By Doug Miller
Baseball’s all-time greats have rightfully earned almost every conceivable honor and piece of hardware the game has to offer. On Tuesday night, a quintessential quartet of hardball heroes was feted with even more recognition.
On the grand stage of the 86th All-Star Game presented by T-Mobile at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, four former players — all Hall of Famers — were revealed as the winners of Major League Baseball’s Greatest Living Players, the result of a fan vote from April 8 to May 8.
Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Sandy Koufax and Cincinnati’s own Johnny Bench were given the honor as part of pre-Midsummer Classic ceremony that also featured the unveiling of results for Greatest Negro Leagues Players, the game’s Greatest Pioneers and the all-time Franchise Four winners from each of the 30 big league organizations.
The highlight of Franchise Four unveiling was the final club to be revealed: the hometown Cincinnati Reds. Bench, Barry Larkin, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose were all in attendance and introduced by Thom Brennaman, the son of legendary Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman.
Rose, who has been lobbying Commissioner Rob Manfred to be reinstated after being banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on baseball, was the last to come out of the tunnel, and the all-time hits leader received a standing ovation from the Cincinnati faithful.
The Reds are one of many teams whose Franchise Four will be hotly debated, but no perhaps no team’s quartet will receive more scrutiny than the Yankees’. It was fitting for the club with the most World Series championships, and retired numbers, that its Franchise Four consisted of absolute baseball royalty: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.
All-time strikeouts leader Nolan Ryan won a spot on three different clubs: the Angels, Astros and Rangers.
Meanwhile, a large number of current players were deemed worthy of the Franchise Four honor, including 2015 All-Stars Mike Trout (Angels), Buster Posey (Giants), Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), Felix Hernandez (Mariners), Paul Goldschmidt (D-backs), Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies) and Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins).
Franchise Four winners were selected from a list of eight nominees from each franchise as chosen by official MLB historian John Thorn plus representatives from the Elias Sports Bureau, MLB.com, MLB Network and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Fans also voted in three additional categories: Greatest Living Player, Greatest Negro Leagues Player and the sport’s Greatest Pioneers. Those results were to be revealed Tuesday night as well.
Winners:
Greatest Living Players
Hank Aaron
Johnny Bench
Sandy Koufax
Willie Mays
Greatest Negro Leagues Players
Cool Papa Bell
Josh Gibson
Buck O’Neil
Satchel Paige
Greatest Pioneers
Walter Johnson
Nap Lajoie
Christy Mathewson
Cy Young
http://m.giants.mlb.com/…/greatest-living-players-franchise