-time best, who can argue with who the Sporting News picked, Honus Wagner?

Really no argument there for sure.

But what about the American League's all-time best shortstop as of 1976? Who do you think THAT should have been?

I thought long and hard about it, and my final pick, and who I thought the Sporting News would have picked, is Luke Appling, long-time star shortstop for the Chicago White Sox.

First off let's take a look at my card design for Appling in the sub-set, as well as the original card for Honus Wagner that Topps put out there in 1976:

About as easy a "lock" pick as there is...

 

"Old Aches and Pains"

 

Wagner was a lock as the all-time best, as he put together one of the greatest careers of any ballplayer in the early part of the 20th century, amassing 3420 hits, 1739 runs, 252 triples and 643 doubles, and…oh yeah, EIGHT batting titles and 723 stolen bases as he guided the Pirates eighteen years after three years in Louisville between 1897-1899.

Wagner was a monster. Not only did he lead the league in batting those eight times, but he also lead the N.L. in doubles seven times, triples three times, runs batted in five times, stolen bases five times, on-base pct three times, slugging six times, and total bases six times!

He did it all, and was duly selected to be one of the charter members of the Hall of Fame in 1936 alongside Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.

As for Luke Appling, how can you not pick "Old Aches and Pains" as the all-time best shortstop in the A.L. as of 1976 based on his excellent 20 year career?

Between 1930 and 1950 (he lost a year to military service in 1944 at the age of 37), Appling totaled 2749 hits, 1319 runs scored, 440 doubles and 102 triples to go along with 1116 runs batted in and a .310 lifetime batting average.

He was also a two-time batting champ in the A.L., hitting a blazing .388 in 1936 and .328 in 1943. As a matter of fact, Appling hit over .300 in 15 seasons as a big-leaguer, and was a seven-time all-star, as well as finishing second in M.V.P. voting twice (his two batting championship seasons).

I did consider other guys like Joe Cronin, Joe Sewell or even Lou Boudreau.

But after looking at all the info I could, Appling was my final pick, and who I thought the Sporting News would have went with for their "All-Time All-Stars" team representing the American League on the 100th anniversary of Major League baseball.

What do YOU think?

Next up, we take a look at the all-time third basemen: Pie Traynor for the National League, and a pretty easy pick (at the time) for the A.L. representative.

Keep an eye out for it…

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #2: 2ND BASEMEN

The next installment in my thread regarding the 1976 "All-Time All-Stars" sub-set moves on to second base, where the Sporting News picked Rogers Hornsby as the all-time all-star at the position.

Now what if there was both an N.L. AND A.L. Team picked? Who would have been the American League second baseman?

First off, I can't really argue with the Hornsby pick for the "all-time" team outright, as " the Rajah" was second only to Ty Cobb in career batting average at .358, along with seven batting titles, just under 3000 hits (2930), as well as some feats that may never be seen again, such as his five year stretch where he AVERAGED over .400 between 1921 and 1925!

He TWICE took home a Triple Crown (in 1922 and 1925), and was the first National League player to hit over 40 homers in a season when he smashed 42 in 1922.

He batted over .400 three times, topped by an astounding .424 average in 1924, and just missed out on another when he hit .397 in 1921.

Hornsby was a hitting machine, and his spot on an "all-time" team is A-OK by me!

However, as I mentioned earlier, I always wondered who would have been the American League representative for an all-time team had they picked one, and  I decided that in all probability it would have been early 20th Century SUPER star Napolean Lajoie.

Already a star for the Philadelphia team of the National league the final few years of the 1890's, Lajoie famously jumped leagues during the tumultuous player-snatching between leagues in the first few years of the new century, and he didn't miss a beat when he suited up for the American League's entry in Philly.

All he did in 1901 was tear the league to shreds, and when the dust settled on the American League's first season, Lajoie was the king of the hill, claiming the Triple Crown as he lead the league in runs, hits, doubles, homers, runs batted in, batting average, on base percentage, slugging and total bases!

