NEW YORK (AP) – Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made quite the entrance Tuesday night, waving to the crowd as he rode in on a golf cart before the All-Star game.
The 78-year-old Steinbrenner got a loud ovation when he was introduced during pregame ceremonies. He kept his aviator sunglasses on the whole time as he traveled along the Yankee Stadium warning track with wife Joan, son Hal and son-in-law Felix Lopez.
Steinbrenner’s cart pulled up near the mound, where he delivered baseballs to Yankees Hall of Famers Goose Gossage, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson for the ceremonial first pitches.
“It’s awesome. It’s well-deserved,” Yankees star Alex Rodriguez said of the pregame honor for Steinbrenner in Yankee Stadium’s final season. “Above all, the Stadium and Mr. Steinbrenner are the two biggest stars.”
Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973 and the team has won six of its 26 World Series titles during his tenure.
While the Boss is still involved with the team, usually working in his Tampa office, he’s turned over much of the daily operation to his sons, Hank and Hal. His health has deteriorated over the years, and he never left the golf cart during the ceremony.
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OLD AGE: Billy Wagner heard it from all sides.
Giants reliever Brian Wilson talked about admiring the New York Mets closer when he was playing in college. Braves star Chipper Jones made sure Wagner knew he was the oldest All-Star on the National League team.
“I gotta make myself feel better that I’m not the oldest one here,” Jones said.
Wagner, who turns 37 on July 25, actually was the oldest player on both rosters for Tuesday night’s All-Star game at Yankee Stadium. Not that it mattered to him.
“I think over the long haul you look and go, ‘Man, I’ve been here for a while and I’m still here,”’ he said. “It starts to be a compliment more than somebody kind of saying something negative.”
Wagner had 22 saves and a 2.31 ERA in the first half, earning his second straight All-Star selection and sixth overall. He was looking forward to talking shop with the rest of the relievers in the bullpen.
“Just kind of get an idea of how they feel about how this goes and how the whole relieving aspect goes,” Wagner said. “It’s fun.”
Wagner also has big plans for Wednesday night – a trip to the White House to have dinner with President Bush. “Still wondering how that came about,” he cracked.
Jones, the third-oldest player in the game behind Boston catcher Jason Varitek, also was enjoying his first All-Star appearance since 2001.
“Last time I was one of the youngest,” the 36-year-old Jones said before signing a jersey for Colorado’s Matt Holliday. “Crazy.”
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STOPPER’S ROW: Make a right when you walk into the AL’s clubhouse – the Yankees’ home the rest of the year – and you’ll see a formidable grouping of All-Stars that could stop the most confident hitters: five of the best closers in baseball, starting with Mariano Rivera in his walk-in corner locker.
“You start down the row here, there’s got to be a thousand saves,” said Francisco Rodriguez, leading the majors with 38 saves.
The Angels closer was close. The bunch has 980 saves, topped by Rivera’s 466 – 23 this season.
Along the right wall, Minnesota’s Joe Nathan (27 saves) is next to Rivera. To his left is Kansas City’s Joakim Soria (25), Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon (28) and Rodriguez.
The one closer who was separated from his brethren is Baltimore’s George Sherrill (28). He’s changing next to his old Seattle teammate Ichiro Suzuki.
“Ichi asked for me, and I asked for a locker next to him,” Sherrill said. “I guess ’cause I’d be the only (Suzuki teammate). He asked for me. I was his teammate and we had a lot of fun.”
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HOTEL GUEST: Josh Hamilton awoke the day after his dreamlike performance in the Home Run Derby and turned on the TV in his hotel room in midtown Manhattan and found the end of the movie “The Natural” playing.
Just then he received a visitor. It was time for a random drug test.
“Right when (Robert Redford’s character) was about to hit the home run, the pee guy came in,” Hamilton said. “I said, ‘Hold on. I’ve got to watch this.”’
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NO JOE: Dodgers manager Joe Torre was back in New York for the All-Star break to host his Safe at Home Foundation’s annual charity golf tournament and, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, attend a news conference to open the 11th Margaret’s Place, a safehouse for student victims of domestic violence.
The one thing he will not be doing is attending the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, his baseball home from 1996-2007.
When asked by a reporter at the news conference, how it will feel to be back at the Stadium, he quipped, “I couldn’t get a ticket.”
Instead, Torre, who won four World Series titles and was the AL manager at the All-Star game six times, will be home with his family.
“I’m not going. I will watch it,” he said. “But if I was there, it would be strange to be on the other side of the field. That would be the odd perspective I’d have to look at it from.”
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WILLIE’S BACK: Former Mets manager Willie Randolph accepted Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s invitation to the All-Star game.
Randolph, a former All-Star second baseman and longtime coach with the Yankees, was fired last month after the Mets got off to an inconsistent start this season. He was selected to be a coach for the game during the final season for Yankee Stadium and was replaced by Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella.
“George invited him to the All-Star game on the basis of his great friendship for him and he wanted him to take part in this momentous occasion,” Steinbrenner spokesman Howard Rubenstein said.
Mets star David Wright said he has exchanged messages with Randolph since he was fired, and was glad he was going to the game.
“I think it’s good for a guy that’s been such a part of that Yankees history to be here,” Wright said. “He definitely deserves to be here.”
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PAYING HOMAGE: Plenty of All-Stars talked about a pilgrimage to Monument Park this week, the historic site just past the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium, where some say the ghosts of Ruth, DiMaggio and Gehrig still reside.
But only the American League side, dressing in the home clubhouse, could pay homage to Thurman Munson’s locker shrine.
Two down from where Yankees captain Derek Jeter dresses, Munson’s locker remains empty 29 years after the All-Star catcher was killed in a plane crash practicing takeoffs and landings near his Ohio home. It’s a monument that a fortunate few are able to visit, and rarely those who regularly dress in Red Sox red.
“I looked at Munson’s locker, of course,” catcher Jason Varitek said. “Derek pointed it out to me. … I thought it was pretty cool.”
Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis also wandered by on his way back to his locker – which would normally belong to Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon. Next door, in Chien-Ming Wang’s usual locker, Home Run Derby champ Justin Morneau of the Twins made himself at home.
David Ortiz is changing in Jorge Posada’s locker and Roy Halladay is in Mike Mussina’s end spot.
The chance to dress in the Yankees’ venerable clubhouse wasn’t a rare treat for everyone. Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera all kept their own spaces.
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BIG RATINGS: More homes were tuned in to Monday night’s Home Run Derby than have ever watched the event. The contest on ESPN was seen by nearly 6.2 million households, breaking the record of more than 5.7 million set in 1999, the network said Tuesday.
The 6.4 rating was up 25 percent from last year’s 5.1. It was the most-viewed non-NFL program on ESPN since the Florida State-Miami football game Sept. 5, 2006.
The rating is the percentage of homes with televisions watching a broadcast.
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AP Sports Writers Howie Rumberg, Dave Skretta and Rachel Cohen, and Associated Press Writer Sara Kugler contributed to this report.
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