Homer time!

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Feb. 9, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.

Warning: If you plan on driving down Washington Avenue behind Cashman Field on Saturday or Sunday, be prepared to dodge a few baseballs.

Big League Challenge, a home run contest featuring a dozen of Major League Baseball's top long ball hitters, makes a return to Cashman Field this weekend.

Jose Canseco, who defeated Rafael Palmeiro in last year's final with an awesome power display that included a handful of 500-foot homers that were sent bouncing onto Washington Avenue, returns to try to defend his title against a group that includes Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas and part-time Henderson resident Jason Giambi of the Oakland Athletics.

The 12 participants were seeded based on 2000 season home run totals with Bonds (49) getting the No. 1 seed and one of four first round byes.

Preliminary and quarterfinal rounds will take place in separate sessions on Saturday with the semifinals and championship matchup, which will be televised live on ESPN, on Sunday afternoon starting at 2 p.m.

Gates open at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning for the preliminary rounds which begin at 9:15 with Giambi going against Piazza. That will be followed at 10:15 by a match between Gary Sheffield of the Dodgers and Steve Finley of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Then Thomas squares off against Palmeiro at 10:55 with Todd Helton of the Rockies facing Jim Edmonds of the Cardinals at 11:35 in the final first-rounder.

Gates for Saturday afternoon's quarterfinals will open at 1:15 p.m. with the first match at 2 p.m. between Richard Hidalgo of the Astros and the Giambi-Piazza winner. Canseco follows at 2:40 against the Sheffield-Finley winner. Angels third baseman Troy Glaus then takes on the Thomas-Palmeiro winner at 3:20 with Bonds concluding the first day's action at 4 p.m. against the winner of the Helton-Edmonds matchup. A fireworks display will follow that contest.

Gates open at noon on Sunday for the semifinals with batting practice slated to start at 12:30. The first semi is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. with the other slated for 2:40 p.m. The championship round is tentatively scheduled to start at 3:20.

All the matchups will be recorded for broadcast as a series scheduled to debut on ESPN2 on Monday, March 19 at 2:30 p.m. and running thru March 30.

Proceeds from Big League Challenge benefit the Players Trust for Children, a foundation created and administered by the players.

Tickets can be purchased through TicketMaster Outlets, by telephone (474-4000), online at TicketMaster.com or at the Cashman Field box office.

Big League Challenge ticket holders will also receive free admission to the Big League Challenge Card and Memorabilia Show next door in the Cashman Center. That show runs from Friday thru Sunday with a number of Big League Challenge participants scheduled to sign autographs, including some random free ones. Others range in price from $35 to $60.