I’m beginning my vacation by watching the 2002 Masters Highlights on The Golf Channel.

They shouldn’t tell you who wins in the blurb on the channel guide. That would make it a lot more fun to watch … although you’d probably know that Tiger won it.

I’ll probably check back in during the week, between weed whacking and lawn mowing and hopefully Titleist whacking.

Anyway, I wanted to make a few comments, a day later, on Old Timers’ Day and on the all-star game. ESPN is claiming that its’ miniseries “The Bronx is Burning” will follow the Home Run Derby tomorrow night at 10 p.m. I’ll believe that the Derby is over by 10 p.m. when I see it.

A couple of the older guys and I were talking at Old Timers’ Day how it used to be, back in the day. The Yankees’ Old Timers used to play their all-time, old-time opponents. So you’d never have a Homer Bush or a Gil Patterson, no disrepect meant to anybody.

You’d have one team of legendary Yankees, and another team that would draw guys like Brooks and Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, Sudden Sam McDowell, Willie Mays, Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal and so on. Sure beat the Clippers vs. the Bombers thing they had Saturday.

The best quote nobody used from Saturday was when Reggie Jackson was asked how George Steinbrenner, in his prime, would have reacted to this year’s Yankees team.

“You know the answer to that,” he said. “You know that. You know that. He’d have butchered this place.â€?

And I can never think of Reggie and the all-star break and not think of Tiger Stadium, July 13, 1971, when he hit one off the light tower on the roof in the game that featured probably the most Hall of Famers ever assembled in one spot.

Here are the rosters from that game. See how many Hall of Famers you can count (six of those hit home runs, denoted by asterisks):
NL

*Hank Aaron
Glenn Beckert

*Johnny Bench
Bobby Bonds
Lou Brock
Steve Carlton
Clay Carroll

*Roberto Clemente
Nate Colbert
Willie Davis
Larry Dierker
Dock Ellis
Bud Harrelson
Fergie Jenkins
Don Kessinger
Juan Marichal
Lee May
Willie Mays
Willie McCovey
Felix Millan
Pete Rose
Manny Sanguillen
Ron Santo
Tom Seaver
Willie Stargell
Rusty Staub
Joe Torre
Don Wilson
Rick Wise

AL
Luis Aparicio
Vida Blue
Don Buford
Leo Cardenas
Rod Carew
Norm Cash
Mike Cuellar
Dave Duncan
Ray Fosse
Bill Freehan
Frank Howard

*Reggie Jackson
Al Kaline

*Harmon Killebrew
Mickey Lolich
Sam McDowell
Bill Melton
Andy Messersmith
Thurman Munson
Bobby Murcer
Tony Oliva
Amos Otis
Jim Palmer
Marty Pattin
Jim Perry
Boog Powell
Brooks Robinson

*Frank Robinson
Cookie Rojas
Sonny Siebert
Wilbur Wood
Carl Yastrzemski