NEW YORK -- The all-star game is upon us. Perhaps you’ve read a column or two on how this annual gathering can be improved.
Obviously, the midsummer classic has changed; Pete Rose isn’t around to break Ray Fosse’s collarbone. Willie Mays isn’t available to play every inning (which he did, apparently, eleven times). Intensity simply isn’t an all-star ingredient anymore.
So here’s a thought: Why not hang a big worm on the hook, and offer members of the winning team money?
Most have all-star bonus clauses in their contracts, though Roy Halladay was pleasantly surprised to learn he will receive an additional $125,000 for coming here to New York. Those are paid by the respective teams.
In addition to individual clauses, why not have Major League Baseball step in and offer, say, $150,000 to the winners, and not a single penny to the losers? That kind of coin may not impress someone like Halladay, who makes over $10-million a year, but it might inspire a minimum-wage earner like Nate McLouth to barrel into a catcher.
Baseball claims to be awash in money, with 2007 revenues running in the area of $5 billion, so there must extra cake in the cupboard. What’s an extra $5 million to light a match under some all-star behinds?
LUCKY SUDS? My brother lives in New Brunswick, where they brew a beer called "Alpine." Last month, he came for a visit. As he unpacked his bag on the morning of June 13, he pulled a can of Alpine beer from his bag, and asked me to give it to Fredericton’s Matt Stairs (presumably for good luck). That day, the Jays hosted the Cubs, and Stairs hit his eighth home run of the year.
However, I had put the beer in the fridge where it was gradually pushed to the back by a variety of other brands. Eventually, I forgot it was there altogether. Meanwhile, Stairs went on a run of homer-less games that extended into July.
Finally, on Friday, I remembered the can of Alpine, pulled it from the back and delivered it -– ice cold -– to Stairs prior to the first game of the Yankee series. Jokingly (I think) he promised to consume it before the opening pitch. Late in the game, Matt powered his ninth home run of the year -– and first since June 13 -– over the wall in right-centre.
I’m not sure if Stairs is superstitious, but if he happens to go a few weeks without hitting a home run, my brother has promised to courier a case of Alpine.
