Mets use old family recipe for new All-Star meatball hero

Old recipe, new hero

Some journalists cover wars. Some cover politics. Some taste test meatballs.

So it was Wednesday that I found myself at Citi Field, sampling a miniature version of the All-Star Meatball Hero that will be unveiled specifically for next month's festivities at the Mets' ballyard.

Price: $14. Location: near section 138. Taste: good.

The meatballs are the personal gift to the All-Star cuisine of Robert Flowers, Aramark's executive chef for Citi Field, who shared what he called a centuries-old family recipe from Sicily using beef, pork and veal simmered in sweet red sauce and topped by buffalo mozzarella.

"We needed to come up with something that was ballpark-y enough -- not too pretentious," Flowers said. "So I went to my father and got our old culinary cookbooks from back in the day and we were able to pull this recipe out. The technique that we're using is from 300 years ago."

One secret: pork jowls. No, really. They provide a "more earthy flavor," Flowers said.

'Eight Men Out' is 25

"Eight Men Out" gets somewhat lost in the shuffle when people recall the mid-to-late 1980s bounty of popular baseball movies, including "The Natural," "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams" and "Major League."

But John Sayles' film about the 1919 Black Sox scandal, a mostly serious work that featured fewer Hollywood touches than all of the above, deserves its place among them.

"Dude, we knew right away it was special," said Michael Rooker, the actor who played first baseman (and ringleader) Chick Gandil while on a visit to New York to mark the film's 25th anniversary and appear at the Wizard World Comic Con NY Experience.

"This was something that gained momentum over the years and people see it as a classic . . . Man, oh, man, look at the cast. Think about all these guys and how many guys have gone on and done some amazing, great work."

The cast included Charlie Sheen, John Cusack and D.B. Sweeney as Shoeless Joe Jackson. The film, Rooker said, "really has stood the test of time. John Sayles has to be proud of his work. I know we all are."

Venus in 'Nine for IX'

Even after all these years, Venus Williams, 33, values the opinion of her famously opinionated father, Richard. So she recently chose to watch a new documentary about her, "Venus Vs.," by his side.

"I wanted him to be proud of me," she said on a conference call to promote the film, which premieres Tuesday and begins ESPN's summerlong "Nine for IX" series of documentaries by and about women. "He did not want to give me back the DVD. I think it's beautiful. It brought back quite a lot of memories."

The primary focus is Williams' pivotal role in the mid-2000s fight for equal prize money for women, especially at Wimbledon, linking her forever with activist players of the past, notably Billie Jean King.

"I have to say, I wasn't planning on being that person," she said. "I was the right person at the right time, I guess."

The name "Nine for IX" was inspired by ESPN's well-received "30 for 30" film series and the subject matter was inspired by last year's 40th anniversary of Title IX.

If ESPN has ratings expectations for the series, it isn't saying. But big ratings are not the point -- and hardly ever are when it comes to documentaries.

"We set out to tell really, really good stories and to tell important stories," said Connor Schell, executive producer of ESPN Films, "and as far as I'm concerned we've accomplished that."

Other upcoming subjects include Pat Summitt, Mary Decker, Katarina Witt, Sheryl Swoopes and the fight for locker room access for female sportswriters.

ESPN booth adds Kruk

After two decades of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan in a two-man booth, ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" roster has become a revolving door, without the same lineup two seasons in a row since 2007 and '08.

Dan Shulman, who succeeded Miller in 2011, isn't complaining about that, but he did admit, "If you gave me my choice, sure it would be nice to keep the team together and see how things can evolve over the years."

ESPN might finally have that chance. After watching Bobby Valentine leave after 2011 to manage the Red Sox and Terry Francona after 2012 for the Indians, John Kruk figures to stay with Shulman and Orel Hershiser after 2013.

"I think it's going great," Shulman said of the still-relatively-new booth, which will be in Baltimore Sunday when the Yankees visit. "I love Kruky. He sees things about the game most people don't see."