070902gary

Sunday - Futures Game/Legends Softball Game
by Gary Rehfeltd

The pace of the Futures Game failed to hold the interest of most of the crowd
and Rich Eisner of ESPN seemed uncomfortable in his role. The TV breaks were
long and changing pitchers three times in the last inning (7th) didn't help. The crowd
really seemed to be waiting for the Legends Softball Game which featured such
former stars as Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Rollie Fingers and Paul Molitor. Because
the game was played in Milwaukee the teams were named "True Blue Brew Crew" and
"Wallbangers," the latter which nickname goes back to the days of manager Harvey
Kuehn and the great Brewers teams of the early 80's (World Series vs. St. Louis in 1982).
Also present were celebrities such as Meatloaf, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff and
Kevin James of CBS's "King of Queens." Kevin had nice arm and played left field well
and was on the receiving end of a game of pepper with Ozzie Smith and deftly fielded
the softball. Obvious he had "played ball" before!!

I watched only three innings of the Legends game and the only major leaguers to
get the ball out of the 200 foot yard were pitcher Rollie Fingers and no power man,
Ozzie Smith. The big hitters like George Brett, Ryne Sanburg, Cecil Fielder and
Gorman Thomas either popped up or hit a single. Picaboo Street and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
(who did a respectable job at third base) had a remote control car race to second base
that caught the kids eyes. Meatloaf gave the major leaguers fits with his catsup ball
and the "pine tar incident" was also reenacted with he and George Brett.

HOME RUN DERBY

A hot sweltery night greeted Derby fans as Milwaukee temps. rose to the low 90's
with 90% humidity. (Quite warm this close to Lake Michigan). The finals between Jason
Giambi of the Yankees and Sammy Sosa of the Cubs was almost anti-climatic because
of the show Sammy put on in the first round. The exception being when Jason missed
the Mastercard million dollar give away by FOUR feet. (Mastercard had put up two
banners, one horizontal one in the facade in left field and one vertical in right field;
if any ball hit them it was a million dollars to a fan chosen at random.)

Sammy put on a display that was Herculean to watch in the first round with FIVE
balls OVER 500 feet. I'm not sure what bogus estimation system they were using for
measuring, because the longest ball of the night, one that hit just under Rollie Fingers
retired number 34, registered only 502 feet. The crowd just AAAAAAHHHHED
when it hit about 150 above the playing field and the clear consensus in section 426
was that it was DEFINITELY the longest of the night. Sammy had clear backing
from the Windy City which is only about 90 miles from Milwaukee and the crowd
really got Sammy going. It was apparent that he was there to please the crowd
and he did. I'm going to miss Sammy when baseball commits hara-kiri here shortly,
he's what's right about baseball and the relationship with fans, even if he is a little juiced.

The finals were anti-climactic with Giambi smashing a spent looking Sosa who
hit at least three foul pop ups in his last 10 outs. The local flavor was evident as
"brats were grilling in the lots." Anyone who makes a trip to Miller Brat needs to
try a brat with "Secret Stadium Sauce" to make the pilgrimage complete.

Actual All-Star game report before noon tomorrow.

Yours in Cheesehead Land,

Gary