BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Rodriguez Replaces Gwynn

Montreal Expo outfielder Henry Rodriguez was picked Wednesday to replace the injured Tony Gwynn on the National League all-star team.

Rodriguez was batting .292 with 25 homers and 69 RBIs before Wednesday night’s game against Atlanta. He was tied for second in homers and tied for fourth in RBIs.

“Being an all-star is always great,” said Rodriguez, who will be making his first appearance. “You don’t know if you’ll ever be an all-star even once. It’s something you’ll never forget.”

Rodriguez becomes the third Montreal all-star, joining pitcher Pedro Martinez and infielder Mark Grudzielanek.

Rodriguez was chosen over Chicago Cub outfielder Sammy Sosa, whose 26 homers lead the league.

“It was an easy choice,” said NL Manager Bobby Cox of Atlanta. “He [Rodriguez] was next in line. He’s outhitting [Sosa] by about 40 points.”

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A day after he turned 16 years old, outfielder Jackson Melian received a reported $1.6-million bonus when he agreed to a 1997 minor league contract with the New York Yankees.

“There are no words to say how I feel about being with the New York Yankees,” Melian said. “My heart has always been with the Yankees and my father often told me about their fabled history. With today being his birthday, I can’t think of a better gift.”

Melian, a center fielder from Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, will report today to the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa, Fla.

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Players and owners gave up on their attempt to reach a collective bargaining agreement by the all-star break. The sides, who met Tuesday, spoke by telephone several times Wednesday, according to a source familiar on the talks who spoke on the condition he not be identified. They do not plan to meet again until after next week’s All-Star game. . . . The Montreal Expos lost first baseman David Segui for up to six weeks after he suffered a broken right thumb while taking a pickoff throw Wednesday night.

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Former Cincinnati Red star George Foster is prepared to sell his World Series rings and his National League most-valuable-player award at an auction Saturday, a newspaper reported.

Foster has put those items, his All-Star game MVP award and other memorabilia up for telephone auction through Columbus-based Uniquities-Cool Stuff Inc., the Cincinnati Post reported Wednesday.

Foster said he has a roomful of memorabilia at his Connecticut home, and it was intimidating to his two daughters, ages 9 and 13.

“It was almost like, ‘I can’t touch this’ for them,” Foster told the Post. “Those awards, to me, were only symbols of what I did. As long as I still have the memories, that’s what’s important.”

Foster, 47, was charged in April with failing to file a Connecticut state income tax return in 1994, when he earned more than $500,000, but he contends that has nothing to do with the auction.