By MIKE LOPRESTI
Gannett News Service

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

CHICAGO - Excuse us a minute, while we check passports in the starting lineups of the All-Star Game.

Two-thirds of the American League outfield came from Japan. The second baseman was from the Dominican Republic, the designated hitter, catcher and second baseman from Puerto Rico, the pitcher from Mexico.

The National League shortstop was from Colombia, the catcher and second baseman from Puerto Rico, the left fielder from the Dominican Republic.

Baseball has been international a long time. But this seems extraordinary. Twenty starters - counting the designated hitter spots - and 11 of them imports. It is starting to look like the NBA draft.

So the world was watching - probably some of it to see if there were a sausage race.

But if it's new blood baseball wants in the All-Star Game, might it be time to replace American vs. National with America vs. Everybody Else?

Tempting. But, no.

It's suggested more often, anyway. Several of the players who have a sour taste for the World Series home-field advantage idea offered it Monday as Plan B.

"The best way to influence the All-Star Game, if that's what they want to do," John Smoltz said, "is to make it an International vs. American game. There'd be tremendous interest on both sides."

Probably so. It would be like a Ryder Cup with pine tar. And there is something appealing about the prospect of Roger Clemens having to strike out his Yankees teammate, Alfonso Soriano, or Pedro Martinez going against Nomar Garciaparra.

The race element that dripped off the Sammy Sosa cork case - ignited by Martinez, who claimed Latin players get a raw deal in the U.S. media - would add its own weight.

The matchup would be intriguing, because it would be different. For a while. Our culture likes shiny new toys. Then it would grow stale, the way it did in hockey.

And it would come with a cost. Another blurring of the lines between the leagues.

One of the most enduring pieces of the fabric of baseball has been the rivalry between the American and National leagues. What there is left of it, after being diluted by interleague play, and ravaged by the vagabond lifestyle of free agency.

It is only a shadow now of what it was. When Dusty Baker talked Monday of his first All-Star Game as a player, and being met at the door by Pete Rose, who said, "We haven't lost to these guys in nine years, so we are not going to lose now," he was describing an ancient civilization.

But it still should be important, and that is why last year's All-Star tie was an affront in the message it sent, and the mindset it represented.

Something had to be done. Maybe World Series home-field advantage isn't the answer, but there is nothing wrong with trying it. To hear so many players complain Monday was curious. Their own union agreed to the experiment.

"Competition," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said, "is always the best answer."

Regardless of the action on the field Tuesday night, this was a noble effort. A case could be made for having the U.S. play the World, but I'd be slow to throw away an heirloom.

There is something that still tugs at the fans about league vs. league, even if it now has to be artificially produced. And what business does not try to save a product the customer always liked?

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Mike Lopresti is a columnist for Gannett News Service.