A Note On The Method For Choosing "Our" All-Star Team

First of all, my assumption here is that "our" All-Star Game is to be played by the players who are the best at their positions right now, and whose talent limits, if as yet not completely established, are likely to either stay the same, or improve (barring injury).

Let's leave the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. And leave to the HOF too the players who, while once great (and are no doubt headed there), must be held to the same standard of excellence as the player who has only two or three seasons in the majors, if he is to play in the All-Star game. After all, we wouldn't roll out Babe Ruth's empty uniform from the HOF to play right field would we?

So, although it happens all the time, even in MLB organizational head-offices, let's not judge who is best right now based on a player's performance from several years ago, or even last year (i.e Gary Matthews, Jr.'s 50 million dollar catch last year ... that kind of thinking like the Angels indulged in with the soon to be 32-year-old Matthews) for that matter. What we are looking for is players who have the best skills right now.

So ... what is a skill ... we think we know one when we see it. And in the case of the guys who are still playing and are probably headed for the HOF, but no longer possess All-Star level skills (and most are still tempted to credit with the skill they once possessed); how do we know when the skill is going ... or gone?

NEXT: What is a skill? Which skills can we establish? Which skills are more important in a game where the talent level of all the players is usually very high? Since we voters can't choose the pitching staff, we're going to stick with the position players' skills, offensive and defensive.