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Sunday, July 08, 2001

Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter would tell stories of Japanese soldiers sneaking down out of the hills during World War II to watch his armed forces team of major-league enlistees as it barnstormed through the front-line islands of the Pacific.

Slaughter said it always made him feel a little strange. "Rally killer" took on a whole new meaning.

Far East passion for major-league baseball did not, as some twentynothings might believe, begin with the arrival of Hideo Nomo in 1995. These were men 60 years ago willing to risk getting shot at for the chance to catch a glimpse of Bob Feller.

In their own small way, Slaughter's memories help explain how a 27-year-old rookie from Kasugai, Japan, who goes simply by Ichiro, could lead voting for Tuesday's 72nd All-Star Game. America's all-star game.

Interest? Twelve million paper ballots were distributed internationally. For the first time, ballots went to Japan. Online voters from Australia to Zimbabwe were again able to click in and decide whether Cal Ripken or David Bell would start at third base for the American League.

On a grander scale, the fact that a player that no one other than major-league scouts and fans of the Orix Blue Waves paid attention to six months ago could receive 3.3 million votes, his own bobblehead doll and a lead role in the game's summer showcase has made Bud Selig's mission of taking the game global that much easier.

"Ichiro, The Pride of Asia," blared a front-page headline in the Yomiuri, Japan's largest newspaper after final voting results were released Monday. Not the front page of sports, mind you, but the front, front page. Tuesday's game will be shown in prime time in Japan for the first time.

"It's a totally different game," says ESPN's Peter Gammons.

It's the face of change. And Ichiro is the cover boy.

So maybe while change is in the air, it's time to change the All-Star Game. The Guy, a traditionalist who pines over the disappearance of stirrup socks and Saturdays with Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek, can't believe he wrote that. But Selig & Co. should steal a page from the National Hockey League. Change the format from AL vs. NL to United States vs. The World. Twenty-five percent of the players on opening day rosters were born outside the United States, up from 19 percent only four years ago. Thirty percent of the players in Tuesday's game are foreign born. Since 1957, there have been only two games in which at least one foreign-born player hasn't started.

It's the stars fans want, anyway. Would they honestly be outraged that Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds are opponents rather than teammates so long as they're both in the game?

Using this year's voting, and with only slight tinkering, The Guy offers a look at how the starting lineups for Tuesday's game might look split along U.S.-World lines:

Will it happen? Tuesday's managers, Bobby Valentine and Joe Torre, came down against the idea Thursday during a conference call with reporters.

"I don't like to see it as pitting us vs. them in any walk of life," said Valentine, who managed in Japan between stints as manager of the Rangers and Mets. "I'm against anything that divides people more."

Hmm. Us vs. them? Divisiveness? Sounds a lot like "Survivor" and "Big Brother." Which means TV will love the idea. And when TV speaks ... well, we might as well begin the debate over who will get voted out of the dugout first.

Stardust

Hanging chads from All-Star selection week ... It looks as if Miki Piazza will be healthy enough to play, which means a likely first- or second-inning at-bat against probable AL starter Roger Clemens -- the first meeting of the two since last year's controversial World Series Game 2. ... Seattle's David Bell could still find perspective and humor in being passed by Cal Ripken in final voting for the starting AL third base spot. A reporter jokingly asked him if he thought the vote from Broward County, Fla., had turned the election. "This is a little less important than the vote they had in Florida." ... The last time the Yankees had seven players selected was 1962 -- Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Elston Howard, Bobby Richardson, Ralph Terry and Tom Tresh. ... Piazza is donating his $25,000 All-Star bonus to the families of three firefighters killed in the line of duty in Queens last month.

Rookies of the year

In April, The Guy put up for discission the notion that the 2001 rookie class might prove to be the best in history. The All-Star selections add weight to the argument. A record four rookies made the game -- Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki (.348, major-league high 133 hits), St. Louis third baseman Albert Pujols (.327, 21 HRs, 66 RBIs, NL rookie of the month for April and May), Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins (NL-high 27 SBs, 8 triples, .978 fielding percentage) and Milwaukee pitcher Ben Sheets (10-5, 3.59 ERA). Still, The Guy will attempt restraint. The old record of three was seen most recently in 1995 ... the summer that illustrious first-year trio of Tyler Green, Carlos Perez and Hideo Nomo made the NL squad.

