Fans get to pick all-time Hispanic club

By wire services
Published August 24, 2005

NEW YORK - Six years after Latin American players were shut out from baseball's All-Century Team, the sport launched a promotion Tuesday to select a "Latino Legends Team."

Acknowledging the increased influence of its Hispanic players and audience, baseball will conduct fan balloting Monday through Oct. 10 at its Web site, mlb.com, and announce the winners before Game 4 of the World Series.

In the 1999 voting for the All-Century team, the closest a Hispanic player got to one of the 30 spots was Roberto Clemente, who finished 10th in balloting for the nine outfield members.

"There are those who felt the Latin player-base community had been overlooked by fans in that election," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

DODGERS FEUDING: Milton Bradley accused teammate Jeff Kent of a lack of leadership and an inability to deal with black players.

Bradley's remarks came a couple of minutes after he said that the feud between the two that became public last weekend in Florida was a "dead issue."

"The problem is, he doesn't know how to deal with African-American people," Bradley said. "I think that's what's causing everything. It's a pattern of things that have been said, things said off the cuff that I don't interpret as funny. It may be funny to him, but it's not funny to Milton Bradley."

Kent defended himself. "If you think that I've got a problem with African-Americans, then go talk to Dusty Baker," he said. "Go talk to Dave Winfield, who took me under his wing. Go talk to Joe Carter; all the guys that I idolized in this game and all the veteran players who taught me how to play this game."

RADICAL MEASURES: Nationals manager Frank Robinson said Rafael Palmeiro's statistics should be erased because the Orioles first baseman was suspended for a failed drug test. "Where do you go back, stop and say, "Okay, when did he start using steroids?' To eliminate all that, and get the players' attention, you wipe the whole thing out," Robinson told MLB.com.

NATIONALS SALE: Major League Baseball hopes to select a new owner for the Washington Nationals by Labor Day and transfer control of the team by Oct. 1. DuPuy said the sport wants a lease for the team's new ballpark signed before an owner is announced.

BREWERS: Right-hander Rick Helling has supplanted right-hander Victor Santos in the rotation. Santos (4-12, 4.57 ERA) has mostly been the victim of poor run support, but manager Ned Yost decided to demote him after a bad outing Sunday in Houston.

PIRATES: Rookie left-hander Zach Duke sprained his left ankle running the bases and was taken out after two perfect innings. Also, second baseman Jose Castillo will miss the rest of the season with a torn MCL in his left knee, but he won't need surgery that might have kept him from being ready next spring.

TWINS: Leftfielder Shannon Stewart left the game against the White Sox in the fourth after running into the outfield wall making a tough catch.

[Last modified August 24, 2005, 01:16:13]