Morneau said he vanquished Santana, Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. That was one of the highlights of what has been an entertaining - and occasionally daunting - couple of days, said Morneau, moments after emerging from a 90-minute session of memorabilia autographing. "There were 46 dozen baseballs we had to sign.
It's nuts," he said. Now that they've attended an All-Star Game, wouldn't Hunter and his teammates like to host one, too? After the team's planned ballpark is built in downtown Minneapolis, the Twins figure to be awarded another game, because its last one, in the Metrodome, was in 1985.
Commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday he plans to name the next two or three All-Star Game sites within a month (the 2008 game is in Yankee Stadium and 2009 in St. But don't go standing in line for tickets quite yet. New stadiums in San Diego and Philadelphia have yet to host a game, and Washington and both New York teams are building new ballparks, with Kansas City renovating Kaufmann Stadium.
But some plans are in the works. "My party, it's going to be very big," Hunter joked. Bob DuPuy, president and CEO of Major League Baseball, said he is "very discouraged" that funding plans for a baseball stadium in Miami didn't get through the Florida Legislature recently.
How bleak are the prospects for getting a park built for the Marlins soon? DuPuy compared the situation to - yep, Minnesota. "We really thought we were going to get something done this year.
We had a lot of reason to think so, and we're very disappointed," he said. "We're somewhere between Minnesota and Montreal (in desperation)." The Twins' often-stalled - but finally approved - ballpark plans "was a very difficult situation for several years, to the point where Carl (Pohlad, Twins owner) did look around and did talk to potential buyers," DuPuy said.
"Minnesota is a close analog to (the Marlins)." Gardenhire coached first base during the first inning, then relinquished the duty to Detroit's first-base coach, Andy Van Slyke. "I told Andy, 'You got it.
' I don't think I can get out of the way of a hot line drive," said the Twins' manager, one of Jim Leyland's all-star coaches. The Twins' contingent, including wives and family members, was to leave for Minneapolis immediately after the game in a plane chartered by Santana. Gardenhire said Major League Baseball provides a stipend for players' travel to the All-Star Game, and the Twins simply donated theirs to Santana to help pay for the jet.
Phil Miller can be reached at pmiller@pioneerpress.com. Return to Top The Pioneer Press is pleased to let readers post comments about an article at the end of the article.
Please increase the credibility of your post by including your full name and city when commenting. Please note: It may take several minutes before your comment appears. Morneau said he vanquished Santana, Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith.
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