Super zero

It's a safe bet that the promotions department of the Texas Rangers wasn't thrilled with the timing of veteran Ken Caminiti's release Monday. The team gave away a souvenir comic book that night featuring assorted Rangers players as crime-fighting super heroes. You guessed it. Caminiti was one of the assorted Rangers. What's next? Unconditional release waivers for Superman?

Whack-a-moll

From a promotions bust to, er, a real knee-smacker. This one in Jacksonville, Fla., where the Class AA Suns gave away 2,000 miniature bats on Tonya Harding Night at Wolfson Park June 29. Angry? Embarrassed? Hardly. Harding, former U.S. figure skating champion and part of the infamous 1994 clubbing of rival Nancy Kerrigan that gave her mid-'90s anti-celeb status surpassed only by O.J., sat at a table and signed each of the 22-inch black bats in gold ink punctuated by a smiley face. Fittingly, the Suns' opponent that night was the Lookouts, the Chattanooga Lookouts.

Arrest those guys

We hear Indians Manager Charlie Manuel requested Cleveland bomb squad members be brought in to remove Kansas City's Carlos Beltran, Mike Sweeney and Raul Ibanez last weekend. In the first three games of their four-game series, all Royals victories that bounced Cleveland out of first place in the AL Central, the trio went 16 for 35 with 11 home runs and 23 RBIs. Eleven home runs! No other team in the majors hit more than six during the three-game period from June 29-Sunday.

Series of the week

Devil Rays (27-60) at Expos (37-50), Thursday-Sunday. ... Baseball's answer to "The Weakest Link." Anne Robinson has been invited to throw out the first team. Yet this series is so bad it just might be hot. With contraction and/or relocation on the horizon, will we ever see another Devil Rays-Expos series in this lifetime? (Those not heaven-bound, well, maybe you will.) So save those ticket stubs, game programs and Peter Bergeron foul balls.

This 'n' that

Home run derbies box score for the week: Mike Hampton 1, Barry Bonds 0. ... Hampton is the first pitcher with six since 1971 (Sonny Siebert, Rick Wise, Ferguson Jenkins). ... Said a slumping Bonds, who has begun holding news conferences at the beginning of every series: "I've learned that the more I talk, the worse I've been doing." He hasn't homered since June 23. ... What is it about exiled pitchers and no-hitters? Struggling Mets lefty Steve Trachsel threw one in May while at Class AAA Norfolk. Tuesday, banished Mariners pitcher Brett Tomko, pitching for Class AAA Tacoma, no-hit Oklahoma City, 7-0, retiring the final 25 batters in a row. ... Who's hurting more? Whether he pitches again or not, the Dodgers owe Darren Dreifort $9 million next year, $11 million in 2003 and '04, and $13 million in '05. Dreifort is to have a second "Tommy John" surgery Tuesday. ... Bob Daly, Dodgers CEO, says if the opportunity presents itself he won't hesitate to increase the club's record $110 million payroll to get a starting pitcher. ... Will they never learn? Upset after giving up a two-run homer to Philadelphia's Bobby Abreu in the ninth inning of a 14-7 win Tuesday, Braves reliever Matt Whiteside slammed his glove against the side of his locker and sustained a broken bone on the outside of his right hand. Thursday he was released.

Shot and a jeer

Shot: An original copy of the Declaration of Independence, the words upon which this country is based, sold for $8.14 million at auction last year. Forty-two players earn more than that this season.

Jeer: To the victor goes the spoils. If you're Joe Torre and your team has won four of the past five world titles, why not pick seven of your own players to the All-Star team? "I don't think I have to apologize," Torre said.

Box score lines of the week:

Only the third shortstop with multiple three-homer games in his career, joining the Cubs' Ernie Banks (4) and Yankees' Tony Lazzeri (2).

He goes 1,385 games and 5,058 at-bats without hitting a pinch-hit home run, then hits two in the span of 11 games, the second of which came Friday. Is it too late for Joe Torre to add an eighth Yankee to Tuesday night's roster?

Some guys just don't know how to handle being given a 5-0 lead before they've thrown their first pitch.