A relative honor for first-timer Eckstein

DETROIT -- David Eckstein, as he always does after games, called home Sunday night. There was so much to talk about, so many good things.

His Cardinals, the National League juggernaut he's been jumpstarting all season, had just beaten the Giants. Within hours, he'd be on a plane, bound for his first All-Star Game, events 5-foot-7-inch players don't make that often.

It all ran through his mind. He dialed. The phone rang. His father, Whitey, answered.

''I can't breathe," he said.

This is how Eckstein, the dynamo shortstop who played in the minor leagues for the Pawtucket Red Sox, then won the 2002 World Series with the Angels, began his first All-Star Game experience. But he started last night at Comerica Park, in the 76th edition of the game, an underdog turned people's choice. And he played not despite his father, but because of him.

Whitey suffers from kidney issues, which run in the family. Three of Eckstein's siblings have undergone kidney transplants, as have two nephews. Whitey is on dialysis, and his latest problem happened because he retained too much water after the process, flooding his lungs. It happened twice this offseason, hospitalizing Whitey for six weeks.

As he received Eckstein's call Sunday night, the problem resurfaced.

''Here's mom," Whitey said.

Eckstein told his mother, Patricia, to call 911. Then he rang his sister, who lives across the street from her parents in Sanford, Fla.

Ten minutes later, Patricia called Eckstein because Whitey, 60, was unconscious. She called back in another 10 minutes because Whitey had been stabilized and was being taken to the hospital.

He remains there and watched his son play in his first All-Star Game last night.

Eckstein said yesterday his father had improved and had been taken off a respirator. Considering the seriousness of the situation, Eckstein handled his father's episode with ease. He joked Monday, ''The thing about it with our family, we like to do things that are pretty dramatic."

Eckstein never thought about skipping the All-Star Game. Whitey wouldn't let him.

''If anything ever happens, you do not miss a game," he told David. ''I know you love me. You've got a job to do."