Connoisseurs in almost every clubhouse

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At some point during almost every baseball season, usually when a matinee game drags past the three-hour mark, a play-by-play announcer will gaze down at a conference on the mound or an argument between a manager and an umpire and say: "Maybe they're discussing where to make dinner reservations for tonight."

It's a classic line -- one that will probably never go out of style -- but it could probably use a slight update. As a service to budding broadcasters, we suggest the following alteration:

"Maybe they're discussing what kind of wine to have with dinner."

Though it may come as a surprise to some fans, a number of baseball players -- along with many athletes and executives from across the sporting world -- have developed an affinity for wine. They drink it. They collect it. They trade it. They talk about it. And, in some cases, they make it.

Golfers like Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo and Mike Weir are involved with wineries. So are former hockey great Wayne Gretzky, auto racing icon Mario Andretti, legendary quarterback Joe Montana and figure skater Peggy Fleming.

"A lot of baseball players are into wine," former Brewers infielder Jeff Cirillo said from his home near Seattle. "For me, living in the Northwest, it's something that just seems kind of natural.

Cirillo, who favors Cabernets, began getting into wines later in his career. "I don't really like vodka that much and I figured beer was too fattening," he said. "Wine is good when you're in your 30s. I guess it's good for your 40s, 50s and probably your 80s, too."

Brewers vice president / assistant general manager Gord Ash said he began developing an interest in wine while working for the Blue Jays in the 1980s.

"(Former Blue Jays general manager) Pat Gillick is a big-time wine drinker, and that's how I started," Ash said. "I think with Pat it wasn't so much the drinking or the collecting, but the intrigue of finding the next new thing. It parallels a lot his scouting background -- looking for players and looking for varietals."

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin is always on the lookout for talented players, but he leaves the wine decisions up to Ash.

"I like wine, but I'm definitely not an expert," Melvin said. "When we go to dinner, I just give Gord the wine list and drink whatever he says is good."

When Ash moved to Milwaukee from Toronto, he brought his wine collection, which at the time featured about 600 bottles.

"I haven't done much collecting since I moved to Milwaukee," he said. "In Canada, I was in a couple wine clubs."

Ash favors Italian wines, particularly Barolos and Amarone and offerings from Veneto-based winemaker Giuseppe Quintarelli, whose vintages usually sell out within a month of release.

Ash has traveled to Italy and Napa Valley to pursue his wine habit. Much like his mentor, Gillick, he is always looking for new things.

"The next hot area may be New York, near Niagara and the St. Catharine's area of Ontario," said Ash, who listed Padres general manager Kevin Towers and pitchers Steve Trachsel and Glendon Rusch as fellow connoisseurs.

"I know Ben Sheets drinks the good stuff, too," Ash said. "I don't know if he collects it, but he likes the good stuff."

Sheets isn't the only one; infielder Craig Counsell appreciates a good bottle of wine and former first base coach Dave Nelson, who now works as a broadcaster on the team's pre- and post-game shows, is a regular at wine bars and wine shops.

"I'm definitely a wine guy," Nelson said last summer. "A lot of guys are. When I coached first with the Brewers, every time we played Colorado I'd talk to Todd Helton about it. He's a big wine guy, too, and he was always telling me about different things he had tried. Sometimes, guys will send bottles to players on the other team."

That ritual goes right up to the Hall of Fame. Former Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, who grows Cabernet Sauvignon grapes on a 115-acre ranch near Calistoga, Calif., recounted his favorite wine experience in an interview last year with Wine Spectator magazine.

"After the induction in Cooperstown, there's a dinner for only Hall of Famers," Seaver told the magazine. "Sitting at my table one year -- imagine this -- were Bob Gibson, Don Sutton, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton and Rollie Fingers.

"Everybody there enjoyed wine, so I said, ‘OK boys, let's start having great wines at this dinner. Next year, bring a good bottle.' It's expanded like crazy. The year Ozzie Smith was inducted, he came over to our table and said, ‘Tom, how do I, you know, get a seat at the wine table?' And I said, ‘It's a very long process, Ozzie, it's very secretive and there's a whole initiation thing.' And he said, ‘Yeah, but what do I have to do?' And I said, ‘Well, bring a bottle of wine.'

"We must have 20 guys now bringing great wine."

Seaver expects to bottle his first wine this year. In the future, maybe fans will have players sign wine labels as often as baseball cards.