MILWAUKEE – Blinding rain pelted this city Monday night, which sent organizers of the various social events surrounding baseball’s All-Star Game into a panic.
Walkie-talkies were beeping all over the city. The bus driver who was to take a group from Miller Park to the Midwest Express Center, site of the annual All-Star Gala, followed the instructions barked into his hand-held unit. He was instructed to stay put because organizers needed to change the gala from an outdoor event to an indoor one. While the bus on which Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s widow, sat was in a holding pattern, the home run hitting contest let out, causing a massive traffic jam in the parking lot.
That would be the home run hitting contest that has gotten so huge it almost overshadows the game; the home run hitting contest in which who knows how many of the eight contestants have inflated their muscles through illegal means with no fear of getting caught because baseball doesn’t test for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.
Mrs. Robinson and the rest of the passengers sat on the bus for 1 hour, 45 minutes, instead of the scheduled 15 minutes.
The next afternoon, Bud Selig, commissioner of baseball and ghost owner of the Brewers, held a news conference and answered questions about baseball labor, yet another session to remind the world that baseball is a business. He did this one day after a union meeting in Chicago, when the players didn’t set a strike date, which means nothing because setting a strike date is a formality that will happen.
Meanwhile, the question of whether John Henry Williams would stay in town to participate in pre-game ceremonies to honor his father, the great, late Ted Williams, had no clear answer in the moments preceding last night’s game. Of this there is no question: He already has dishonored his father by having his body shipped to a cryogenics lab for the purpose of freezing him with the intent of selling his DNA.
So much negativity hung in the Milwaukee air over the All-Star Game.
And then one smile, so wide and deep, served as a reminder that though baseball is a bad industry, it’s still a beautiful game. That smile was painted the face of Alfonso Soriano, first-time All-Star, joined by five Yankees teammates.
“I can’t believe it,” Soriano said of starting for the American League.
Soriano’s mother and sister flew to Milwaukee from Newark, proudly wearing Soriano home jerseys.
He has worked so hard at learning English, and second base, and it shows.
“Everyone talks about the improvement he’s made offensively,” double play partner Derek Jeter said. “I think he’s improved even more defensively.”
Jason Giambi has predicted Soriano will one day become a 50/50 man, reaching the milestones in home runs and stolen bases in a single season.
Reminded of Giambi’s prediction, Soriano smiled so widely and deeply and said, “That would be very, very hard to do.”
Notice he didn’t say impossible. He will not, he said, cheat to get there.
“I have heard about steroids,” Soriano said, grabbing his ear. “I have never seen them. I won’t ever take them. I like how I am now. I play with speed.”
The game is at its best when played by the best and Soriano is one of them. It’s at its worst when played out on the labor battlefield.