Last week I brought up some of the players whose inclusion on Major League Baseball's All-Century Team I disagreed with. The players included are Hall of Fame candidates, if they're not in the Hall already, but they're taking a spot away from a player that is more worthy. As noted I'm going to follow a few simple rules to create my own all-century team:

1. One player at each position (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, the outfielders will not be lumped together), while picking one right-handed pitcher and one left-handed pitcher.

2. Pick only one player from each decade (for example, 1900-1909).

3. Keeping in mind the best players of their respective decade and all-time at each respective position, while also trying to ignore my own personal favorites (Robin Yount certainly is one of the best shortstops of all-time, and one of my all-time favorites, but he will not factor into this discussion).

1900-1909

Honus Wagner, shortstop

Wagner was one of the first five players inducted into Cooperstown's National Baseball Hall of Fame, and in fact he had as many votes as Babe Ruth did and more than Walter Johnson and Christy Matthewson (Ty Cobb had the most votes of the inaugural class). I find it interesting that the first player to represent this list plays the position that is generally considered the most glamorous on the field, a position that has been represented more by defense than offense up until the recent surge of multi-dimensional shortstops that have re-defined the position. Similar to players like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams as discussed later in this column, Wagner was among the league leaders in every offensive category nearly every year he played the game. Had Major League Baseball had an MVP award to distribute at the time, Wagner likely would have won it numerous times from 1900-1909. An eight-time batting champ that played in quite possibly the deadest offensive era, Wagner's statistical accomplishments include ranking eighth all-time in both hits (3,415) and doubles (640), third in triples (252) and 10^th in stolen bases (722).

1910-1919

Walter Johnson, right-handed pitcher

As noted above, Johnson was also a member of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class. One of the first, pure fire-ballers, Johnson won the MVP award twice (1913, 1924 - this was before the Cy Young award existed) and led the American League in the triple crown categories (wins, earned-run average, strikeouts) three times (1913, 1918, 1924). He led the league in ERA a total of five times, wins six times, and strikeouts an astounding 12 times. Johnson remains second all-time in wins with 417, a mark (along with Cy Young's all-time mark) that will likely be safe forever unless baseball changes the rules in how wins are attributed. His career 2.17 ERA is 11^th all-time, and his 3,509 strikeouts rank ninth (only he and Cy Young are among the top 20 in strikeouts of pitchers whose careers were before 1950). Johnson's strikeout record stood for 62 years, which is nearly 10 years longer than how long Babe Ruth held the home run record and the same amount of time Lou Gehrig held the consecutive games played record.

1920-1929

Babe Ruth, right field

When I started this list Ruth was the first player I penciled in. There is no way you can have any all-time greatest list without including the greatest player to ever play the game of baseball. Simply put, Ruth changed the game of baseball forever in the 1920s. From home runs to runs to RBIs to slugging percentage to walks to on-base percentage, Ruth led the league in almost every single major offensive category almost every single year he played the game. When he had his first 50-home run season in 1920 (54), the second best total was accumulated by George Sisler with 19. When he led the league in home runs the season before with 29, the second-best home run hitter had 10. Amazingly enough he finished his career with only one MVP season (1923). This doesn't even get into the fact that he had two 20-win seasons as a left-handed pitcher and led the league in ERA in 1916 before being traded to the New York Yankees. Ruth currently is tied as the ninth best hitter of all-time (.342), is tied for third with Hank Aaron in runs scored (2,174), he is second all-time in on-base percentage (.474), RBIs (2,213), and home runs (714) while remaining first in slugging percentage (.690).

