Shaq vs. Albert Pujols home run derby to air Tuesday night
Shaq waits for a pitch in home run derby.
ABC was hoping the 6,000 fans who watched the taping of the Shaquille O’Neal vs. Albert Pujols home run contest Aug. 13 in O’Fallon, Mo., wouldn’t reveal who won the competition until after the “Shaq Vs.” episode airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Media coverage wasn’t allowed and fans couldn’t bring in cell phones or recording devices.
I doubt if it’s much of a secret.
In a preview clip of the show, O’Neal turned to a youth baseball player who was catching batting practice with him and said, “I suck, don’t I?”
The player said, “Yes.”
Shaq undoubtedly was no match for the Cardinals slugger — even after being given a handicap, believed to be having the fences moved in.
Another young player dissed Shaq after he hit a foul ball. “The fence is this way!”
O’Neal looks to have fun with the episode anyway and joking refers to himself as “Shaq-ie Robinson” at one point.
O’Neal watched the Cardinals take batting practice and threw out the first pitch before the Aug. 11 game against the Reds, and he and Pujols held a press conference on Aug. 12 to preview their contest.
“Usually I try to get into the mind of my opponent,” O’Neal said during the news conference. “But I don’t think it’s wise to talk smack to a guy that always has a bat in his hand. So I will have to use a different approach with the great Albert Pujols.”
Joe Buck likes All-Star Game format
Fox broadcasters Joe Buck and Tim McCarver and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig discussed Tuesday’s All-Star game in a conference call this week. Here are a few of the highlights:
Buck on whether he likes the format of playing for home-field advantage format: “Tim and I are on record saying this has made the best All-Star Game of the four major sports even better. Before the format change, you would see the starters for one maybe two at bats and then they would be on their way to the airport. Now its completely different. We sit in with the managers and talk about how they’re going to manage and win the ball game, not just to get everyone in. Now personally, I love to see them go a step further. We were awfully close to a frightening situation last year at Yankee Stadium. Great ballgame but as it turned out we were maybe one out away from having J.D. Drew pitch in the ballgame. I’m glad they ended up adding another pitcher and a 33rd person on each roster but I’d love to see the starters start the game and see, for example, Tim Lincecum pitch five innings and see a real baseball game.”
Selig on whether he thinks the format of playing for home-field advantage works: “A lot of people think that the 2002 tie really drove the change in format. We had been talking about this for at least a year before. I remember as kid watching Ted Williams break his elbow in the first inning of the 1950 All-Star Game in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. He played the whole game. But later the All-Star Game had lost its desire. Since the format change, the games have been played with remarkable intensity. It isn’t like we had a brilliant recipe for how we decided how to award home-field advantage before. One year the AL got it, the next the NL got it. Do I think playing for home-field advantage is good? You bet I do. Frankly, the events over the last six years have really made me feel stronger about this.”
McCarver on his time in St. Louis and its baseball tradition: “I played in St. Louis from 1959-1969 and again in 1973 and 1974 and was fortunate to be on teams that were very successful so you would get no argument from me in saying St. Louis was and still is the best baseball town in America. My experience there was nothing but terrific. With Joe living in St. Louis and me going back, from a personal standpoint, this game is very special for both of us.”
