Baseball All-Star Game Notes:

The Home Run derby may have survived another year after Texas Ranger Outfielder Josh Hamilton hit 28 'Mantlesque' home runs in the first round. Hamilton is a great story but has only hit 40 home runs in his career! It's pretty obvious that MLB uses the juiced baseballs from the McGuire-Sosa era for the contest, but that was ridiculous.

• What I did enjoy was Fox showing the honorary captains Ernie Banks and George Brett giving inspiring speeches to the AL & NL squads in the locker room before the game. I just hope the young players knew who they were.


• It was a nice touch with the Hall of Fame legends coming out of the outfield before the game ala 'Field of Dreams' but remember that Boston did it first in the final All-Star game of the 20th century at Fenway Park in 1999.


• Current All-Star players should take notice that every Hall of Fame legend took their cap off to the crowd except for Willie McCovey who chose to stand-up from his wheel chair under his own power instead!


• As good as Bob Gibson looked for his age, Gaylord Perry looked bad. What is ironic is that Gibson was born in 1935 and Perry in 1938!


• Wade Boggs is a wimp for only wearing a Yankee cap instead of the Tampa cap he took money to wear into the Hall of Fame and/or the Red Sox cap he wore for much of his career.


• I understand that this game was part of a tribute to Yankee Stadium but did it have to be an anti-Red Sox zone? Why were there no Boston players in the legends line-up? Unfortunately Wade Boggs, Dennis Eckersley, and Luis Apapricio all decided not to bring Red Sox caps but why not invite Carlton Fisk or Yaz to represent one of the most storied franchises at the ceremony?


• Much like Ted Williams at the All-Star game in Boston, George Steinbrenner was driven out in a golf cart during the first pitch portion ceremony but I'm not sure who looked in worse. A pale, crying 78 yr old Steinbrenner wearing what looked to be blind man's glasses or the somewhat toothless but jovial 81 yr old Williams in 1999.


• I admit that it was bittersweet to hear Florida Marlins' Hanley Ramirez being introduced as the greatest young player in the game. Even though he is only 24, plays shortstop, and is being described as the next Arod; I still think the Red Sox made a great trade in getting Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett for Anibal Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez.


• Boy did Yankee fans show their stripes. It was a disgrace to hear them boo, then cheer, then boo the Boston players. Sure NY and Boston fans are bitter rivals, but this is the only game that we are all on the same team playing for the same goal. It just proves that Boston has the better fans because it's known that they've clapped for Derek Jeter even during regular season games.


• Finally, as you get older it gets harder to be interested in the All-Star game, but whenever I do find the time to watch, I am instantly transported back to the first game I saw on TV when vacationing up Nova Scotia. No other All-Star game has that affect.