McGwire Puts On a Jolly Good Show

The major league home run leader didn’t win it, didn’t even make it to the final round of Monday’s All-Star home run derby.

But Oakland Athletic first baseman Mark McGwire, who homered off the scoreboard above the left-center field bleachers in a game against the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field this year, consistently drew the loudest roars from a crowd of 44,945 with his tape-measure shots.

Among the appreciative spectators was Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, who said:

“McGwire makes me feel like a baby. He makes me feel small. He’s like the Jolly Green Giant with a baseball bat.”

From a field of 10, New York Yankee first baseman Tino Martinez won the derby by hitting three homers in the third and final round. He beat the Colorado Rockies’ Larry Walker, who had only one, although Walker out-homered Martinez, 19-16, through the three rounds and had the longest of the contest at 479 feet.

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Chicago White Sox outfielder Albert Belle, the former Indian who was fined $5,000 by the American League for making an obscene gesture at jeering fans when he returned to Jacobs Field in June, did not participate in Monday’s workout but did arrive with his brother just before the home run derby, which concluded the day’s activities.

American League Manager Joe Torre said he could understand Belle’s thinking in not wanting to fuel a crowd reaction on the eve of the game and “considering everything surrounding his first appearance here, I appreciate the fact” that he didn’t reject his selection.

The Indians and the AL will beef up security tonight in an attempt to avoid any incident involving Belle.

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A biographical sketch on Angel outfielder Garret Anderson is included in the All-Star media guide, as is one on Kansas City shortstop Jay Bell, although neither was voted in by the fans or selected as a reserve by Torre. An official said the press of edition time prompted their inclusion as players who might be chosen.

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Angel rookie pitcher Jason Dickson was as excited as the kids who hovered around the dugouts asking for autographs at Monday’s workout.

“Just meeting the guys was exciting,” Dickson said.

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Barry Bonds, the prototype arrogant, spoiled baseball player, paid to fly a leukemia-stricken 13-year-old and his grandfather to the All-Star game from Oakland.

After reading about the plight of Anthony Lee Franklin, Bonds visited the teenager at a hospital and donated blood.

He also launched a bone-marrow drive with a two-year goal of registering 1,000 African Americans and raising $250,000 for leukemia victims and their families.