His .426 average is STILL the high-water mark for the league and will almost assuredly never be topped.

A five-time batting champ, Lajoie finished his 21-year career with a .338 average to go along with 3243 hits, 1504 runs scored, 657 doubles, 163 triples and just under 1600 runs batted in with 1599.

In 1914 he joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner as the only players with 3000+ career hits, and even after his Major League days were over in 1917, while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the ripe old age of 42, he won the International league batting title, hitting a smooth .380!

Like Hornsby, Lajoie was a machine at the plate, and was one of the first Hall of Fame inductees, getting elected as part of the second class in 1937.

As far as picks go for second base, I think Lajoie is a "gimmie" for the A.L. slot, so I've kind of had it easy so far with my picks on this topic.

So take a look at the Sporting News pick that Topps issued, Rogers Hornsby, as well as my design for the American League counterpart, Napolean Lajoie.

The Sporting News pick...

My pick for the N.L. team.

Next up, the shortstop position and what may be the first "iffy" pick to raise some eyebrows, as I choose my American League "all-time all-star" to pair up with the Sporting News pick, Honus Wagner.

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #1: 1ST BASEMEN

I've always been a HUGE fan of Topps' 1976 sub-set: "All-Time All-Stars".

I remember first seeing these cards as a seven year old kid and I was blown away staring at photos of Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, among other greats of the game.

With most of these players it was the very first time I even SAW photos of them, like Rogers Hornsby and Honus Wagner.

And staring at those insane stats on the backs were a thrill for a young stat-geek before the age of the web and before my dad would buy me my first Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia a few years later.

I was hooked!

Since then I always wondered what the FULL "all-time" team would have been had the Sporting News held a vote for BOTH the National League's all-time team and American League.

I imagined who would be a "lock" and what position would be a toss-up.

Well today I want to start this thread off by looking at the first basemen, both the elected, Lou Gehrig (and rightly so), and who I think would have been elected for the N.L., Cap Anson.

Let me begin by stating now that this is purely conjecture, as I do not have the final vote-tally from when the Sporting News did this back then to mark the 100th anniversary of the "Major Leagues". So I'll have some fun with this and pick who I think would have, or "should have" won the spot for the unrepresented league back in 1976.

Again, this IS NOT about who would be voted TODAY, but back in 1976 when the original voting was held.

So here we go…

For first base the National League wasn't represented, as Lou Gehrig is and was the obvious choice for the position. 

This is DEFINITELY one of those "locks" I mentioned earlier!

The "Iron Horse" is one of the top players bottom-line, and even today there isn't a first baseman that could arguably topple him from the top spot among first sackers.

But I felt that if there was a pick for the National league back in 1976, it would have been Cap Anson.

Keeping "politics" out of this (and believe me, I was tempted to NOT pick Anson solely on his questionable "objections" to who played in the Majors or not), I just feel that Anson was the best all-time first baseman of the N.L. at the time the Sporting News held this vote.

How can you argue with a 22-year career (not including his five year National Association years) that produced the first member of the 3000 hit club, over 1700 runs scored, 1880 runs batted in, and a sterling .331 career average.

Statistics aside, Anson was also one of the most important figures of early baseball, helping the game survive various struggles and becoming "America's Pastime", along with other important figures like Albert Spalding and the Wright brothers (Harry and George), among others.

When you add in Cap Anson's N.A. stats, they're just eye-popping: 1999 runs scored, 3435 hits, 2075 runs batted in, and a .334 average.

He was easily the charter member of many of the milestone clubs!

So today I designed a card for Anson in that awesome 1976 "All-Time All-Stars" sub-set, filling out the first base position for BOTH leagues.

 

The Sporting News pick...

My pick for the N.L. team.

 

Next up: second base and my American League pick, joining Rogers Hornsby at the position.

Stay tuned…