NEW YORK (AP) -Reggie Jackson might be as well known for his Hall of Fame-sized ego as he is for knocking mammoth home runs in October.
So there he was Monday night, holding court behind the batting cage amid a sea of All-Stars, media and special guests as this generation’s sluggers prepared for the Home Run Derby, defending his generation of ballplayers against the beefed-up players of today.
“These young guys today, today they’re bigger. I don’t know if they’re stronger,” Jackson said. “ (Harmon) Killebrew, Frank Howard, (Willie) McCovey, Dick Allen, (Willie) Stargell, Rico Carty, (Mickey) Mantle, Lou Gehrig. Go back as far as you want there were some really strong people.
“There’s no one playing today that’s stronger than Jim Rice,” he added. “There’s no one playing today who hit the ball farther than Gorman Thomas.”
Jackson hit 563 homers in his career and 18 in the postseason – his three in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series is one of the most replayed moments in Yankee Stadium history.
Introduced as one of the great home run hitters of all-time before he threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Yankees captain Derek Jeter, Jackson confidently – how else? – asserted how he’d do in the Home Run Derby.
“I would have won them all. You know that,” he said.
Jackson had his All-Star moment in 1971, when he was with the Oakland Athletics: He hit a monster home run off a light tower above Tiger Stadium. But in a modest moment said he didn’t compare in size to some of his contemporaries and those who preceded him.
“I was smaller than everyone,” he said.
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PAPI’S POWER: Terry Francona tried not to look when David Ortiz stepped into the batting cage for some impromptu practice before the Home Run Derby, turning his back to deal with a throng of reporters.
He missed quite a show.
The injured designated hitter hit four straight over Yankee Stadium’s short right-field wall, then stepped out of the batter’s box to let somebody else have a turn. When he stepped back to the plate moments later, Ortiz sent four more out of the park before hitting one that dropped about 3 feet short of the 408-foot sign in center.
Smiling like a child, Ortiz sprinted from the cage to the clubhouse without a pause.
Ortiz has been on the disabled list since May 31 with a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist. He was voted into the American League starting lineup for Tuesday night’s All-Star game but was replaced by Milton Bradley of the Texas Rangers.
The Red Sox plan to send Ortiz on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Pawtucket on Thursday. If all goes well, he could return for Boston’s series July 25 against the Yankees.
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BY-BYE BUSCONES: High-powered agent Scott Boras would like to see the Dominican government help put an end to the practice of middlemen, known as buscones, signing young players in Latin America to contracts with the hope of helping the athletes ink deals with major league organizations, some for a share of the money.
“The Dominican government just has to really pass a law where contracts with the kids are unenforceable until they’re 18. And then the buscone world stops,” Boras said. “If they take away the buscones’ ability to enforce contracts with kids, then all of a sudden then you have kid protection of the law and all of a sudden this system that they’ve invoked, where the buscones are basically operating with the kids in good faith, rather than some contractual mandate, and then the process becomes more as the kids age, and they’re able to make better decisions.
Recently, Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden and special assistant Jose Rijo denied an ESPN.com report they were being investigated in a probe examining an alleged scam involving the skimming of signing bonuses for young Dominican players.
Currently, international players are able to sign with pro teams at 16. For this year’s signing period, big league teams could sign 16-year-old international players who will turn 17 prior to the end of 2009 minor league season.
On July 2, the Oakland Athletics and prized 16-year-old Dominican pitching prospect Michael Inoa agreed to a minor league contract with a $4.25 million signing bonus.
One of the ways baseball could protect young international prospects is through a draft.
“They can correct the buscone situation a lot quicker than Major League Baseball can,” Boras said. “I think we want the citizenry of the Dominican to legislate their own country, you know. I really do.”
But the rules for a worldwide amateur draft wasn’t included in the lastest labor agreement in 2006. Unless the labor agreement is reopened before it expires in 2011, the draft cannot be instituted until 2012.
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DON’T GIVE SQUAT: It’s tradition among player to leave that day’s starting pitcher alone before gametime to go through his routine. It’s also a superstition to let pitchers sit by themselves on the bench when they’re working on a no-hitter. But in the Giants’ clubhouse there might be a new reason to stay away from at least one hurler.
Tim Lincecum, the hard-throwing right-hander and first-time All-Star, eats in a most unusual manner: he squats.
“I sit in like a squatting position while I’m eating, for some times at least, some meals,” Lincecum said at the All-Star press conference Monday. “A couple guys on the team, you know, obviously, get on me about that, just say it’s kind of funny, but I guess it’s kind of quirky of me. So, it kind works of.”
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LINE ‘EM UP: Clint Hurdle said he consulted with several people when putting together his National League batting order. Oakland GM Billy Beane probably was not one of them.
“You look at the numbers that many of these men have put up,” Hurdle said. “(But) you know, I’m a big fan – I hear about OPS, OBP – I’m a big fan of G-U-T-S. I like guts.”
So much for Beane’s whole Moneyball philosophy, with its importance on on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) and other relatively obscure statistics.
Hanley Ramirez will lead off for the NL, followed by Chase Utley, Lance Berkman and Albert Pujols at DH batting cleanup. Chipper Jones, Matt Holliday, Ryan Braun, Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto round out the order.
“As I was writing that thing down, as the flow of the pen came together, that one was the one that stuck, and that’s the one that I said, ‘You know what? For me, that’s our best lineup,”’ Hurdle said. “And that’s the one we’re gonna run out there.
“It’s the best lineup that I’ve ever written down on paper, so we’ll see where it takes us.”
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TEJADA TALKS: Miguel Tejada went from the Mitchell Report to the NL All-Star team.
And isn’t interested in talking about it.
“I just have my mind on just playing baseball,” the Houston Astros shortstop said Monday. “I don’t really pay attention (to) anything that happened outside the field.”
Tejada, the 2005 All-Star game MVP with the Orioles, was traded from Baltimore to Houston on Dec. 12 and implicated in the Mitchell Report a day later.
The five-time All-Star remains under investigation by the FBI, which is looking into whether he lied about steroids to investigators for a congressional committee.
“My agent is in charge of all that kind of stuff and right now I’m just talking about baseball,” Tejada said.
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WIRED FOR SOUND: Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla will have an extra duty when he participates in the Home Run Derby. Commentator.
“I’m not very funny so I’m not worried about it,” Uggla said.
Uggla, who has 23 homers this season, was fitted with a microphone and iPod-sized transmitter for the competition by an ESPN technician before batting practice.
Will it affect his hitting?
“I should be all right,” he said.
Uggla hit six homers in the first round, including one “golden ball” home run to raise $17,000 for charity.
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AP Sports Writers Dave Skretta and Jay Cohen contributed to this report.
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