In my HTML clusterfudge of a comment on the Matt Holliday thread, I had a throwaway line about Bengie Molina being arguably the best catcher in Major League history to never make an All-Star game. So I decided to look at which active position players had the most career Win Shares (as of 2008, anyway; for some reason the Hardball Times is no longer keeping track of Win Shares in season) without having ever been named to an All-Star team. There are, shall we say, some familiar names on the list:

C  Bengie Molina (122)
1B Kevin Millar (135)
2B Adam Kennedy (104)
SS Orlando Cabrera (169)
3B Adrian Beltre (186)
LF Raul Ibanez (150)
CF Coco Crisp (82) Mark Kotsay (146)
RF Matt Stairs (151)
DH Pat Burrell (163)

Some other current and former Angels nearly crack this list, too, including Jose Guillen (125) and Chone Figgins (101). And, as we all know, Tim Salmon was the best eligible player of all time to never make an All-Star team.

Something to think about whenever someone talks down an Angels or West Coast player's Hall of Fame candidacy based on number of All-Star teams made. Hopefully Joe Maddon will stoke Chone and Jered Weaver, and maybe even Mike Napoli or Juancho this year.