The All-Star Team Of My Lifetime

With the Major League Baseball game on the docket for tonight, I decided to come up with my all-time All-Star team. These are guys that I enjoyed watching and would pay to see. Notice, none of these guys have an asterisk next to their name for alleged performance enhancing drugs. You won't find Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Ramirez, Rodriguez or Sosa on here.

C - Mike Piazza - Hard to argue with a guy who hit more homers at his position than anybody else - ever. He had his struggles defensively, but the best defensive catcher in the era, Ivan Rodriguez, is covered by the whole steroid cloud. Joe Mauer, however, has a strong chance at surpassing Piazza on this list.

1B - Albert Pujols - I hope he's clean. I really do. I think he is. If we find out he isn't, baseball is in BIG trouble. It's an absolute pleasure to watch him play. Gets the edge over Frank Thomas, who was SO scary to go against in the mid-1990s.

2B - Roberto Alomar - Watching him play in Cleveland was an absolute treat. He was obviously a terriffic hitter, especially for a second baseman, but his glove work just made you say 'Wow'.

SS - Derek Jeter - I hate the Yankees, but there's nothing to dislike about this guy. He always plays smart, and he always plays hard. It was extremely hard for me to choose him over hometown hero Omar Vizquel. I consider Cal Ripken Jr. a SS since he spent 23% of his career games at 3B. Truthfully, Ripken's numbers are better than Jeter's, but Jeter seems to have that "it" that people talk about, evidenced by his four World Series ring, compared to just one for Ripken.

3B - Chipper Jones - Over David Wright and Evan Longoria, simply because these two haven't done it long enough. Check back with me in a few years.

OF - Ken Griffey Jr. - In a sport where not a lot of guys are 'fun' to watch, Junior was exciting. His athleticism was uncanny, and that swagger he had made him endearing to fans.

OF - Ichiro Suzuki - Just an absolute hitting machine. Vladimir Guerrero and Suzuki are as close to a five-tool player as you're going to get these days. Ichiro could roll out of bed and hit .330. He's similar to Vladimir, but for the better range I gave the edge to Ichiro.

OF - Tony Gwynn - Gwynn edges out Rickey Henderson, mostly because Henderson started his career eight years before I was born. My memories of him are a washed-up, crazy guy. Gwynn started his career six years before I was born, but hit .300+ from that season all the way until I was 13. All the guy did was get base hits. A look at his statistics will make your jaw hit the floor.

SP - Greg Maddux - 355 career wins. Four Cy Young awards. Eight-time All-Star and 18 Gold Gloves. His numbers are eye-popping, even though his appearance wasn't. In an era where balls flew out of the ballpark, the pure pitcher dominated.

SP - Randy Johnson - Such an intimidating figure. His five Cy Youngs are second all-time. I won't soon forget his playoff dominance, in particular the 2001 postseason in which his Diamondbacks squad captured the title. Probably going to go down in history as the last guy to win 300 games in his career.

SP- Roy Halladay - 'Doc' threw nine complete games last season. NINE! That's almost unheard of in this day and age. He's hidden in Toronto on a team that is never competitive. Still, he has a .677 career winning percentage. He gets my last spot, edging out the likes of Johan Santana and Curt Schilling.

SP - Pedro Martinez - Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS. The injured Martinez shut down my Indians for six innings in a dominant relief appearance. In the latter half of the 1990s, he put together a stretch as impressive as any pitcher of all time: three Cy Young awards in a four years.

SP - Tom Glavine - He won 164 games in the 1990s while I was growing up, second to only Greg Maddux. He's one of just six left-handed pitcher's to win 300 games. He was workmanlike, but had an outstanding career that recently came to a strange end.

RP - Mariano Rivera - When Rivera comes out of the bullpen, opposing fans start to pack up and head for the exits. He was brilliant for over a decade at a position that's hard to maintain longevity. Trevor Hoffman may have more career saves, but he didn't do it under the pressure that Rivera faced.