bdj610's End of Year MLB All-Star Teams: 1988 Edition

Last year, I gave a brief history as to why I create End of the Year All-Star teams. Basically it was because I was 13 years old, still new to baseball, new to baseball card collecting, and was fascinated by the 1989 Topps sticker backs. Growing up, I was familiar with collectible stickers and albums, and I somehow managed to get my hand on the 1989 Topps Sticker Album and a lot of the stickers. But I was intrigued by the players featured on the backs of the stickers. The players who appeared on the backs were All-Stars. The top three players at each position (1b, 2b, 3b, ss, 9 of, c, rhp, lhp, closer). And I would imagine games played by these All-Stars, acting the plays out with the cards on my bed (I had a checkered bedsheet, so it sort of resembled a baseball diamond). And fair warning, almost all of the players on the rosters below are from this set.

I say almost, only because while the 33 players on the American League team had players from all 14 teams, the National League side only had 11 teams represented. The one team missing was the Atlanta Braves. To offset this slight (because even then I believed that every team had to have a representative) I went to the Atlanta Braves page, and picked a player whos sticker I could use to cover one of my extra cards. It had to be a full sticker, not one of those half stickers. I thought that the two players with the full stickers represented the stars of the team. So my choices were Dale Murphy or Gerald Perry. Because Murphy had the better power statistics (24 HR's and 77 RBI's compared to Perry's 8 and 74) in 1988, I picked him over Perry. So Dale Murphy's sticker was placed over an extra card and included in my "set," and eventually, my All-Star team.

But this gave me another problem. I now had 34 players on the NL side, and 33 players on the AL side. What was I to do? The same thing. Pick a player who had a full sticker and add him to the set. But who? Because I lived in Chicago, I thought it should have to be a White Sox player. So onto the page with the White Sox team. The two "stars" were Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines. Now because Fisk already had a card in the set, I placed the Baines sticker onto the back of another card. Now my "teams" were complete.

Just like when I "created" my 1987 All-Star teams, I wasn't totally familiar with the best players in baseball (yet), so for me, this assembly of all-stars would have to do. Looking back now, I know I could do much better. But as before, I am not about to revise anything now, especially since I still have my notes from when I first wrote them down.

So without further ado, for the first time online, I am proud to introduce my 1988 End of Year MLB All-Star Teams (in alphabetical order by position):

(Lots of space here when I added the table. Don't know why...)

American League First Basemen George Brett, Royals* Don Mattingly, Yankees Mark McGwire, Athletics Second Basemen Julio Franco, Indians* Harold Reynolds, Mariners Lou Whitaker, Tigers Third Basemen Wade Boggs, Red Sox Gary Gaetti, Twins* Paul Molitor, Brewers* Shortstops Tony Fernandez, Blue Jays Cal Ripken, Orioles Alan Trammell, Tigers Outfielders Jose Canseco, Athletics Joe Carter, Indians Dwight Evans, Red Sox Mike Greenwell, Red Sox* Dave Henderson, Athletics* Rickey Henderson, Yankees Kirby Puckett, Twins Dave Winfield, Yankees Robin Yount, Brewers* Catchers Bob Boone, Angels* Carlton Fisk, White Sox Geno Petralli, Rangers* Designated Hitter Harold Baines, White Sox Pitchers Roger Clemens, Red Sox Dennis Eckersley, Athletics* Mark Gubicza, Royals* Teddy Higuera, Brewers* Bruce Hurst, Red Sox Doug Jones, Indians* Jeff Reardon, Twins* Dave Stewart, Athletics* Frank Viola, Twins* Manager: Tony LaRussa, Athletics The Starters: 1B: Mattingly 2B: Franco 3B: Boggs SS: Trammell OF: Canseco OF: Greenwell OF: Puckett C: Boone DH: Baines P: Viola *First-Time All-Star

National League First Basemen Will Clark, Giants* Glenn Davis, Astros* Andres Galarraga, Expos Second Basemen Juan Samuel, Phillies Ryne Sandberg, Cubs Steve Sax, Dodgers* Third Basemen Bobby Bonilla, Pirates* Howard Johnson, Mets* Vance Law, Cubs* Shortstops Shawon Dunston, Cubs Barry Larkin, Reds* Ozzie Smith, Cardinals Outfielders Barry Bonds, Pirates* Eric Davis, Reds Andre Dawson, Cubs Kirk Gibson, Dodgers* Tony Gwynn, Padres Kevin McReynolds, Mets* Rafael Palmeiro, Cubs* Darryl Strawberry, Mets Andy Van Slyke, Pirates* Catchers Gary Carter, Mets Mike LaValliere, Pirates* Benito Santiago, Padres* Designated Hitter Dale Murphy, Braves Pitchers Tom Browning, Reds* David Cone, Mets* Mark Davis, Padres* John Franco, Reds Dwight Gooden, Mets Orel Hershiser, Dodgers Danny Jackson, Reds* Bob Knepper, Astros* Randy Myers, Mets* Manager: Tommy Lasorda, Dodgers The Starters: 1B: Galarraga 2B: Sandberg 3B: Bonilla SS: Smith OF: Dawson OF: Strawberry OF: Van Slyke C: Carter DH: Murphy P: Hershiser

For these teams, you will notice that there are only nine pitchers. This will be the only year that I will have nine pitchers on either team. The tenth pitcher spot was replaced by the designated hitter spot. And as we go on later through the years, you will notice that while the tenth pitcher's spot is on every year, the DH alternates every even year until 2007.

Thirty-six new players are first-time all-stars from the previous year's teams (16 for the American League, 20 for the Nationals). One-person teams on my 1988 rosters include the Angels (Boone), Blue Jays (Fernandez), Mariners (Reynolds), Orioles (Ripken), Rangers (Petralli), Braves (Murphy), Cardinals (Smith), Expos (Galarraga), Giants (Clark), and Phillies (Samuel). The Mets have seven representatives on the NL roster, leading both leagues. The Athletics, Red Sox, Cubs, and Reds each send five players to their respective squads.

Based on the ringing success of the 1987 All-Star Game simulations, I am going to do the same thing with these two rosters. Seven regular games (10,000 simulations each, six with the same starting pitchers, one where lineups and starting pitchers change), and one All-Star Game will be simulated during the course of the week. I hope to have the results of all the games by the end of the week.

Now it's time for me to create the .DAT files before getting the games set. This won't take long.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama