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This began as an attempt to name an all-time team composed of players born in the United States. But I quickly realized this team would be no different from an all-time team composed of players born anywhere (but see me again in 20 years), so we decided instead to come up with an all-star team composed purely of players born outside the U.S. What all of it means, I haven't the remotest idea. But here it is anyway:

C: Ivan Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)

Not much competition here, as Rodriguez has clearly established himself as one of the top 12 catchers ever, and he's got a good chance to eventually become one of the top six or eight (depending on how much credit you give him for all those Gold Gloves). Until a couple of years ago, the No. 2 man on this list would have been Tony Pe?a (Dominican Republic), but he's since been trumped by Javy Lopez (Puerto Rico).

1B: Rafael Palmeiro (Cuba)

It was a tough call for me to rank Palmeiro ahead of Tony Perez (Cuba), considering: 1) Perez is in the Hall of Fame, and 2) a year or so ago, I argued (if not particularly convincingly) that Palmeiro does not belong in the Hall of Fame. So why Palmeiro over Perez? Because: 1) I wouldn't have voted for Perez, either, and 2) Palmeiro added 23 home runs last season. It's close, though, and if you want to argue that I got this one wrong ? well, I'm not sure you're wrong.

2B: Roberto Alomar (Puerto Rico)

No competition here, and we can only hope that Alomar's last few seasons don't lead anyone to forget what a wonderful player he was. He wasn't quite as good as Craig Biggio, but he was just as good as Ryne Sandberg and better than most of the second basemen in the Hall of Fame.

SS: Luis Aparicio (Venezuela)

It's not commonly known how many excellent major leaguers were born in Venezuela. And what's really surprising is how many of them were shortstops. In chronological order: Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio, Dave Concepcion, Ozzie Guillen and Omar Vizquel (OK, so maybe Guillen wasn't excellent, but you get the idea).

3B: Edgardo Alfonzo (Venezuela)

I know, some of you are surprised. I also assumed the answer was Vinny Castilla (Mexico). But look at Alfonzo's and Castilla's career road stats:

OBP Slug

Castilla .302 .440

Alfonzo .363 .452

Why does Alfonzo rank ahead of Castilla? Because 61 points of on-base percentage means a lot more runs on the scoreboard, plenty enough runs to make up for Castilla's two-season edge in career length.

LF: Manny Ramirez (Dominican Republic)

Maybe it's a bit of a stretch to select Ramirez instead of Minnie Minoso (Cuba), whom Bill James, a few years ago, ranked as the 10th greatest left fielder ever. But I think Bill would have ranked Minoso lower if he'd known the truth about Minoso's birthday: he was actually younger than everybody thought, which means the color line didn't cost him as many seasons as everybody thought. He was a great player ? there's no question about that ? but his Hall of Fame case isn't a strong one, and if Ramirez isn't ahead of him now, he will be soon.

CF: Bernie Williams (Puerto Rico)

Based purely on regular seasons, Williams is locked in a dead heat for this spot with Cesar Cede?o (Dominican Republic). But postseason performance is a wonderful tiebreaker, and in 115 postseason games, Williams has batted .280, scored 81 runs, and driven home 79. In fact, as well as Derek Jeter's played in October, Williams has been even better.

RF: Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico)

There are people who will tell you Clemente was the greatest right fielder ever, or the greatest player of the 1960s, or both. He wasn't either of those things, mostly because Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson were all playing brilliantly at the same time. Clemente was a wonderful player, though, and it'll be years before Bobby Abreu (Venezuela) or Vladimir Guerrero (Dominican Republic) can even hope to challenge Clemente for this slot.

SP: Pedro Martinez (Dominican Republic)

One can (it should be said) make a pretty good case here for Juan Marichal (Dominican), who was so good there's a statue of him right outside the new ballpark in San Francisco. So good that he won 21 or more games in six different seasons. Martinez has done that only once (and he's won 20 or more games only twice). But while Marichal certainly was an outstanding pitcher for a number of years, Martinez's ERA, adjusted for context (league and ballpark), ranks as perhaps the best in major league history. That probably won't remain true if he hangs around for the decline phase of his career ? but while doing that he'll also be narrowing the gap in victories between himself (186) and Marichal (243).

RP: Mariano Rivera (Panama)

Unlike Bernie Williams, Rivera doesn't need an October boost. He'd rank as one of the game's greatest-ever relief pitchers even without his 0.75 ERA, 32 saves, and eight wins in postseason games.

Best of the rest

Courtesy of baseball-reference.com, here are the best players from some significant countries not (prominently) mentioned elsewhere on this page:

Australia: 2B Joe Quinn (1884-1901)

Germany: P Charlie "Pretzels" Getzein (1884-1892)

Japan: OF Ichiro Suzuki (2002-2005)

Mexico: P Fernando Valenzuela (1980-1997)

Canada: P Fergie Jenkins (1965-1983)

England: OF Tom Brown (1882-1898)

Ireland: P Tony Mullane (1881-1894)

Jamaica OF/DH Chili Davis (1981-1999)

U.S. of A. P/OF Babe Ruth (1914-1935)

Senior writer Rob Neyer writes for Insider two or three times per week during the season. To offer criticism, praise or anything in between, send an e-mail to rob.neyer@dig.com.