What has been USA ’s favorite sporting past time
for the last Century, is quickly becoming prevalent in our World’s prime time. The American pastoral game of baseball, born
in the fields beyond New York City, (some citing it originated in Massachusetts as early as
1791, takes on a new angle to the New York-Boston rivalry) is quickly evolving
in to a global sensation spanning to the Far East, Central and South America,
and spurt growth through Europe. USA can no longer claim dominance
in baseball. Countries the size of an individual State, such as Japan , Korea ,
Dominican Republic , and Cuba take
precedence of late on the World Baseball Stage. Baseball has been seen internationally for
almost 100 years, making exhibition and official appearances in the Summer
Olympics since 1904. You would think USA would dominate, considering it was
born in the original 13 States of our Union; yet, it’s a tiny country just
beyond the shores of South Beach in Miami, Florida that has practically
perfected our game, Cuba. There’s another Island power taking prominence in USA ’s game due West of Hawaii ,
Japan .
Every player talented enough to don a uniform in Major
League Baseball has three goals in their career: Longevity, Prosperity, and a
being a member of a World Series Champion team. Fifty years ago, these three
desires were captured by young American boys living in Anytown ,USA Japan
taking the Championship. Every four years, major leaguers have now added
another goal to their list, going off and playing for the Country either
themselves, parents, or family originated. USA is no longer the best in its
past time correlated with hot dogs and apple pie. In the two World Baseball
Classic Championships played in 2005 and 2009, Japan
took top honors, beating out Cuba
and South Korea ,
respectively. The United States
placed 4th in 2009 when Venezuela beat them in the
consolation game.
What truly is significant about the World Baseball Classic
(WBC)? How does it measure up related to other World Championships? If you ask
any seasoned beat writer or journalist who’s followed baseball since the age of
discovering relevance (usually occurs around 10 years), the World Baseball
Classic is as insignificant as Spring Training statistics. For once, I am going
to side with Bud Selig, an aging and unpopular Major League Baseball
commissioner. There are decisions in an
Icon’s body of work where at present day, it seems frivolous… Yet, when we peer
back in time, it actually will reflect as a poignant moment. I believe creating
the World Baseball Classic and seeing it through its infancy will be well worth
it as we peer back 20 years from now. Being a baseball fan, I’m excited to see America ’s game
grow in popularity world wide. What’s
more patriotic knowing other countries around the planet not only enjoy
learning and playing America ’s
game, they strive to be as superior. I cannot think of a more prideful moment
than welcoming a globalization of baseball to challenge American players to
display democracy and rise up to greatness. Truly, it’s a sense of
accomplishment knowing players from around the World want to compete with the
best Major League baseball has to offer.
The reflection of MLB has become a melting pot. Some of the most
significant players taking the fields across our land are from Japan , Venezuela ,
Dominican Republic , Korea , and Cuba . After successful and positive
performances from such teams as Italy
and Netherlands
in this year’s WBC, we just might be adding European players to the roster. The
Semi Finals, and Finals will be taking place in my back yard at AT&T Park
in San Francisco , California
If you missed viewing Canada
trouncing Mexico , or Netherlands shocking Cuba in 2013 World Baseball Classic
Regional games, Len Berman shared two perfect reflections and synapse of significance the WBC has with players and their fans:
“World Peace
Ah, the lofty ideals of sport. Bringing the world together
to foster love and understanding. Right. What was more shocking, that Canada trounced Mexico 10-3, or that the two teams
staged an all-out war on the field. A "real" baseball fight. Punches
thrown, a bottle hurled by a fan in Phoenix hit
one of Canada 's
coaches. It's a good thing the U.S.
exists as a buffer state between these two warring nations. As for
international sportsmanship, who's kidding whom? The whole idea of the World
Baseball Classic is to "grow the game," ka-ching. So what if some
nasty stuff gets in the way. It may even increase viewership for the
Mexico/Canada rematch whenever that might be.
Honk if You Love Baseball
You can't miss the Dutch at the Olympics. Their fans wear
orange shirts, make lots of noise and go nuts for rowing and speed skating.
Those sports may take a back seat one day to honkbal. That's what they call
baseball, a sport that the Netherlands
hasn't really succeeded at. Their best Olympic finish in six tries was 5th. But
yesterday, thanks to a game winning sacrifice fly they beat a real baseball
country, Cuba ,
in the World Baseball Classic to advance to the semis. Or as the official honkbalsite.com tweeted
"Nederland verslaat in thriller Cuba en plaatst
zich voor halve finales WBC!" "Thriller" works in both
languages. The Dutch don't have a phrase for "walk-off sacrifice
fly." The closest they come is "weglopen opofferingsslag," which
must roll off the tongue nicely for the Dutch Vin Scully.”
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