The metric used for hitters is secondary average (SecAvg) invented over 20 years ago by Bill James. Many of you may have not heard of secondary average but we feel it is the best single statistics to measure a hitter's production and value to his team.

The reason is that James noticed that secondary average has a high correlation to runs scored: the team with the highest SecAvg in the league will normally have the most runs scored all the way down to the last team. You can predict how many runs a team scored just by looking at their SecAvg.

Secondary average is defined as the extra bases taken on doubles, triples, home runs walks and stolen bases. James later subtracted the caught stealing. We added sacrifice flies since they are not counted as at bats and feel they should for SecAvg. Therefore, mathematically, the full formula is:

SecAvg = (2B + 2*3B + 3*HR + BB + SB -CS) / (AB + SF)

Many of you may have heard of OPS (On-base Plus Slugging). We dislike OPS in general. However, OPS does have the advantage of being easier to calculate (given both OBA and slugging) as it is only an addition as well as having a slightly better (but only by very little) correlation to runs scored than SecAvg. Our main beef with it is mathematical: you can't just add up two averages together. Mainstream media seems to have taken a liking to OPS. So be it. We will stick with SecAvg.

As for the pitchers, we used ERA as it is still the best unique statistic that encompasses all other pitching statistics into one number.

For both groups, the numbers were compared to the league's average to come up with an index normalized to 100 making any player over 100 better than average. It is that index for each season that was averaged to give a career index. Whoever had the biggest career index for each position was included on our team. Note that only seasons that qualified (250 plate appearances, 50 innings) were included in the calculation. No other metrics were taken into consideration.

First Base, Lou Gehrig

Mark McGwire is very close behind Gehrig in SecAvg and a case could be made for him. However, Lou also had a high batting average on top of it all. We don't think many people will object to this selection.

Second Base, Joe Morgan

We never realized Morgan was that good. I saw him play and it did not seem like he was outstanding. Of course, I was very young then. He did win two well-deserved MVPs in 1975-76. Honorable mention to Rogers Hornsby.

Third Base, Mike Schmidt

Many good players have played third base such as Harmon Killebrew and Dick Allen. But those players also played other positions. In fact, both Killebrew and Allen barely played one third of their games at the hot corner. They were not pure third basemen. The next pure third baseman would be Eddie Mathews and Schmidt is by far the best of the two.

Shortstop, Alex Rodriguez

Yes, we know A-Rod last played short regularly in 2003. When we compiled this team before the end of the 2006 season, he still qualified as a shortstop. After that season, he doesn´t but we still like him to be our shortstop.

A-Rod was the first of the hard hitting shortstops that are more common today. As his career is not yet over, he may fall back of our second choice, Honus Wagner, and others may come along and surpass him. But for now, Alex is our man at short.

Left Field, Barry Bonds

We know this is a controversial selection but there is no denying Bonds´ talent over his whole career.

Center Field, Mickey Mantle

Willie, Mickey and the Duke? We´ll take Mickey but Willie and the Duke are no sloushes.

Right Field, Babe Ruth

Not only does Ruth have the highest lifetime secondary average to Bonds´ second place, it is not even close. Plus, he can pitch in relief or even start if need be.

Fourth outfielder, Ted Williams

Teddy Ballgame was primarily a left fielder and he gets honorable mention next to Bonds. We decided we needed a fourth outfielder and gave the position to Ted Williams. Not a bad guy to have on your bench.

Catcher, Gene Tenace

Some of you might recognize this name. Played mostly with Athletics and Padres in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, he is the only non-active hitter on our team who is not in the Hall of Fame and likely never will be.

Admittedly, he should not be on this list. He played mostly first base as his other position but he is remembered mostly as a catcher.

There is no denying his production however. Maybe we´ll change our minds later. Besides, we think it cool to have a baseball player on our team named "tennis".

Catcher, Roger Bresnahan

We figured we should have two catchers on our team. One of only 13 catchers in the Hall of Fame, Bresnahan also managed in the majors, the only player on our team along with Walter Johnson below to have done so. He can be the manager of this team and Walter the pitching coach.

Starting Pitcher, Pedro Martinez

Pedro is the best starter in history. His ERA index proves it. Period. Even taking into account the 2006 when he had the worst ERA of his career. Too bad for the Mets he was hurt just prior to the 2006 post-season.

Starting Pitcher, Walter Johnson

Cy Young had a pretty good career too. But he started his career before 1900 and this may have affected his ranking. Besides, Young has an award named after him. Surely, that can compare to being on our all-time team.

Starting Pitcher, Randy Johnson

Although had his troubles in 2006 that diminished his value a little, still the best southpaw ever.

Starting Pitcher, Greg Maddux

While Mordecai Brown and Ed Walsh are ahead of him, it is not by very much. Maddux makes our team because they pitched too many games in relief to be considered as pure starters.

Relief Pitcher, Mariano Rivera

By far the best closer ahead of Billy Wagner.

Relief Pitcher, Billy Wagner

The best left-handed reliever ever.

Relief Pitcher, Keith Foulke

We are not sure if any of our four main relievers will ever make the Hall of Fame. Likely only Mariano will eventually. No matter, we feel that if you need someone to face one batter or come in for one inning, these guys can't be beat.

Relief Pitcher, Hoyt Wilhelm