An All-American team is an honorary sports team composed of the best amateur players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply "All-Americans". Although the honorees generally do not compete together as a unit, the term is used in U.S. team sports to refer to players who are selected by members of the national media. Walter Camp selected the first All-America team in the early days of American football in 1889.[1]
The NCAA recognizes four different All-America selectors for the 2008 college baseball season: the American Baseball Coaches Association (since 1947), Baseball America (since 1981), Collegiate Baseball (since 1991), and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (since 2001).[2]
ABCA | American Baseball Coaches Association[2] |
BA | Baseball America[2] |
CB | Collegiate Baseball[2] |
NCBWA | National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association[2] |
Awarded the Golden Spikes Award or Dick Howser Trophy as national Player of the Year[2] | |
Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player had been named an All-American at that point[2] |
♦ | Inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame[3] |