Tom Hanks and Friends Making Ballpark Tour

Cincinnati, July 20, 2006 -- Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and Dennis Miller turned a two-hour rain delay during a Reds-New York Mets game into a media event.

The actor, director and comedian sat at a table in an interview room behind the press box Wednesday, cracking jokes and recounting their boyhood baseball memories.

Cincinnati was the third stop on their hush-hush ballparks tour. Hanks, who turned 50 on July 9, decided to visit seven ballparks as a birthday present to himself.

"This is the dream you have all the way back," said Hanks, star of "The Da Vinci Code," directed by Howard.

The trio had been to Baltimore Hanks led the crowd in spelling ORIOLES during the seventh-inning stretch and to Pittsburgh before arriving in Cincinnati.

They arrived without fanfare, and wouldn't say where they were going next. Hanks said they had shortened the trip to fewer than seven ballparks, but didn't provide more information.

"Tom is so influential that he's arranged a St. Louis Browns game," Miller joked, referring to the defunct team.

Hanks sold peanuts and soft drinks at Oakland's ballpark as a youth, and the Athletics remain his favorite team. Howard is a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, while Miller prefers the Pirates.

All three suggested that former Reds player/manager Pete Rose should be in baseball's Hall of Fame. The career hits leader accepted a lifetime ban for gambling in 1989, and has admitted to betting on baseball. "Until they at least make him eligible, it's not complete," Howard said.

Asked what baseball should have done to settle the Rose scandal, Miller said, "They should let Ray Fosse crash into his blind side." Rose bowled over the former Cleveland catcher at home plate to score the winning run in the 1970 All-Star game at Riverfront Stadium.

Hanks recalled Rose's quote about how he would have run through fire in a gasoline suit to play baseball. "Unfortunately," Miller interrupted, "he would have bet whether he made it through or not."

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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