This is what the perfect 2017 MLB All-Star would look like
People have long asked the question, “What would the perfect baseball player look like?”
If you could piece together a human being using only the best attributes in baseball, who would you use? With the All-Star Game putting the best talent on Earth on display for one night, we had the same line of thinking. If you could piece together an All-Star, who would it be? Here’s the result:
This got us thinking, “What could we do to create the best player of all time?” Here’s the pieces we would pick from the thousands of players who have played baseball.
Eyes
Barry Bonds — Bill Harrison, who worked with hundreds of baseball players to help them improve their eyesight, maintains that Bonds is the “gold standard” when it comes to vision. The home run king walked 2,558 times, most ever.
Brain
Ross Ohlendorf — The journeyman pitcher graduated from Princeton after majoring in Operations Research and Financial Engineering. He penned a 140-page senior thesis titled “Investing in Prospects: A Look at the Financial Successes of Major League Baseball Rule IV Drafts from 1989 to 1993.” That’s brains right there.
Right arm
Roberto Clemente — “Clemente could field the ball in New York and throw out a guy in Pennsylvania,” Vin Scully once said of the late Puerto Rican native. His right arm, nicknamed “El Howitzer,” produced 266 assists, by far the most of anyone who played after World War II.
Left arm
Ken Griffey Jr. — The Kid had a cannon. Griffey Jr. racked up 154 assists in his 22-year career and was one of the most feared arms in center field.
Power
Babe Ruth — Why not Bonds? Well, the simple answer is the steroid question. Why not Hank Aaron? He ranks 38th in at-bats per home run. Why not Mark McGwire, the man atop AB/HR? Again, steroids. So that leaves us with The Sultan of Swat, who ranks third on the all-time home run list and second in AB/HR at 11.76. And his version of steroids consisted of chewing tobacco and whiskey.
Legs
Rickey Henderson — “The Man of Steal” swiped over 1,400 bases in his career and led the league or tied for the league lead in 12 different seasons. He also owns the record for career runs scored. Want longevity? He won his first stealing crown when he was 21 and his last when he was 39.
