By Frank Fuhrig Jul 12, 2005, 11:17 GMT
Washington - International flavour dominated the start of the mid-season break in Major League Baseball, despite the sport's banishment last week from the Olympics.
Baseball's all-star festivities began Monday in Detroit with a home run derby that for the first time saw eight players selected to represent eight different countries in the power-hitting exhibition.
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bobby Abreu, a native Venezuelan, crushed balls and splintered his own bat in a performance unprecedented in the 15-year history of the home run competition.
The new format for the home-run derby, with eight hitters picked on the basis of nationality, was an attempt by major-league officials to emphasize the sport's diversity and advance marketing efforts overseas.
Just last week, the International Olympic Committee, meeting in Singapore, voted to remove the U.S.-centred diamond sports, men's baseball and women's softball, from the Olympics beginning with London's 2012 Summer Games. The absence of top major-leaguers from Olympic competition was cited as a major reason for booting baseball.
In the home-run hitting contest, a favourite with fans for the powerful towering shots the sluggers produce, Abreu was the first to hit in Detroit's Comerica Park, and he put on an awesome display of hitting prowess for 17 minutes. He knocked a record 24 balls over the fence in the first round. The previous one-round record in the major- league home run derby was 15.
Each player continued hitting until he had made 10 unsuccessful swings. Late in his first-round effort, Abreu was forced to find a replacement wooden bat after the barrel of his broke open a ball that still left the park.
In the second round, with the eight hitters reduced to four, Abreu added six more homers, enough to reach the final round against Detroit Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, swinging in front of his home fans but representing Puerto Rico.
Abreu found his groove again in the finals, launching 11 balls compared to five by Rodriguez.
The three-round total of 41 was astonishing, demolishing the previous home-run derby record of 27.
Other Venezuelan players in attendance made calls home by mobile phone and told Abreu that all of Venezuela was watching, enthralled. Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, representing the baseball-mad Dominican Republic, knocked what would have been a record-breaking 17 homers in the first round but was eliminated in the second round, along with Milwaukee Brewer outfield Carlos Lee, a native Panamanian.
The first-round casualties were Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jason Bay of Canada, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Hee-Seop Choi of South Korea, Texas Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira representing the United States and Atlanta Braves outfield Andruw Jones, a native of Curacao, an island colony of the Netherlands.
The major-league All-Star Game, an annual exhibition, will be played Tuesday night in Detroit between the sport's American and National leagues.
Major League Baseball Commission Bud Selig conceded in an interview Monday with sports television network ESPN that he was "disappointed" that the sport has been jilted by the Olympics but downplayed the setback to his international marketing offensive.
"It isn't going to interfere with anything we're going to do," he said.
MLB officials unapologetically refused to break the April to October season for the quadrennial Summer Games, or to allow top players to leave their teams during what would be the thick of baseball's pennant races.
Earlier Monday, baseball officials announced a long-planned world cup of baseball that would include professionals. Selig and the powerful players union announced that the 16-team World Baseball Classic March 3-20, about a month before the regular MLB season.
The tournament, held during baseball's spring training pre-season, would allow major-leaguers to participate in international play for the first time.
Games would be held in Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States, with the invited teams as Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, the Domincan Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Taiwan, the United States and Venezuela. Cuban and Japanese participation was not yet confirmed.
Selig suggested that the world cup event could be successful enough to make the International Olympic Committee regret last week's decision. "We're moving on," he said, "in a very dramatic way."
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