Jeff Williams Closes Out Japan in the Semifinal
You can just hear the oi,oi,oi from the crowd. Jeff Williams pitches for the Hanshin Tigers, so he knew very well the hitters he was facing in the semifinal. The reports from Japan's news sites seem more shocked than anything else. How could Australia, a country without even a professional league come and beat a team of professionals? Well, I won't go into it here, but put simply, the Australians did have a team of professionals; they just weren't heralded like the stars of the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball).
Yesterday, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig ruled out sending MLB All-Stars to the Olympics in the future. You can understand why, given the money invested in the All-Star players; why risk them for glory and buy the wrath of the owners like George Steinbrenner? How do you explain it when A-Rod gets hurt playing a game for glory when the seaosn is still on the line back home? Instead Bud is pimping his World Cup format that takes place during Spring Training. It's not an idea that is winning many friends outside of North and South America.
- Art Neuro
2 comments:
I wonder if Japan's players will spurn the Bronze and lose to Canada. They're probably all listening to Mitchel's Blue.
The future of 'International' Baseball can easily go without the MLB. As it is, the International/Olympic competition is still a touch below MLB; the equivalent of a good AAA league. Not yet MLB. The Depth isn't there for the comp to get that good... yet.
However there is a possibility of a combined 'Pacific' International league where teams from Japan, Korea and Taiwan can compete; There is a distinc possibility of a European League if people over there can bring a vision to it; Australia & New Zealnd can certainly form an 'Oceanican League' and work the Northern winter, inviting players from the North as the Dominican League does for North America; and there's nothing to say that Mainland China can't develop a totally credible good league of its own. These leagues can then form the core of a future World Cup format that would be a legitimate 'World Cup'. If the depth grows, the International competiton probably will begin to match the MLB standard, as world basketball seems to have caught up with the NBA. It would then be up to the Americans to decide if they want to join the party or not. Clearly, there's no sense of urgency or desire in Baseball going international, in the USA.
The problem is, is there anybody at the IBF who has the vision, passion and comepetence to shepherd this into existence?
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