I once asked Willie Mays what he missed the most about baseball. He didn't say Opening Day. He didn't say the World Series. He said he missed the All-Star Game the most.

The All-Star Game, he said, was his chance to show the American League fans how good he was. He wanted the AL fans, who didn't get to see him play everyday, to think like the National League fans -- that he was the best player in the game.

Mays' comment stuck with me. Ted Williams once said, "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays." But like Mays, Williams wanted to show the National League fans he was the greatest hitter in the world. He didn't want to play three innings and then leave the game. In 1941, he played the entire game and hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win it for the American League.

MORGAN'S ALL-STARS

Joe Morgan picked the top major-league players at each position from the season's first half: C -- Ivan Rodriguez 1B -- Todd Helton 2B -- Bret Boone SS -- Alex Rodriguez 3B -- (tie) Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols OF -- Barry Bonds OF -- Sammy Sosa OF -- Luis Gonzalez DH -- Manny Ramirez RHP -- Roger Clemens LHP -- Randy Johnson Reliever -- Mariano Rivera NL's top player Gonzalez AL's top player Ramirez AL's top pitcher Clemens NL's top pitcher Curt Schilling

During my 22 years in Major League Baseball, it was an honor to be selected for the All-Star Game and an even greater honor when your All-Star manager or your teammates thought you should play the whole game to help your team win.

Now managers hope their players play only three innings because they need a rest. I am shocked when I hear players need to rest. Mays and other great players would frequently play all nine innings of the All-Star Game. Players can rest some other time.

Today's players have said, "I'd rather have three days off," something I never heard in the past. Players used to be angry when they weren't selected to start or play in the game. Shortstop Garry Templeton once said, "If I ain't startin', I ain't departin'." I would rather have a player with Templeton's mentality than someone who doesn't want to play.

In 1972, I played all 10 innings and drove in the winning run for the National League in the bottom of the 10th. After the game the NL manager, Pittsburgh's Danny Murtaugh, paid me a big compliment. He said, "I knew if I left Joe in there long enough, he would do something to help me win the game."

The best players should play. Otherwise, fans lose interest. After the first few innings people get bored and no longer care because the players the fans voted into the game and wanted to see the most are out of the game.

Baseball has the only true All-Star Game of the major sports because it's the only one in which fans see the same game played everyday with the best players. But the Midsummer Classic has become an exhibition within a baseball game. The prerogative is to play as many players as possible instead of playing the best players to win the game. When it was established in 1933, the All-Star Game was meant to be a true test of which league was better, not an exhibition.

Before each All-Star Game, National League president Chub Feeney would speak to us and say, "You are not here to have fun. You are not here to socialize. You are here to beat the American League and prove that the National League is the best." The players carried the same attitude. The All-Star veterans would then pass it along to the young players through the years. That's why no one ever complained or didn't want to play nine innings.

It's not the same with today's players, who see the All-Star Game as an exhibition. It is what it is, and it was what it was. Gary Sheffield made a great comment to me recently. He said, "Baseball wants the players to take the All-Star Game seriously, yet they leave Cliff Floyd off the All-Star team. How will his thoughts be for the rest of his career? And what about his teammates who sat and watched it happen? They all feel now that's all it is -- an exhibition."

Sheffield cut right to the problem -- Major League Baseball treats the All-Star Game as an exhibition, but wants the players to take it seriously. It doesn't work that way.

Here are more All-Star questions to ponder:

HOME RUN DERBY

When: Monday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN Where: Safeco Field, Seattle Play-by-play: Chris Berman Analysts: Joe Morgan, Mike Piazza How was Seattle as an All-Star site the first time? I played my last All-Star Game at the Kingdome in 1979. Every All-Star city I visited was special because I was representing my league. I had more fun going to American League cities like Seattle than I did National League cities because I went to NL cities three times a year. Playing in an AL ballpark and a different city, everything was new and exciting. -- Joe Morgan

Is too much attention placed on the Home Run Derby?
The Home Run Derby is a separate issue because there are only five or six players from each league involved. The Home Run Derby is great, but not because ESPN airs the contest. I would say so if I thought otherwise.

The Home Run Derby kind of personifies what an All-Star Game is. Home run contests happen everyday at the ballpark during batting practice. When I played in Cincinnati, I would challenge Pete Rose or Tony Perez would challenge Johnny Bench during the last round of batting practice.

Other than a past Home Run Derby, the greatest home run display I ever saw at an All-Star Game was in 1976 at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium. The National League had great sluggers like George Foster, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Dave Kingman, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Steve Garvey. I remember all the American League players sitting outside the dugout watching our players take batting practice. They were hitting balls to the far reaches of the stadium and into the upper deck. Kingman hit the farthest home runs of anyone.

Who is the most deserving player not selected to the All-Star Game?
Cliff Floyd stands out as the most deserving player, whether Bobby Valentine told him he would be on the team or not. Floyd is hitting .341 and has more RBI than three other outfielders selected as reserves -- Moises Alou, Brian Giles and Vladimir Guerrero. Plus, the Marlins played well in the first half. Hopefully, Valentine didn't use a grudge to leave Floyd off the All-Star team.

While it's difficult for a manager to choose reserves, the All-Star Game should be used to develop fan recognition of young star players, who can then take over from the older players -- like Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn -- who will no longer be around. And Floyd fits the profile perfectly.

Another deserving player was the Giants' Robb Nen, who leads the National League in saves.

Do you believe middle relievers or set-up men should be All-Stars?
The selected pitchers are normally starters and closers but middle relievers and set-up men should be All-Stars during exceptional seasons. The best example is the Rangers' Jeff Zimmerman, who was 8-0 with an 0.86 ERA at the All-Star break in 1999. This season Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill may be controversial choices, but that doesn't mean they aren't deserving. A few other set-up men have had quality seasons -- the Giants' Felix Rodriguez and two from Seattle, Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes.

In most cases, however, starters and closers should be chosen. Starters pitch the most innings, and closers pitch in more pressure situations.

Which hitter-pitcher matchup are you most looking forward to seeing in Seattle?
Like most people, I would like to see Roger Clemens start for the American League and pitch to Mike Piazza. Yankees manager Joe Torre avoided the confrontation in the first Yankees-Mets series. Clemens and Piazza need to face each other so we can move on. And the All-Star Game may be the perfect place for it to happen.

Another intriguing matchup for the fans would be seeing two former Mariners, Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson, facing each other at Safeco Field.

What is the single greatest feat or play you have seen in an All-Star Game?
Dave Parker threw out two runners from right field -- one at third base and one at home plate -- in 1979 at the Kingdome. That was the best defensive display I ever saw in an All-Star Game.

Offensively, the greatest moment I saw came in 1972, when Hank Aaron hit a two-run home run at his home stadium to put the National League ahead in the sixth inning. In front of his home fans at Fulton County Stadium, Aaron's home run was clutch. On the bench we were saying, "This is Hank Aaron time." Everybody wanted him to hit a home run, and he did.

Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who played in nine All-Star Games and was MVP of the 1972 game, is an analyst for ESPN.