1930-1939

Lou Gehrig, first base

First base presented an interesting situation since the best and second best first basemen of all-time in my estimation (Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx) played during the same time period. Gehrig gets the nod as the better player over time, despite the fact that Foxx had better numbers from 1930-1939. Foxx won the American League MVP three times during the 30s (1932, 1933, 1938), while Gehrig won the award twice in his career (1927, 1936). Foxx has more career home runs (534, 14^th all-time to 493, tied for 21^st), yet Gehrig has the lead all-time in batting average (.340, 17^th all-time to .325, 41^st), on-base percentage (.447, fifth all-time to .428, 11^th) and slugging percentage (.632, third all-time to .609, sixth). Most impressive was the fact that he had 13 consecutive seasons (1926-1938) in which he scored at least 100 runs and drove in at least 100 runs. In 10 of those seasons he had at least 125 of each, including eight in a row (1927-1934). And of course Gehrig also had an amazing streak of games played that seemed unbreakable until Cal Ripken Jr. unseated Gehrig as Major League Baseball's Iron Man. Gehrig also had one of the most memorable moments in baseball history when he claimed he was the luckiest man in the world during his touching farewell speech.

1940-1949

Ted Williams, left field

Williams was the second player to be placed on this list with permanent ink after my brother Dave reminded me that he played left field and not right. Similar to first base, one of the next best players considered for left field came from the same decade, Stan "The Man" Musial, who played left field in the 40s before moving to first base predominantly in the 50s. While Ruth was the greatest player to ever play the game of baseball, Ted Williams was the best hitter. He still is the last man to ever hit .400, with his .406 average from 1941. His career .344 career batting average is the seventh best in baseball. His career .482 on-base percentage is the best all-time in baseball, while his .634 career slugging percentage checks in at second all-time (to Babe Ruth). Williams won the American League MVP award twice (1946, 1949), and led in triple crown categories (batting average, home runs and RBIs) twice (1942, 1947). He was among the league leaders in every single offensive category in every year he played the game, and many still wonder where his name and overall numbers would stand today had he not missed three years while serving our country in World War II.

1950-1959

Willie Mays, center field

Mays could be named the game's greatest centerfielder in both the 50s and the 60s, but I'll give him the nod in the 50s since that is where he started his career by winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1951. He won the MVP in two different decades (1954, 1965) playing in two different cities (New York, San Francisco), and was also the All-Star Game MVP twice (1963, 1968), and he won 12 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1957 (the year the award began) to 1968. Mays mixed an uncanny blend of power and speed that previously had not been seen in Major League Baseball. He is currently fourth on the all-time home run list with 660, and finished his career with 338 stolen bases. Mays was one of three amazing New York centerfielders from 1954-1957 with Mickey Mantle playing for the Yankees at the time and Duke Snider playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Few would guess that Snider had the most home runs during that time before the Giants and Dodgers moved to San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively. Similar to Ted Williams, you have to wonder where Mays would have finished all-time had he not missed two years by serving his country in the military.

1960-1969

Sandy Koufax, left-handed pitcher

Koufax' name doesn't show up on the leaderboard on any all-time lists due to his relatively short career, and therefore he may not be regarded as the best left-handed pitcher of all-time, but he had arguably the most dominant six-year stretch in the history of Major League Baseball. He won the Cy Young Award three times in four years (1963, 1965, 1966), leading all pitchers in the triple crown categories each of those three seasons, and won the MVP as well as the Cy Young in 1963. Koufax was also named the World Series MVP in 1963 and 1965. Outside of his three Cy Young seasons, he finished first in ERA in 1962 and 1964, finishing third in the Cy Young voting in 1964 (a season in which he missed 12 starts due to injury), and also led the league in strikeouts in 1961. Koufax was virtually unhittable with absolutely filthy stuff which led to four no-hitters, one in each year from 1962 to 1965. He reportedly threw his hardest on every single pitch, which many people attribute to his short career that was ended due to degenerative arthritis in his left elbow, but again, few players, if any, were more dominant in a five to six year stretch than Sandy Koufax.

