WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

Brian writes...

Tell me Jim, what do you think of the World Baseball Classic that is set to be played for the first time next year? Should it be taken seriously? What will it mean for baseball?

Good question, I have no idea.

For those who are not familiar with the subject, Major League Baseball and the Players Union
got together their counterparts throughout the world, and came up a with an international baseball tournament. I'm not sure what will govern who can play for each team, but it is essentially a country based event similar to the Olympics.

So right away, you have to wonder why this event couldn't be done as an Olympic event? Several issues come to mind. First, no money gets funneled to Major League Baseball, nor the Players Association if it were held under the umbrella of the International Olympic Committee. The second is that the Olympics occur during regular baseball season. Of course, if MLB really wanted to have this event for the true purpose of international competition, it doesn't seem unreasonable that they could accommodate a two week event every four years. Professional hockey players play in the Olympics as the NHL takes a two week break during that time. The third issue is can Major League baseball players pass the rigid anti steroid screening. What ever the reason, you would have to think the Olympics would be the best venue for this event.

The World Baseball Classic, we have to believe, is no more than an international exhibition game that will try to drum up more enthusiasm for baseball in countries where interest is either marginal or non existent. The alternative purpose would have to be that the tournament will be a money maker. The drawback of exhibition games is the lack of purpose and motivation. Those who have something to prove (those who are not stars already) will play their hearts out for pride and recognition. What will the motivation be for a $10 million per year player? What will Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez and Palmeiro do. Will they even play?

This internationalization of baseball is not a new thing. If you remember from an earlier post, back in 1869, Harry Wright put together the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first all professional baseball team. Several years later, he brought that team to Boston and helped put together the National Association of Professional Baseball Players, the first professional baseball league. He and one of his better players, Albert Goodwill Spalding (later to become the magnate of the Spalding sporting goods company) tried to promote baseball throughout the world. In 1874, they took the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Stockings to England to show off the game to the British. They went to the renowned Marleybone Cricket Club to line up games, however, the cricketeers told them they could come, but if the Americans wanted the British to participate, they would have to play cricket. Well the Americans played cricket, which they were not very good at, then they would play baseball, which no one was interested in. That tour was a financial flop.

That never stopped Spalding from believing that the whole world, given the chance, wouldn't fall in love with baseball so in 1888 he put together an all star team and took them and his Chicago White Stocking team (eventually known as the Cubs) for a world tour. They went to Hawaii, Australia, Ceylon, and Egypt. They even played a game at the base of the great Pyramid of Cheops at Ghizeh. After that, they continued on to Italy, France, and England. Well, no one was interested in baseball during that tour either.

Since then, however, baseball has caught on big in many countries. Latin America has been a hot bed for great players for years. Japan and Korea have also had professional baseball leagues for some time.

Who knows, it may be very interesting. the two things vital to making sports interesting are good competition and top level performance. If the World Baseball Classic is perceived as meaningless games with mediocre play, it will be dead on arrival.