Ranking 2025 MLB Celebrity Softball participants by the likelihood your dad would know who they are

The 2025 MLB All-Star Game is less than a month away, and voting is well underway. The latest leaderboard update from June 16 reveals much of what fans would expect: Aaron Judge in the outfield for the American League with José Ramírez at third, Shohei Ohtani as the National League's designated hitter and Francisco Lindor at shortstop. Easy, typical.

However, MLB also released its first list of players for the little (little, little, little) brother of the All-Star Game, the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game.

Sometimes, some pretty big names participate. Bad Bunny, Bryan Cranston, JK Simmons, Jamie Foxx and even California governor Gavin Newsom (the mayor of San Francisco at the time) have gotten in on the action, swinging at eephus after eephus and trying to put them over the adorable little fence halfway into the hosting stadium's outfield to mark a home run.

You'd be hard-pressed to find names you recognize this year, but let's use a different measuring stick. MLB's fan base is getting more diverse in a lot of ways, including the ages of the people tuning in, but this is America's pastime we're talking about. Baseball, at least to people who don't enjoy it, is for dads.

If you showed your dad this initial roster for the 2025 All-Star Celebrity Softball Game, how many names would he recognize?

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Your dad definitely knows who they are: CC Sabathia

Even if your dad hates the New York Yankees with the fire of a thousand suns, he knows who CC Sabathia is. A 2025 first-ballot Hall of Famer, Cy Young winner, World Series winner, six-time All-Star, 3,000+ career strikeouts ... your father knows who this guy is even if he really, really doesn't want to. Dads, do we think CC still has it in him to throw another complete game (he threw 38 as a Major Leaguer, with 12 shutouts)? We should tell him to take it easy on these poor D-list celebrities.

Your dad might know who they are: Jordan Chiles, Jennie Finch, Natasha Watley, Quavo

If your dad is tuned into sports outside of the Big Three, he might know who Jordan Chiles, Jennie Finch and Natasha Watley are — and if he doesn't, he should. Chiles is a gold and silver Olympic medalist in gymnastics, Finch is arguably the greatest softball pitcher of all time (and a frequent participant in All-Star Celebrity Softball Games), and she was teammates with Watley (who holds the Olympic record for stolen bases) on the USA's gold medal-winning squad at the 2004 Olympics, and again on the silver-winning 2008 team at the 2008 Olympics.

And Quavo, well. "Slide" by Migos was basically inescapable in 2017, so if your dad has ever heard it, he's at least peripherally aware of who Quavo is. We're not working with a very high bar here.

Your dad probably doesn't know who they are: Young Miko, Druski, Eladio Carrión, Myke Towers, Wisin

If your dad is an avid baseball card collector, maybe the name Mike Towers rings a bell for him because he had a card in 2024 Topps Series 2, throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game. Other than that, there's no chance.

Young Miko, Eladio Carrión, Myke Towers and Wisin are all Spanish-language singers or rappers of Puerto Rican descent, so there's a clear exception here for Puerto Rican or Latino dads with great taste in music. But if your dad's name is Steve, Carl, Bob or anything of the like and is from a town with a population under 100,000? There's very little chance.

This sounds like the name of your dad's buddy, but what is he doing in the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game?: Jerry Lorenzo

Ah, yes, of course! We all know Jerry Lorenzo. He's all of our dads' coworker. He used to come to weekend barbecues. They still golf together on the weekends. Stand-up guy.

But the Jerry Lorenzo appearing in the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game is not, in fact, that Jerry Lorenzo. This one is the founder of the streetwear brand Fear of God, which admittedly does make some pretty sweet pieces. Not that your dad knows that.