2009 World Baseball Classic

[Waffles]

I agree completly.

A Chinese jersey using Chinese characters, for example, would rule. As would a Japanese Japan jersey, a Korean Korea jersey, etc...

Though you're a bit off about Taiwan. Taiwan itself isn't the actual name of the nation. The name they compete under, Chinese Taipei, is actually closer to the country's real name, the Republic of China, then the name "Taiwan" is.

I did some more research on this and I came across something interesting that could actually rationalize having Chinese Taipei written in English on the team's uniforms:

Barely a month ago, Taiwan was threatening not to attend the Beijing Olympics because it was angered by Beijing's attempts to refer to the island by the Chinese-language name "Zhongguo Taipei," a term that implies Taiwan is part of China. Taipei prefers the more ambiguous "Zhonghua Taipei." Both are satisfied with the English name for the Taiwan team: Chinese Taipei.

(source)

So, they can only agree on the name "Chinese Taipei" in English for contextual reasons. Which, very strangely, would be a plausible explanation for using English on their uniforms. I wouldn't go so far as to say it justifies it, because really nothing about telling a country they can either use the name they are told to use or not participate seems justifiable.

[BallWonk]

So, they can only agree on the name "Chinese Taipei" in English for contextual reasons. Which, very strangely, would be a plausible explanation for using English on their uniforms. I wouldn't go so far as to say it justifies it, because really nothing about telling a country they can either use the name they are told to use or not participate seems justifiable.

Right. Taiwan is a special case where, in order to avoid being destroyed by its giant neighbor's evil government, the country chooses to use a unique name when participating in international events. And generally to use that name in English. This is a political issue unique to Taiwan that has nothing to do with the WBC.

But there really is no excuse for all other countries not to use their own languages and alphabets. The whole point of team colors and good uniform design is that you're not supposed to need to read the jersey script to know who's who. As long as teams use Arabic numbers, anyone with a program can identify the individual players, even if their names are spelled in Kanji or whatever.