1970-1979

Johnny Bench, catcher

This was a tough decade to pick, because I wanted to take Joe Morgan here as my second baseman. However, Bench won because he is what I believe to be without a doubt the best catcher to ever play the game. Morgan is one of the best second baseman, but Rogers Hornsby was the second best hitter in the game in the 30s next to Ruth. Bench was the heart of the Big Red Machine, leading the Reds to four World Series in the 1970s, winning two of those championships. He was the National League MVP during two of those seasons (1970, 1972), and was the Rookie of the Year in 1968. Bench led the National League in home runs twice and RBIs three times, and won the Gold Glove at catcher for 10 consecutive seasons from 1968 through 1977. He was a leader on and off the field and an amazingly productive hitter that is so rare to find from behind the plate. On top of all of his accolades, he spent his entire 17-year career with the Cincinnati Reds, the best team of the 1970s.

1980-1989

Mike Schmidt, third base

Mike Schmidt without a doubt is the best third baseman of all-time, an honor he held when he was still playing the game. He was named the MVP three times throughout his career, all in the 80s (1980, 1981, 1986), he led the National League in on-base percentage three times, slugging percentage five times, total bases three times, RBIs four times and home runs eight times. Similar to Barry Bonds today, it's hard to find any other slugger that was feared more during his time than Schmidt. On top of his offensive production, he was also a fine overall athlete and fielder, winning 10 Gold Gloves during his career and adding six Silver Slugger awards. Similar to Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Johnny Bench, I had to find a place for Schmidt on this list. Schmidt, like Bench, gets bonus points for spending his entire and lengthy career with one team, the Philadelphia Phillies.

1990-1999

Roberto Alomar, second base

The 1990s may have a few better players overall, such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, and there are a couple of second baseman that are better all-time, such as Rogers Hornsby, Joe Morgan and Jackie Robinson, but Alomar fits this list given the parameters the best. He was still one of the best players of his time and one of the best second basemen of all time, and he served as the heart of the Toronto Blue Jays lineup that won two consecutive World Series Championships from 1992-1993. Alomar was also part of one of the last true blockbuster trades in which the Blue Jays acquired him and Joe Carter from the San Diego Padres for Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez. Alomar batted .308 in the 90s with a .460 slugging percentage and 311 stolen bases from 1990-1999, and he also won the Gold Glove 10 times in his career and the Silver Slugger three times. While he was never the league's MVP, he was named the American League Championship Series MVP in 1992 and the All-Star Game MVP in 1998.

And just for kicks, here's my second team:

RHP: Christy Matthewson, 1900-1909

LHP: Steve Carlton, 1970-1979

C: Ivan Rodriguez, 1990-1999

1B: Jimmie Foxx, 1930-1939

2B: Rogers Hornsby, 1920-1929

3B: Brooks Robinson, 1960-1969

SS: Cal Ripken Jr., 1980-1989

LF: Stan Musial, 1940-1949

CF: Ty Cobb, 1910-1919

RF: Hank Aaron, 1950-1959

On my first team, I feel I was able to include the best positional player of all-time at each respective position with the exception of second base. The second team has the best second baseman in Hornsby. You could argue the list has the second-best catcher (Yogi Berra giving Pudge a run for his money), first baseman, third baseman (Eddie Matthews and George Brett were both more productive hitters than Robinson), shortstop (Ernie Banks probably edges out Ripken given his home run totals despite playing only half of his career at SS), centerfielder (Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle get a lot of support having played in the Bronx) and right-fielder.

The pitchers certainly are more debatable. Lefty Grove is by far the biggest omission on these lists as the best at his respective position (left-handed pitcher). His most notable accomplishments include nine ERA titles and leading the American League in strikeouts for seven consecutive seasons playing in the most prolific offensive era ever. Roger Clemens might be the best right-handed pitcher of all-time when his career is over, with an unprecedented seven Cy Young awards (and an MVP award), but in this exercise, it may be difficult to determine which decade he was at his best. Cy Young, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson are three other right-handed pitchers that were extremely dominant in their time.

More reasons as to why accumulating such a list under the parameters I have laid out is no easy task. Who is on your team? I invite you to please drop me a line and share.