All-Star Sunday

Jason Michael Barker

I got my first taste of the All-Star Game on Sunday, and so far I have no complaints. The day began rather early (for a Sunday, at least) with 9 AM tickets to the All-Star FanFest at the exhibition center next to SafeCo Field. The FanFest is part museum, part amusement park and part carnival, with a vast array of displays, presentations, games and interactive activities. I honestly wasn't expecting that much, but we wound up staying for nearly four hours.

Had my group been smart, we would have gone immediately to the more popular attractions before the lines got long -- the video batting cages, personalized trading cards and fantasy play-by-play stations all filled up early. Instead, we walked around aimlessly, perhaps a bit overwhelmed by all there was to see.

First up was the "Hometown Heroes" section, which for Seattle isn't very much. There were old jerseys and pictures of fan favorites, plus a timeline of baseball history in Seattle. One nice touch was a life-size, 3D cutout of the 2001 M's team photo, complete with space for you to join in and have someone snap your picture as if you were really there. Nothing says "I'm a fan" like a picture of you alongside John Halama, Al Martin and the rest of the 25-man roster and coaching staff.

Next we made our way to the "Collector's Showcase" where you too can pay insane prices for small pieces of cardboard featuring the likeness of your favorite player! But for just $1, I bought an Edgar Martinez card for my girlfriend and a Jay Buhner card for myself. Even that was probably overpaying on a per-card basis, but I'd rather do that than sort through hundreds of packs of cards for the one or two I want.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend the "This Week in Baseball" fantasy broadcast. It's free, you get a video to take home, and you get to choose from nine highlights. Most of them are among baseball's greatest moments -- Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World," Hank Aaron's 715th homer, Kirk Gibson's homer in the 1998 World Series, and so on -- plus a few specific to Seattle. As you might guess, the most popular clip by far was the Mariners beating the Yankees in the 5th game of the 1995 ALDS.

I'm not ashamed to say my friend and I went through the line more than once... three times to be precise. The first time we did the aforementioned 1995 ALDS in horrible, broken Spanish, mimicking those soccer broadcasts you see on cable. Next up was Gibson's homer. This time we went pretty much by the book, except that the color commentator (my friend) kept hounding the play-by-play man (played by yours truly) about his lost hotdog. "I know you ate it. I mean, I can see the wrapper right there!" Finally, we did the game-winning bunt from last year's ALDS when the Mariners beat the White Sox -- in opera. We actually got a nice ovation from the line for that last one.

One of my favorite displays was in the minor league baseball area, where there was a full wall with the caps of each minor league team, from triple-A all the way down to short-season rookie ball. Conveniently, each cap was available for purchase, but it really was more of a display than a sales pitch. There was also the chance to get your picture taken (and printed, free, right on the spot) with various wacky minor league mascots. The Las Vegas 51's alien is pretty cool looking, but I have to say that he smells awful even by sweaty mascot uniform standards.

All in all, the FanFest is well worth your $15 when the All-Star Game comes to your town. I saw a piece on the local news about how expensive it is, but this is one of those misconceptions similar to the one about how it costs $5421 to take a family of four to a baseball game. If you're willing to put in a bit of effort and wait in line a bit, there really is a TON of free stuff to take home -- I left with a floppy hat, a squishy baseball, a dozen or so baseball cards, three play-by-play videos, an inflatable seat cushion, two posters, a key chain, an antenna ball, a copy of Baseball Weekly, a copy of Baseball America, and a picture of myself with that smelly mascot.

You don't have to spend $15 for that mini bat or $42.99 for the commemorative sweatshirt to walk away with some neat stuff. And besides, those cheap gimmicky prizes are probably just the sort of things your kids are going to want anyway.

After dropping off my free stuff at my car (free, on-street parking, I might add) it was time for the Futures Game, featuring some of the top talent in the minor leagues. I was surprised at how full the stadium was -- either people are more interested in the minors than I thought, or they just didn't know what the game was all about. I suspect it was the latter, because more and more people left with each passing inning. I suppose there's only so long you can watch guys you've never heard of before, even if the ticket was part of the strip. I follow the minors pretty closely, and even I only knew about half the guys in the game.

Team USA featured some of the top hitting prospects in the minors, including Texas 3B Hank Blalock, San Diego 3B Sean Burroughs, New York 1B Nick Johnson, and Cincinnati OF Adam Dunn. Starting pitcher Chris George is a solid pitching prospect, and Dennis Tankersley, who worked one inning of relief, has been awesome at both high-A and AA this year.

The highlight of the afternoon in Team USA's 5-1 win belonged to Dunn, who crushed a Juan Peña curveball in the third inning that bounced off the Hit it Here Café in right field. The homer was measured at 409 feet, but it was a majestic blast that looked much more impressive than simply reading the distance.

Overall, I'd call All-Star Sunday a rousing success, and I'm looking forward to the home run derby on Monday and of course the game itself on Tuesday. Speaking of which, if you're looking for a favorite in the derby, I'm going with Bonds. His home park (PacBell) isn't all that different from SafeCo, and the ball tends to carry best to right field, favoring left-handed pull hitters. If not Bonds, I expect one of the other lefties -- Luis Gonzalez or Todd Helton -- to win it.

about the author

For the fifth consecutive year, Jason Michael Barker wasn't asked to be in the home run derby. Major League Baseball execs say it has something to do with "the incident." Share his pain at jmb@strikethree.com.

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