In what has been a dismal baseball summer in Milwaukee, a ray of light shone through Sunday when Richie Sexson and Jose Hernandez were named National League All-Stars by Arizona manager Bob Brenly. Next week, they will likely get a chance to make good in front of the hometown faithful for at least an inning or two.

Historically, the Brewers haven't made a splash in Midsummer Classic festivities, either by placing a lot of players on the roster or by someone having a memorable outing in the game itself. In fact, Jeromy Burnitz's second-place finish in the homer contest at Fenway Park in 1999 may be the team's singular All-Star moment.

Lacking this list of classic Crew memories, let's instead focus on those who were invited. In the team's three decades of existence, there have been several All-Star worthy campaigns. In fact, you could field your very own Brewer All-Star team from them, position by position. Sounds suspiciously like a column idea:

First Base: Cecil Cooper, 1980 (AL)

Sexson has some big shoes to fill. Coop went to the All-Star Game as a Brewer five times, but 1980 was his best campaign of the quintet. At age 30, the sweet-swinging Coop (remember that crazy, leaning-back batting style?) racked up 219 hits on the way to a .352 average. Of course, George Brett had to go and flirt with .400 that year, finishing at .390 to win the batting title. But Cecil also chipped in with 25 homers, 122 RBI and -- yep -- 17 steals.

Second Base: Fernando Vina, 1998 (NL)

Vina only had competition from Paul Molitor, who broke in at second and made the All-Star team playing predominantly 2B in 1980. But he was still in his formative years at that time, while Vina played in 159 games and hit .311 in '98. The pesky Vina fell two hits shy of 200 and chipped in with 45 ribbies and 22 steals. Unfortunately, Nando spent most of the season on the DL in '99 and was a Cardinal by 2000.

Shortstop: Robin Yount, 1982 (AL)

Until Hernandez made the squad this year, Yount was literally and figuratively the one and only at short. His MVP campaign was one for the ages, and his .331/29/114 totals preceded today's gaudier shortstop power numbers. He also had 46 doubles, 129 runs and 210 hits. In fact, Yount, Cooper and Molly all had 200-hit years batting 1-2-3 for Harvey's Wallbangers in '82.

Third base: Paul Molitor, 1991 (AL)

Don't worry, Paulie still makes this squad. Molitor made the All-Star team as a Brewer five times, including as the last starting Brewer to be selected by the fans in '88 (Burnitz started via injury in '99). But '91 was his best overall All-Star campaign. At 34, he batted 665 times and hit .325, adding 17 homers and 75 RBI. The power numbers are modest until you factor in his 32 doubles and 13 triples, a scary bit of overall hitting consistency even by today's steroid-laden standards. Oh, right -- he scored 133 runs, too.

Left field: Ben Oglivie, 1980 (AL)

Honorable mention goes to Greg Vaughn's truncated '96 season here (he was dealt to San Diego at the trade deadline), in which he hit 31 homers and drove in 95 in 102 games for the Crew. But Benji's '80 numbers steal the day. It's easy to forget Oglivie's role -- if not his menacing, bat-waggling, lefty stance -- in the Brewers' salad days, but he hit 41 dingers and drove in 118 at the turn of the decade. Plus, he fanned just 71 times and batted .304. On a subjective sidenote, he was always really cool-looking.

Center field: Tommy Harper, 1970 (AL)

To original Brewer fans, Harper was basically the franchise. In the team's maiden season, the ex-Red and Indian blossomed into a star with a 30-30 campaign (31 homers, 38 steals). Harper was an exciting player in the Bobby Bonds mold, hitting .296 with power and fanning when he had to (though his 107 Ks that year are minor compared to some of Bonds' worst years). Why not Gorman Thomas here? Stormin' Gorman only made the All-Star team in '81, which was a strike-shortened year. Also receiving honorable mention is David May's 1973 campaign (25/93/.303)

Right field: Burnitz, 1999 (NL)

Though Burnitz's 33-homer, 103-RBI season was marred by a broken hand suffered directly after the break, he's the only right fielder to make the All-Star Game as a Brewer (Dave Parker was basically a DH in 1990 ... and, yes, he was on the Brewers once). But, as mentioned, Burnie finished second in the homer contest to Mark McGwire the day before the game and then doubled and scored the NL's only run in the Classic, itself. {INSERT_RELATED}

Catcher: Ted Simmons, 1983 (AL)

Other than pitcher, this is the team's busiest All-Star position. Simmons, Darrell Porter, Jim Sundberg, Dave Nilsson and the legendary Ellie Rodriguez (hitting .210 with 1 HR in 1971) all earned bids. Simba's '83 season wins out fairly easily, featuring 108 RBI on just 13 homers (talk about clutch hitting), 185 hits and just 51 whiffs. When I think of prototypical catchers, I will always think of a couple of squatty, questionably handsome, solid-hitting blokes: Yogi Berra and Ted Simmons.

DH: Larry Hisle, 1978 (AL)

Hisle was one of the main forces behind the team's initial rise to glory, though he played only a bit role after '78. But what a year it was, featuring 34 homers, 115 RBI and a .290 batting average. Hisle gets the tangible, if not sentimental, nod over one Henry Louis Aaron, who represented the Brewers in 1975. The Hammer was 41 and a modicum of his former self when the game came to County Stadium that year, but even in his fifth decade, Aaron managed 12 homers and 70 walks that season.

Starters: Jim Colborn, 1973 (AL); Ted Higuera, 1986 (AL)

Colborn also helped prop up those weak, early-'70s Brew Crew teams. In '73, he went 20-12 (3.18) and threw an astounding (by today's standards) 314.1 innings! The man started 36 games and worked seven more in relief. Good god. And the 20 wins, mind you, came for a team that won 74 games. Higuera was a brilliant, pudgy meteor flashing through the team's habitually overcast, mid-'80s skies. His best year was '86, when the little lefty went 20-11 with a 2.79 ERA, fanning 207 in 248.1 innings. He hung around as a Brewer till '94, though he won just 25 games over his last five injury-plagued years.

Closer: Rollie Fingers, 1981 (AL)

There could be no other. Rollie won the AL MVP and Cy Young in '81 and seemingly closed out every one of his 28 saves by striking out the last man swinging (or so my hazy, childhood memory would suggest). He was 6-3 with the aforementioned 28 in the strike-shortened year, and his ERA was a microscopic 1.04. Enduring memory of the ages: Simmons leaping into Fingers' arms after the Brewers clinched the second-half AL East title. It wasn't Yogi and Don Larsen, but it wasn't half-bad.