Associated Press
The baseball notebook …
ST. LOUIS ó All-Star tickets are a bargain at Busch Stadium, at least in comparison with prices for last year’s game at the original Yankee Stadium.
Tickets for Tuesday night’s All-Star game are priced at $100-$360, down from $150-$725 in New York last year. Monday’s workout and Home Run Derby goes for $75-$335, a drop from $100-$650, and Sunday’s Futures game cost $25-$175, a decrease from $50-$225.
At AT&T Park in San Francisco two years ago, tickets were $75-$285 for the All-Star game, $50-$225 for the Home Run Derby and $22.50-$125 for the Futures game.
About 1,340 tickets for Tuesday night were available on StubHub.com Sunday afternoon, with asking prices of $475-$11,999. FanSnap.com, an Internet search engine that finds tickets on resale sites, said 2,452 tickets were available starting at $471, the inventory leaving room for prices to drop leading up to the game.
Prices usually are announced about three months ahead of time. Next year’s game is at Anaheim and 2011 is in Phoenix. After that, the likely hosts are Kansas City in 2012, New York’s Citi Field in 2013 and Minneapolis in 2014. Boston would like to host in 2012 for the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park.
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STAR CATCHER: Cardinals star Albert Pujols will catch the ceremonial first pitch from President Barack Obama before Tuesday night’s game.
Obama will be greeted by six living Cardinals Hall of Famers: Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Bruce Sutter and Ozzie Smith.
Obama will use a special glove manufactured by Wilson Sporting Goods with “Obama 44” in script and an American flag. The glove will go to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
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WET WEATHER: Sunday’s Futures game had a 4-hour, 9-minute rain delay in the middle of the first inning. When play resumed, the first three rows of seats in the first section on the plate side of the first-base dugout were empty.
The National Weather Service has forecast highs Monday in the mid-80s and lows in the upper 60s with east winds of 10 mph.
Showers and thunderstorms are possible Tuesday, with the probability growing from 30 percent during the day to 40 percent at night. Highs are forecast in the 90s with lows in the lower 70s. Southeast winds of 10 to 15 mph also are predicted.
The World eventually defeated the United States 7-5.
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MOW ‘EM DOWN: Huge outlines of the Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse have been mowed into the grass at Busch Stadium ahead of the All-Star game.
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UNVEILING: Outgoing players’ association head Donald Fehr and his designated successor, union general counsel Michael Weiner, are to hold a briefing at Busch Stadium on Monday before the Home Run Derby.
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REDS: With Jay Bruce on his way back to Cincinnati to have his broken wrist examined, the Reds have recalled infielder Adam Rosales from Triple-A Louisville to fill the roster spot. Bruce, placed on the 15-day disabled list.
Bruce, who leads the Reds with 18 homers despite hitting only .207, was injured trying to make a sliding catch on David Wright’s liner on Saturday night.
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COLLEGIATE TEAM WINS: Gerrit Cole struck out nine in seven innings Sunday to lead the United States to a 3-0 win over Japan in the opener of the U.S.-Japan collegiate championships.
Cole, who attends UCLA, allowed only two hits and one walk. Vanderbilt’s Sonny Gray and Chad Bettis of Texas Tech finished the shutout.
Team USA took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Christian Colon of Cal State Fullerton tripled to right field, scoring Florida State’s Tyler Holt, and Matt Newman of Arizona State brought Colon home with a single to left.