AL Right Fielder: Reggie Jackson
Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! I don't care if people do think he is a jerk, he's a damned interesting jerk and I like him. Because of him I'm actually looking forward to an ESPN production, and they usually end up making an Ed Wood flick look like Citizen Kane. The guy who is playing him looks a little more like Gabe Kaplan than Reg in the commercials I've seen, but John Turturro as Billy Martin more than makes up for it. Joe Grifasi better not screw up Yogi though... He played Rizzuto in 61* so I'm not too worried. Back to Reggie - dude is just the textbook definition of Star. Three titles in Oakland. Two more in the Bronx. Three home runs in a World Series game! Mister Freaking October. Then for an encore, he goes to California and tries to shoot the Queen of England! Plus he started the chase autograph card craze with his signed UD Heroes card, but we won't hold that against him. Plus his cardmate Billy Williams certainly is no slouch himself.NL Center Fielder: Hank Aaron
Why does Aaron get the nod as my starting center fielder? You'll find out... Hank actually started in center in the 1967 All Star game in Anaheim, so it's legit. Stole a base off Bill Freehan too, which is not an easy task. There's a lot of brouhaha going on over the impending 756 thing that's about to happen in the next few weeks. Everyone in America hates Barry, he's a cheater, he's desecrating the most important record in sports, blah, blah, blah. Listen folks, I love Hank as much as anyone else out there. I used to go outside with my bat and some tennis balls and break his record at least 5 times a day when I was a kid whether I needed to or not. If I didn't go outside, I could just spontaneously stop what I was doing, take a mighty cut and send that ball over the left field fence right in the middle of my room. I'm not a big Barry fan either, I've spent some time in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium's left field bleachers chanting "Baaaaarrryyy", and I still laugh whenever I think how the Great Gold Glover couldn't even throw out crippled Sid Bream at the plate. The fact is sometime in the next month or so, Barry will forever have at least one more home run than Hank. And that is OK. Steroids or no, hitting home runs after your 40th birthday is incredibly difficult and the reality that he is still doing it with regularity means he really has earned the record. My son will grow up in a world where Barry Bonds has more career home runs than any other player. He can look back at Barry's achievements, maybe learn something about the players Barry passed along the way and watch as the next generation takes their shot at the record. Still, for me there will always only be one Home Run King.
AL Left Fielder: Carl Yastrzemski
When I was a kid, one of my favorite players was Bob Horner. I eventually accumulated a bunch of his cards, and I realized I had somehow ended up with 3 of his 1979 rookie cards. Two was enough for me (one for the set, one for my Braves collection) so I decided to go to the local card shop and trade the extra for another card. This was back when a Bob Horner rookie was actually somewhat of a big deal, so I needed to make damn sure I got something good for it. I wanted a future Hall of Famer for my Horner Rookie. I settled on this 1978 Yaz. I made a good choice. #8 spent all 23 years of his career with the Sox, finishing up with over 3400 hits, over 450 home runs, and over 1800 runs and RBIs. Oh yeah, he's also the last player to win the Triple Crown. Yet Drew Barrymore can't even pronounce his name. Yaz-Trem-Ski!Honorable mentions:
1981 Fred Lynn
1975 Jim Wynn
1979 Richie Zisk
Up next: The rest of the outfielders, and they're every bit as good as these three.
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