Major League Baseball Centennial All-Time Teams
In 1969, Major League Baseball celebrated its centennial with a landmark event: the naming of its first official All-Time Team and an accompanying All-Time "Living" Team, both unveiled at a star-studded banquet on July 21, the night before that year's All-Star Game.[1] For the first time, fans played a central role in the selection process, voting for all-time franchise teams in each major league city, which served as nominees for the national team. Supplemented by ballots from The Sporting News and a panel of writers and broadcasters, finalists were chosen for each position, leading to Oscar-style award presentations at a gala attended by Hall of Famers, current stars, politicians, and celebrities.[2]
At the same event, Babe Ruth was crowned the greatest player of all time, while Joe DiMaggio was honored as the greatest "living" player.[3]
All-Time Team
Greatest All-Time Player – Babe Ruth
- Finalists – Joe DiMaggio and Ty Cobb
All-Time "Living" Team
Greatest "Living" Player – Joe DiMaggio
- Finalists – Ted Williams and Stan Musial
See also
- Major League Baseball All-Century Team
- Major League Baseball All-Time Team, a similar team chosen by the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 1997
- 1969 Major League Baseball season
- Latino Legends Team
- Team of the century
- DHL Hometown Heroes
- List of MLB awards
- Baseball awards § United States
- National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Further reading
- Nemec, David. PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL: The First 100 Years – 1869–1969. New York: Atheneum, 1969. OCLC 2199632.
- Roger Angell (July 26, 1969). "Baseball Centennial Souvenir Program". The New Yorker. [1]
References
- ^ Petriello, Mike (April 18, 2007). "Celebrating Baseball's Centennial". The Hardball Times. FanGraphs. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
- ^ "Memories & Dreams: Celebrating Professional Baseball's Centennial". Appel PR. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ^ "1969 National League Season Summary". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ a b "July 23, 1969: Willie McCovey's two homers power National League to All-Star win". SABR. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ^ a b "1969 MLB All-Time Teams". web.archive.org. 2025-04-30. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
External links
- Professional Baseball – The First 100 Years from YouTube
- Year In Review: 1969 from Baseball Almanac