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4 Stories on Negro League Baseball
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SI.com: Casey Michel: Wakefield slides into No. 2 spot on list of oldest first-time All-Stars

The days of honorary All-Star selections, it appears, are gone. Because of the home-field importance of the Midsummer Classic, no more graying Cal Ripkens or hobbling Mike Schmidts -- who actually retired before his 1989 appearance -- will be penciled into this year's All-Star lineups. So when grumblings of Tim Wakefield's 2009 selection surface, tinged with terms of "undeserving" or "washed-up," it's safe to say that those naysayers are looking only at the 42-year-old's age and saying that his impending appearance, the first of his career, was little more than a way of showing gratitude for a long and semi-prosperous career.

SI.com: Jon Heyman: MLB gets it right with draft of living Negro Leaguers

Just prior to baseball's annual amateur draft on Thursday, when more than $100 million will be spent on the country's best high school and college talent, Major League Baseball will do something it should have done decades ago. Sixty one years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Major League Baseball will stage a draft of living, former Negro League players. The 30 players who will be "drafted" have already been assigned to each of the 30 teams, and the players will receive a small stipend (believed to be about $5,000).

Fortune: Best baseball books

This summer, what's the only thing more American than actually playing baseball? Reading about it.

Baseball in D.C.

When the Washington Nationals play their home opener at R.F.K. Stadium this week, it will be the first regular-season major league game in the nation's capital since 1971.

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