In 2017, the World Baseball Classic will rear (for the United States) its ugly head again.
It was a concept designed to spread the popularity of baseball around the world, needed especially since baseball has been voted out of the Olympic Games.
There have been three tournaments so far and in truth all have been embarrassing for the United States and Major League Baseball.
Professional players from MLB are allowed to participate but instead of dominating the tournament, the best the United States has ever done is finish fourth and has a mediocre all-time record of 10-10.
But instead of facing facts, the United States and its fans have stuck their heads in the sand and belittled the tournament, sometimes claiming that is not a true test of sport because it is being held in the spring “before Major League players are in shape” and that the United States team “is not composed of its best players.”
It hardly speaks well for the future of the tournament if the host country and its fans are not going to give it respect. But in truth, it hardly speaks well for the image of the United States in sport.
Compare this to a similar situation, Canada’s reaction to the 1972 Canada-USSR tournament.
Before that tournament, most Canadians had the same kind of attitude to international hockey that the United States has towards the World Baseball Classic. There had never been a previous occasion when Canadian professionals had faced true international competition, but the failure of Canada to win the World Championship tournament for several years put pressure on the NHL to put its supremacy to the test.
There was abundant ignorance in Canada about the Russians, so much so that there was even talk that a team of NHL “goons” would be sufficient to defeat them. But the near defeat of Canada by the USSR and the thrilling games that were above the caliber of most NHL matches changed Canada’s attitude almost overnight. The first game in particular, a 7-3 USSR victory was especially humbling.
It was now recognized that all the best players in the world did not come exclusively from North America. The thrilling games also whetted Canada’s desire to see more. A decision had to be made: Do Canada and the NHL continue on the way they have been as just a North American league or do they show respect, open their doors, and expand their horizons?
The decision was not long in coming and was never in doubt. Within two years, the first Europeans, Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom from Sweden joined the Toronto Maple Leafs. European participation in the NHL has increased steadily. The defection of the Stastny brothers from Czechoslovakia to join Quebec was especially notable.
In 1989 when the Iron Curtain in eastern Europe dissolved, Russian players at last could come to North America unhindered. The NHL as we know it today was created.
Today with some exceptions playing in the KHL, the NHL can truly say that it has the best players in the world. As a mark of respect, the entire NHL website can be translated into English, French, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Finnish, and German.
It is otherwise in baseball. The United States and its fans continue to deride the World Baseball Classic but the facts speak for themselves. Americans are deceiving themselves. They continue to pay top dollar for Major League Baseball which obviously does not have the best players in its two leagues.
During one of the tournaments, one of the American players, Kevin Youkilis publicly criticized the poor support the American team was getting from its fans and was showered with derision. (Interestingly the most bitter comments that the author read on the Internet were from people who admitted they were losing their jobs and homes because of the Mortgage Meltdown. Envy of non-suffering rich sports athletes is out there.)
It is probable that if the United States had dominated the tournaments, there would be very little derision of the World Baseball Classic. For them it would be an okay tournament so long as they won it. Americans still like to boast about the “Miracle On Ice” victory of 1980. Disney Studios saw fit to create a series of “Mighty Ducks” hockey films in which Canada is conveniently defeated by somebody else off screen leaving the underdog Ducks to defeat the big bad Europeans.
During the 1980s fair-minded American commentators like Tony Kubeck used to idealize a day in the future when the MLB champion would play the Japanese champion in a real “World Series”.
But America’s response to the World Baseball Classic shows that a series of that nature will not happen in the near future. Sport often likes to boast that it is an escape from real life but this may not be the case with the World Baseball Classic. It is often claimed that Americans are unpopular abroad because they act like imperialists and do not show respect for foreigners and their countries. The response of the United States to the World Baseball Classic shows there may be some truth to those claims.
Thank you for reading. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
Main Photo by via Wiki Commons, CC
