I'd like to have played with the Babe: some major leaguers answer the question asking who they would have liked to have as a teammate.

YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR parents, and unless you're a John Elway type, you can't pick the team that drafts you, either.

But for 94 big league baseball players, MLB.com gave them a chance to pick one teammate. Representatives from all 30 teams were essentially asked the following question:

What player from the past would you have liked to play with, and why?

The results, as usual, turned up a variety of names--43 in all. From Shoeless Joe Jackson to Joe Morgan, from Dizzy Dean to Dave Winfield, from Ryne Sandberg to Satchel Paige. And as usual, more than a few trends became clear.

More than half of the 34 pitchers who took part in the poll, for instance, named a pitcher from the past--and yes, overall winner Babe Ruth counts as a pitcher. Six of the nine votes cast for second-place finisher Nolan Ryan came from hurlers, and of the total of 10 votes that went to the other six pitchers named, only one of them came from a non-pitcher.

Middle infielders showed an affinity for middle infielders, too, but positional preferences were far from the only factor. Some of the voting developed along ethnic lines.

To wit: Six of the seven votes for Puerto Rico's Roberto Clemente came from players with Latin-American roots--"He made it possible for all of us to have the dream of playing in the major leagues," said Angels catcher Bengie Molina--and three of the four votes for Hank Aaron came from African-Americans.