MLB All-Star Game: Miami Marlins All-Time All-Star 1B

Best Marlins All-Star Season At First….Yeah, It’s Still Gaby Sanchez

Made you look! Turns out the only Miami Marlins first baseman to ever make the MLB All-Star Game is Gaby Sanchez.

I have a hunch some of you are wondering just how in the world that is possible.

It’s a fair question. Most of us remember Jeff Conine just as much for playing first base as we do for playing the outfield. Younger readers are probably aware Miguel Cabrera plays first base and used to play for the Marlins.

He’s only going to go down as one of the best to ever play the game of baseball. Carlos Delgado batted over .300  with 33 HR and 115 RBI in 2005.

And then there is Derrek Lee, only the best first baseman in franchise history.

Three of them played for World Series champions. One of them won three Gold Glove Awards, another two MVP awards. Seventeen All-Star appearances are shared between them.

But what else do all four have in common? They never made an All-Star Game as a Marlin at first base.

The All-Most All-Star Marlins First Basemen

Two of them never made an All-Star Game as a Marlin period. Lee was a victim of sharing a League with Todd Helton and Richie Sexson, as well as having saved his best Marlins season for a year three other Fish made it. Four Marlins teammates pushed Delgado out in 2005.

Cabrera never played a game at first in his Marlins career. Conine didn’t start getting the majority of his looks at first until 1997.  So, incomprehensible as it might be, Sanchez technically has to be the guy on both lists.

As this is all about honoring former greats though, consider who would get your vote if we dabble in some revisionist history. If we were merely to correct an injustice, Lee’s 2003 Gold Glove has me penciling him into the All-Time lineup.

Should we hold ourselves to the rule of having made the All-Star Game roster, but throw in having the ability to play the position, then it’s Conine by a mile. His .319 average in 1994 stands as the best hitting season by a Miami first baseman.

Next: All-Time All-Star Roster

By all means, have fun tinkering. Our next stop is second base, and as you can imagine, there’s not going to be nearly as much mystery there.