LOS ANGELES -- Twenty-three of the 28 players that make up the Major League Baseball All-Star team began light training at Dodger Stadium on Saturday for an eight-game trip to Japan that begins Nov. 9.

Barry Bonds, Roberto Alomar, Eric Gagne, Scott Schoeneweis and Ichiro Suzuki were missing for personal reasons.

Bonds will join the team when it departs for Tokyo from San Francisco on Tuesday. Ichiro, the former Japan League star, has already returned home and will hook up with his teammates there. Alomar and Gagne were given the day off because of weddings. Gagne recently got married and Alomar attended the wedding of Alex Rodriguez in Texas.

Anyone who has played in the World Series doesn't have to attend these workouts, said Tony Bernazard, a representative of the Players Association, who helped put together the team.

Bernazard, who played 10 seasons with six Major League teams, has been with the union since the early 1990s. Bernazard's decision regarding World Series players explains why Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and Schoeneweis of the Anaheim Angels were both missing. Then why was shortstop David Eckstein on the field in his grey Angels road uniform?

"It's too soon for me to take it off. It still feels too good," said Eckstein, a member of that rambunctious Angels team that came from behind to defeat the Giants in Game 7 of the World Series only last Sunday. "This is an honor, a guy like me going to Japan with this team. I feel very privileged. There's no reason for me not to be out here."

Eckstein, who is from Sanford, Fla. has one other ulterior motive: His older brother, Rick, 29, is the bullpen catcher for the MLB team. Rick, who looks almost identical to David in size and profile, is an assistant baseball coach at the University of Georgia.

"Rick was originally coming with me on the trip," said the younger Eckstein, who is 27. "When we were looking at the roster we realized they were only carrying two catchers. In 2000, he was the bullpen catcher for the Minnesota Twins. He said, 'Hey, see if they need some extra help so the guy who's not on the field doesn't have to bullpen catch.' They said OK. My brother wanted to be out there the first day. I wasn't going home. So I might as well come out and get ready to go."

The MLB Stars are carrying Paul Lo Duca of the Los Angeles Dodgers and A.J. Pierzynski of the Minnesota Twins. Pierzynski was a late addition to the team last week and replaced the Giants' Benito Santiago, who got banged up behind the plate during the World Series.