ORONO – Good weather graced the Maine High School Senior All-Star Baseball Game for its first 14 years of existence.

At least good enough weather.

“One year it rained right through the [pregame] cookout,” said game director Ray Cota. “But it stopped right after the Mr. Baseball announcement, and we went out and played nine innings.

“No sooner had the game gotten over – and it hadn’t even sprinkled until then – the rain came right down again.”

But that was back when gasoline was $1.20 a gallon. Now it’s $2.70, and even though Cota is an executive with Bangor-based Webber Energy Fuels, he couldn’t see asking participants and their families to drive long distances to Mahaney Diamond on the University of Maine campus in Orono for Friday’s 2006 all-star contest given forecasts of inclement weather and no certainty the contest would be played.

So for the first time in its history, the Maine High School Senior All-Star Baseball Game was canceled.

Game officials reviewed various weather forecasts hour by hour throughout the morning, and determined by 11 a.m. that anticipated conditions were too threatening for players and families to incur the expense of traveling from home towns as far away as Bridgewater to the north and North Berwick and Wells to the south with the game’s status in doubt.

“If they got here and we were only able to play three innings and then the game got rained out and some kids didn’t even get to play, it would leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, and I don’t want to risk that,” Cota said.

The game will not be made up because of the myriad of conflicts that impact on participants’ time during the early summer such as family vacations, summer jobs and American Legion baseball obligations.

Cota did say each player on the East and West rosters will receive a game jersey in recognition of his selection to the senior all-star teams.

In addition, the announcement of this year’s Mr. Baseball, a ceremony annually held just before the first pitch of the all-star game, instead will be held at a Bangor-area news conference to be scheduled for the middle of next week, Cota said.

Five seniors are in contention to receive the John Winkin Award that is presented to Mr. Baseball – Joe Fessenden of Portland, Collin Henry of George Stevens of Blue Hill, Ian Lee of Hampden Academy, Joey Martin of Portland and Mark Schmidt of Gorham.