The fans have spared us the indignity of having to watch David Bell start at third base in the All-Star Game. Cal Ripken, one of the few choices worse than Bell, will get the nod instead. Hopefully Ripken, who is hitting .227/.261/.328, will get an at-bat and a well-deserved standing ovation, then turn it over to the best third baseman in the league, Troy Glaus.

His atrocious stats notwithstanding, Ripken actually isn’t an unreasonable choice. Unlike Bell, who really hasn’t had much historical impact on the game, Ripken, for those of you too young or too old to remember, was an offensive force at shorstop through much of the 1980s and the early part of the 1990s. His numbers don’t look very impressive now, in light of the way guys like A-Rod, Nomar, Jeter, and Larkin have revolutionized the position, but at the time, Ripken was a man among boys. Yeah, he probably should have retired 8-10 years ago, and it might not have been a bad idea for him to take a few days off now and then in his younger days, but in his prime, Ripken was one of the elite players in the game.

Over in the National League, it looks like Tony Gwynn will be named to the squad for sentimental reasons as well. I’m a huge Gwynn fan and very grateful I’ve been able to watch him up close over the years. But it will be a shame if he ends up taking up a roster spot more appropriately given to someone like Cliff Floyd or Phil Nevin. Still, with guys like Ripken and Gwynn, you can’t gripe too much. The real shame is that folks seeing them now for the first time won’t get a true sense of how great they were back in the day.