Beckham gets baseball lesson

In a game featuring some of baseball's biggest hitters it was an injured soccer player who attracted much of the attention on Monday as David Beckham watched the New York Yankees trim the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4.

Beckham and his Los Angeles Galaxy team-mates extended their stay in Toronto following a 0-0 draw against Toronto FC on Sunday and used part of it to take in a Blue Jays-Yankees holiday matinee.

The England midfielder admitted he did not know a lot about baseball but certainly would have no problem identifying with the Yankees slugger Alex Rodriquez, who like Beckham is a paparazzi tabloid favourite and working under a contract that will pay him $250 million.

"A very nice guy, everyone in the clubhouse wanted their picture taken with him," Yankees manager Joe Torre told reporters after giving Beckham a personal tour of the New York dressing room.

"He did volunteer that he didn't know a lot about baseball but he was just very engaging.

"Everybody was pretty much excited, we all seemed pretty impressed with him."

While a nagging ankle injury has limited Beckham to mostly promotional appearances since making the jump from Spanish giants Real Madrid to Los Angeles, Rodriquez continued to earn his money on the field helping push the surging Yankees into play-off contention.