PITTSBURGH MLB prepares to sell tickets for All-Star Game, HR Derby

Packages range from $380 to $990 for two tickets to each event.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Tickets are still available for the All-Star game July 11 at PNC Park, but there aren't very many of them and they aren't cheap.
While most of the 38,496 seats in PNC Park will be filled by Pirates season ticket holders and those with ties to Major League Baseball, including sponsors and advertisers, a limited number of seats will be sold online next month through a random system.
Fans can purchase a maximum of two tickets to the July 11 game, and also must buy tickets to the other All-Star events in Pittsburgh: the Fanfest, the minor league Futures Game and the Home Run Derby.
Prices
The lowest cost for two tickets for all four events is $380, with a maximum of $990.
Only one entry per person is permitted beginning May 10 at Major League Baseball's Internet site and those of the 30 major league teams. The deadline to register is May 25, with those chosen to buy tickets being notified by May 30.
And while there aren't likely to be many Pirates in the game -- they have the worst record in the majors -- at least their team colors will be represented. National League players will wear gold jerseys and AL players will wear black, and both sets of uniforms will have the Pirates' logo on the left sleeve and the All-Star game logo on the right sleeve.
The first two such uniforms were presented Friday in a ceremony to Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.
Tidying up
O'Connor promised a clean city, too, noting that downtown streets are being paved and cleaned during a citywide "redding up" in advance of the game -- using a colloquialism for tidying up that is indigenous to Pittsburgh.
"Everybody gets dressed up when company's coming," said O'Connor, who himself managed a Pittsburgh Little League team for 20 years.
All-Star balloting began Friday at PNC Park, with 20 million ballots being distributed to major league parks and 1.9 million to minor league parks.
Online voting at baseball's MLB.com site and those of the 30 major league clubs also began Friday and runs through June 29.
This will be the fifth All-Star game in Pittsburgh, as many as any city has hosted, and the second since 1994. The 12-year window between games is the shortest for any host city.
This will be the first at PNC Park, which has nearly 20,000 fewer seats than Three Rivers Stadium had while hosting the game in 1974 and 1994 -- one reason why All-Star tickets are much more difficult to obtain this year.
Much about the All-Star game and its surrounding events has changed since it last visited Pittsburgh, including the addition of the Futures Game and a move of the Home Run Derby from Monday afternoon to Monday night.
One feature retained from last year's game in Detroit will be the pregame arrival of the 64 players by limousine, this time across the Roberto Clemente Bridge that is next to the ballpark.