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Goodbyes with a smile

Gwynn, Ripken take final All-Star trip with style, grace

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By John Donovan, CNNSI.com

	• Storylines • All Thumbs • Quote of the Day • Short Hops • Things We'd Like to See

SEATTLE -- By the time the season is over, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn will have had their fill of goodbyes.

None will be quite like Tuesday night's.

Here at the 72nd All-Star Game, baseball will say so long to two of its biggest stars. It promises to be a touching All-Star end to a couple of soon-to-be Hall of Fame careers.

But sad? No. Not for these guys.

"I see it as a celebration, a celebration of baseball," Ripken, the Baltimore Orioles' third baseman, said Monday. "I've been very, very lucky to play all these years."

Gwynn sees it as just another step to be taken -- a next step he hopes is as coach at San Diego State, his alma mater. He used a news conference at Safeco Field on Monday to again push for the job.

Gwynn and Ripken also used to opportunity to tell fans not to feel sorry for them as their baseball careers come to a close.

"I don't want to be sad that my career is coming to an end because I've had a great time. I've done exactly what I wanted to do, where I wanted to do it," said Gwynn, who spent his entire career with the San Diego Padres.

Players up and down both the AL and NL lineups agree with the selection of Ripken and Gwynn to the All-Star teams and see it as the perfect final All-Star tribute. With neither the Padres or Orioles likely to make it to the postseason, this may well be the biggest farewell of the season for them.

Ripken will start at third base for the American League while Gwynn is a special invitee for the National League who will not play.

It was almost 20 years ago, in 1983, that Ripken was selected to his first All-Star Game. Gwynn was in his first a year later.

Tuesday night, it all comes to an end.

"I want to say today, to both of you, you've set a great standard for players to come," baseball commissioner Bud Selig told the two as he presented each of them a check for $100,000 to go toward their charities. "And for that, I know I personally will always be very, very grateful."

We all should be. Players, and people, like Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn come along only every so often.

On to the final edition of the special All-Star Day at a Glance. Thursday, the last half of the season begins.

The Homies Ripken and Gwynn will be big news Tuesday, but the night belongs to the Seattle Mariners. After all: Their park, their rules. Eight of them, four of them starters, will take part in this game. All eyes, of course, will be on the top vote getter, Japanese sensation Ichiro Suzuki, who has sparked the M's to one of the best first halves in major league history. Tuesday night, the Mariners take on the National League. And then they go back to laying waste to the AL West.
The Showdowns Oh, we have a ton of them. National League starter Curt Schilling wants Ichiro. Ichiro wants Schilling. Schilling's Arizona Diamondbacks teammate wants Ichiro, too. Ichiro will take on the Big Unit. American League starter Roger Clemens may have to face Mets catcher Mike Piazza. They both say "Ehhh ... who cares?" Brushbacks, anyone?
The Villain It's funny, but when Johnson was introduced to the Safeco Field crowd on Monday during batting practice, the former Mariners ace got a huge ovation. And when Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez, another former Mariner, was introduced while he was taking some swings in the cage -- booed like all get-out. Later, during the Home Run Derby, it was more a mixture of cheers and boos. Still, Seattle fans clearly can hold a grudge. A-Rod, it seems, will have to take comfort in his $252 million.
The Game Sometimes they're good, sometimes they can bore to tears. There are memorable ones -- Rose meets Fosse in 1970, Reggie goes deep in '71 -- and then there are the ones like last year. Quick, who won? Who was the star? Not of the Home Run Derby. Of the game. See? Let's hope this is a good one. (The AL won its fourth in a row, by the way, as Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees won MVP.)
Jason Giambi -- The Oakland Athletics' All-Star is one of the game's biggest stars -- and one of the best things that baseball has going for it. His team is barely mediocre and he's been in the midst of trade rumors and contract talks for months. So he's responded by hitting .322 with 19 homers and 60 RBIs. Distractions? He doesn't know what they are.
The Break -- You have to give Major League Baseball credit. The folks who run the game squeeze a lot into only a couple of days in the middle of a busy season. FanFest, the Futures Game, the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game itself ... man, when does the real break come?
The Second Half -- Not to look too far ahead, but this better be good. Because with that nasty labor thing still out there hanging over everyone's heads, this could be the last few months of baseball we see for awhile.
Dopey Fans -- You have a right to boo. You have a right to complain. You have a right to yell. You don't have a right to be obnoxious. Or to curse in the middle of a crowd where kids might be. Or to run on to the field, like some yahoo did Monday right in the middle of the Home Run Derby, and ruin it for everybody else.
This could lead to an international incident "One of the things a veteran pitcher told me a long time ago is that, as an opposing pitcher, you have the ability to shut up a stadium. I have the ability to shut up a country." -- National League starter Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks, on facing Ichiro and his legions of fans in Japan.
For just the third time in 11 years -- the first since '98 -- a starter has not had to be replaced in the Al-Star Game.
How rare is an All-Star Game that is so filled with players from the home team? Only twice has there been a game with as many as the eight players the Mariners will have Tuesday night. The Boston Red Sox had eight in 1946. The New York Yankees hold the record, with nine in 1939.
Ivan Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers is scheduled to make his ninth straight start at catcher Tuesday, an American League All-Star record and tying the All-Star record of the Cincinnati Reds' Johnny Bench.
After Cal Ripken Jr., the active player who has been selected for the most All-Star Games is Roberto Alomar of the Cleveland Indians, who has been selected 12 times, including 11 straight.
Joe Torre has won all three All-Star Games in which he's managed.
There are 11 first-time All-Stars on each side for Tuesday's game.
Barry Bonds to hit a home run that will spark him to another terrorizing few months. Baseball needs it.
Clemens serving one up to Piazza.
Ichiro: 2-for-3, a double, an RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored.
Seattle fans whooping it up all night. These opportunities don't come along very often.
In his last All-Star appearance, a longball for classy Cal Ripken Jr.

 

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