Notebook: Martin gums up works

ABERDEEN, Md. -- When Dustin Martin strode to the plate to lead off the top of the sixth inning in the New York-Penn League All-Star Game on Wednesday night, he couldn't quite figure out why play seemed to be delayed.

Sure, all the guys in his National League dugout on the third-base line were cracking up, but the assortment of team mascots had been cavorting between innings so the Brooklyn Cyclones center fielder figured the laughs were for them.

But the opposing catcher was laughing, and the opposing pitcher was laughing, and not only was home plate umpire laughing but he had yet to signal for the pitcher to throw his first pitch.

Martin suspected something was up, he just wasn't sure what.

"Everyone was looking at me," he said.

Martin went to adjust his batting helmet and that's when he found the baseball-sized wad of bubble gum that had caught the eye of everyone in the packed stadium except, of course, Martin himself.

He figured out pretty quickly who the culprit was: Cyclones hitting coach Scott Hunter.

"That was actually the third joke he pulled on me that day," said Martin, who was drafted by the Mets this past spring out of Sam Houston State.

Hunter's attempts -- successful ones to boot -- to keep things loose in the dugout with his young outfielder in the center of things started when he taped a hot dog to Martin's bat before batting practice.

He continued the frankfurter theme when, prior to the third inning, he put a hot dog in Martin's glove, which wasn't discovered until he trotted to the outfield and attempted to put the glove on.

"There are still remnants of hot dog in center field," said Martin, who was hitting .316 with two homers and 28 RBIs at the All-Star break.

But the bubble gum on the helmet? That will bestow upon Martin a priceless memory that was doubtless captured by a majority of the amateur (and professional) photographers on hand for the game in Aberdeen.

And judging by Martin's response after removing the gum and tossing it toward the dugout, he might not mind being the butt of a few more pranks. He laced Staten Island Yankees hurler Nick Peterson's pitch off the left-center field wall for a leadoff double.

Second Time Around: Two members of the 2006 New York-Penn League All-Star team can claim membership on the inaugural league All-Star team in 2005 and as this one. State College Spikes first baseman A.J. Van Slyke was named to the '05 squad, but separated his shoulder prior to the game and didn't play. Staten Island Yankees first baseman Kyle Larsen played in both games.

Lonely at the Top: Tri-City Valley Cats catcher Maxwell Sapp was not only the youngest player at 18, he was also the lone first-round draft pick in the game. Selected with the 23rd overall pick by the Astros out of high school, Sapp was hitting .225 in his pro debut.