As power hitters go at Coca-Cola Field, not many have been as dangerous as Richie Sexson.

At 6-foot-7, he had that huge looping swing that could be devastating from the right side of

the plate. Maybe he didn't hit moon shots in the Russell Branyan mode, but it's hard to recall

too many players who hit the kind of line drives Sexson lashed on a daily basis.

At the plate and at first base, Sexson was one of the prime Cleveland prospects on the

Buffalo Bisons' beloved 1997 team that veterans like Torey Lovullo and Jeff Manto helped lead

to the franchise's first championship in 36 years.

After hitting 52 home runs for the Herd in 1997 and 1998, Sexson took off for the big

leagues and hit 306 home runs for the Indians, Milwaukee, Arizona, Seattle and the New York

Yankees in a career that stretched until 2008. Today, he becomes the seventh Cleveland-era

Bison inducted into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sexson will be inducted today along with Duke McGuire, the team's longtime public address

announcer and radio/TV analyst. Now 35, Sexson still lives in the Seattle area and will not

attend today's ceremony. He informed the Bisons last week of a family commitment and did not

return messages from the team thereafter, including requests from Buffalo media outlets.

Sexson openly griped about being in Triple-A during the 1998 season but that was one of the

perils of being a Cleveland prospect at that time. His 52 homers in two years with Buffalo are

fifth in the modern era, but tops among players who spent just two seasons here.

"We had good veterans at that time but what made those teams was the combination of

veterans and big-time prospects for Cleveland," recalled Jim Rosenhaus, Buffalo's play-by-play

man that season who graduated to the Indians in 2007. "It was an unusual time. If Sexson and

[Brian] Giles and all those guys had been in the spot they were in now, there's no way they

come that long. They were blocked by the players the Indians had."

Not counting rehab-only stints by Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Ron Kittle, Sexson ranks

fourth in franchise history for homers at the major-league level by an ex-Bison. Only Johnny

Bench (389), Moises Alou (332) and Jeromy Burnitz (315) have more.

Twice an all-star with Milwaukee, Sexson had a pair of 45-home run seasons for the Brewers

and played in two All-Star games. He had 11 homers in 45 games for the Indians in 1998 after

his call-up from Buffalo and played in the ALCS against the Yankees.

Sexson added 31 home runs for the Indians in 1999, the year they scored 1,000 runs and

looked golden for another World Series run until losing to the Red Sox in the division series.

He never got back to the postseason.

In terms of championships, the 1997 Bisons were his high point. Sexson hit .260 with 31

homers and 88 RBIs for the Herd that year, sharing the team's MVP award with Bruce Aven. And

he made the championship-clinching putout, taking Enrique Wilson's relay throw to first to

complete the double play that wrapped up the 10-inning win over the Iowa Cubs in Game Three of

the American Association finals.

Sexson belted a three-run homer to dead center off top Cubs prospect Kerry Wood that night

and it was a title winner until the Bisons blew a save in the bottom of the ninth. Sean

Casey's 10th-inning homer won the title.

Louisville announcer Jim Kelch, now with Cincinnati, joined Rosenhaus on that trip and was

at the microphone for Sexson's homer. Rosenhaus said he's always loved Kelch's call.

"It was a great call. His line was "power against power' and Richie won," Rosenhaus said.

"It was perfect."

At 22, Sexson was a perfect foil for Manto, who dubbed him "Big Bird" because of his flappy

arms and long hair.

"Mick really took him under his wing," McGuire recalled. "Cleveland was so good at signing

six-year guys. They very rarely made a mistake and they all could play. They were good

teachers and they taught these guys a lot.

"You knew Richie would hit home runs with those long arms. The ball would go forever with

that full extension. Forty-five twice in the big leagues. Wow. That's unbelievable."

Go to the video

Several members of the Bisons' front office attended Wednesday's Triple-A All-Star Game at

Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa. Buffalo will host the game in 2012 in its 25th anniversary so

plenty of plans have to be made.

As always, I have a suggestion: The team better upgrade its video board and television

setup by '12. High definition, please. Lehigh Valley (and Columbus) have huge ones. Buffalo's

board dates to 1999 and needs to be replaced by a bigger, clearer version. The team should

also get together with Time Warner and do something about its pictures on television, now that

every game is on the Internet and almost 40 go out over the air.

The broadcasts have ultra-professional announcers, camera work, graphics and direction but

the video quality looks like a high school production lab. And that's especially true for day

games, when the sun washes out the picture. The cameras simply don't get the job done anymore.

All-Star items

The All-Star Game earned its lowest national rating ever with a 7.5 on Fox and that

was down nearly 16 percent from last year. One problem was it took forever for the pregame

show to finish and the game didn't start until 8:50 p.m. Eastern time.

A bigger problem was the lack of ratings in the host market. Los Angeles earned only an 8.6

rating — while the previous five host cities have averaged a whopping 22.8. That could

account for a large chunk of the dropoff.

We have now gone two straight All-Star Games without a home run for the first time

since 1957-58. Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci points out we have now had 185 straight

at-bats covering 26 innings since the last longball, J.D. Drew's seventh-inning shot at old

Yankee Stadium in 2008 that came as part of the 15-inning extravaganza the leagues played that

night.

San Francisco's Aubrey Huff told CSNBayArea.com he wasn't interested in serving as

an injury replacement in the game.

"It's a sham," Huff said. "To me, the All-Star Game is retarded. It's so backward, it's a

joke. I mean, if you want to make the game mean something and be so important with the World

Series thing, why are you letting the fans pick the starters?"

Memo to Joe Girardi: If the game counts, Alex Rodriguez has to hit. Enjoy Games Six

and Seven on the road come November.

Around the horn

No matter what your feeling is about the Yankees, you have to hand it to them for

the way they do ceremonies. Friday night's tributes to George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard

were riveting. So were the introductions prior to Oldtimers Day on Saturday.

The Blue Jays joined the 2004 and 2009 Yankees as the only teams to have eight

players with 10 or more home runs prior to the All-Star break. Of course, one of them (Alex

Gonzalez) has already been traded.

Indians manager Manny Acta is pretty patient with umpires but he lost it during the

team's recent trip to Texas when he was ejected while sitting in the dugout for taking off his

cap following back-to-back strikeouts on appeal.

"I got thrown out for taking my hat off. That's a shame," Acta said. "Everyone talks about

the pace of the game. I have to delay the game and run out there 150 feet away to argue.

These kids on rebuilding teams don't get the benefit of the doubt from umpires. If

they don't know your name, you don't get a fair shake."