In the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, the United States failed to make it into the final round of competition. Instead, Team USA watched from the sidelines as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Japan, and Korea competed for the title. Japan beat Cuba in the final, 10-6.
There were various laments and tortured ruminations then about the state of the "national pastime." How could the U.S. perform so poorly in a sport it "invented," after all?
Well, this year, Team USA made it a round further, reaching the 2009 semifinals. Their opponent? Defending champion Japan, who ousted the U.S. last night, 9-4. The Japanese team will face Korea in tonight's final.
I think it's reasonable to draw a couple of conclusions about the state of international baseball, based on these two WBC tournaments. First, Japan's success is no fluke. They have a long history with baseball, their fans are passionate, and their major leage--Nippon Professional Baseball--is probably the second best professional league in the world. Really, no one should be surprised to see them perform so well. Second, the United States remains an international power in the sport. The idea that failing to win two relatively short tournaments--if Fire Joe Morgan were still around, they would be shouting, "small sample size!"--somehow diminishes the status of baseball in the U.S. is misguided. That won't stop a fresh round of laments and tortured, ruminations, however.
Leading the charge is our resident diversity ambassador (oh yes, I'm being sarcastic), Tommy Lasorda. The former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, and mouthpiece for assimilation--er, the "American Dream"--was beside himself after Team USA's latest loss:
"Can you believe this? Look at the score. I feel so bad about this. I'm very, very disappointed. We had high hopes. This is the second time we were supposed to win. We taught these people the game."
Feeling a little entitled, Tommy? It is, of course, possible to make a qualified comparison between Americans and Japanese. However, the moment you use the phrase, "these people," well, I think we've got a problem of respect, no? This is not out of character for Lasorda, though, as the following pre-WBC comments from January make clear:
"We cannot allow those clubs to beat us. It's our game. Remember one thing: In your hearts, you better pull for the USA or you may not get into heaven.
It's our game. Baseball is America's game. It doesn't belong to the Italians or the Cubans or the Koreans or the Japanese. It's our game, and we're not going to let them beat us."
Well, we can't let them put any feathers in their cap. We've got to win this thing. And we've got to bear down and believe and be proud that you're wearing the uniform of their greatest country in the world."
Holy crap. What a fine message of global cooperation and mutual respect. The best part? Lasorda is an "Ambassador at Large" for the World Baseball Classic. According to a MLB press release from 2005:
"In his capacity as an Ambassador for the World Baseball Classic, Lasorda will serve as a spokesman to increase awareness of the tournament and will travel to participating countries and territories in an effort to help promote the event and grow the game of baseball internationally."
You can't make this stuff up. Let's promote and grow the game internationally by emphatically telling other countries that they may play the game, just not as well as we do. Is it any wonder that people around the world view "globalization" and "Americanization" as nearly synonymous?
3 comments:
You're right, you can't make this stuff up. That guy is obviously the wrong person in the wrong position.
Apart from this one weirdo though, I'd think that the American baseball scene is overall decreasing its tendencies of xenophobia towards the Japanese and other foreigners, don't you think? I know we've been discussing earlier about Kent Ono's piece on anti-Japanese sentiment in MLB and the media; but that was in the mid-90s. Now, Ichiro, Matsuzaka and all the other guys excelling in the MLB have helped change things for the better. The largest part of American fans accepts foreigners as welcome addition to the national pastime, I think/hope. Most people would probably say: 'Yes, they play the game differently, yes it's sometimes a little strange and "alien", but after all their play style is just as successful, and therefore, why not! diversity in BB is a good thing -- we (Americans) may even learn something.'
Maybe I'm too optimistic here, that Lasorda comment certainly is a bummer.
Still: do you think an event like the baseball classic would even have been taken seriously in the 80's and 90's? And the Jeters and Longorias of that time would probably not even have participated in games against those "small" countries... It's a good thing, when (most) Americans accept the WBC as a legitimate event and a serious challenge, don't you think?
Apart from and unrelated to that: I had the privilege last summer to watch a game of the Hanshin Tigers play the Hiroshima Carps in Osaka. That was an awesome experience. The whole stadium was singing, everybody together, like for 10 minutes at a time. And really 'singing', not 'chanting'! Real songs, with a melody, verse and chorus and all. Impressive. I really recommend to everybody interested in sports catching a game of the Japanese BB League, if you get the chance. It's the same ballgame, but a whole different ballgame... wait that doesn't make any sense, well, you know what I'm trying to say...
I'd dismiss him as just one weirdo, except Lasorda has a ton of credibility in the U.S. baseball community. He was chosen to be an ambassador because he's assumed to be representative of the game.
Your point is well taken, Karsten, that U.S. fans and media are far more welcoming of non-U.S. talent in the major leagues than we used to be. This is good. But that's not really the issue in the case of the World Baseball Classic. This is an international competition, and we Americans tend to be very impatient and intolerant when it comes to our opponents--i.e., come play the game in America and your different playing styles are quirky and charming; play against a U.S. national team and they are a sign of inferiority.
Lastly, while many around the world have embraced the WBC enthusiastically, most Americans have not. As the current issue of Sports Illustrated reveals, TV ratings were poor, domestic attendance for U.S. games were weak, and the general media disposition is lukewarm. So, yes, it is taken seriously enough to field a team, but it still is largely met with skepticism.
That's so cool you got to see games in Japan. I'm really hoping to visit Japan and/or Korea in the coming years to see/study baseball there.
ESPN The Magazine had an interestnig article a short time ago that asked when - really if - we would ever see a Japanese manager in MLB.(http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3448382)
I have seen NPB games on television while in Japan and during lay-overs in Narita airport. I often ask why MLB does not carry games on its television network or even ESPN with a game of the week. After years of cross-over talent, broadcasting would seem to be a natural extension.
However, I do know that fans and team personnel alike have expressed reservations about talent-drain and the "Americanization" of the game.
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