NJTank Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Mike Piazza played for Italy in 2009. www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiddySicks Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 That's where I find the WBC to be a bit of a hard sell. It's not like other sports where each country not only has many leagues and a ton of talent nationally to choose from, but as well has an entire governing body overseeing their international competition. Baseball is such a nitche sport globally that they have to essentially find any connection just in order to field a full tournament. That's why it looks so bad that the USA didn't win the first two WBCs, and what looks even more ridiculous is that the country who has won both doesn't even have a roster that consists of major leaguers. It would be one thing to have the Dominican Republic or Venesuela win the WBC because their rosters are almost exclusively MLB stars, but when you see a championship game between Japan and Cuba, that just looks bad. Hopefully the USA can actually field a proper team this time around. On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said: She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 It didn't look bad because the Americans were just BSing around in spring training while Japan and Cuba were playing to win. Context is important.What would be interesting to me would be a Team USA made entirely of collegiate players and/or recently retired major leaguers. I bet Maddux could take care of Team Norway or something. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmoehrin Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Well Braun would quality to play for Israel under IOC rules because of his father being born in Israel and the fact that its been at least three years since the last WBC.I do tend to agree that the citizenship issue with both the IOC and the WBC is kind of crap but it is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiddySicks Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 It didn't look bad because the Americans were just BSing around in spring training while Japan and Cuba were playing to win. Context is important.What would be interesting to me would be a Team USA made entirely of collegiate players and/or recently retired major leaguers. I bet Maddux could take care of Team Norway or something.I can understand the point of view that a lot of guys didn't want to play in a pretty aggressive tournament that close to the season and all, but maybe that's the problem. Why bother fielding a team of major leaguers for an international tournament if it's only the bottom half of top major leaguers and they don't even take it seriously? On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said: She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Giants, San Francisco to Host Semis, Final of the WBCMiami to host second Round and Phoenix to host First Round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosrs1 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 It didn't look bad because the Americans were just BSing around in spring training while Japan and Cuba were playing to win. Context is important.What would be interesting to me would be a Team USA made entirely of collegiate players and/or recently retired major leaguers. I bet Maddux could take care of Team Norway or something.I can understand the point of view that a lot of guys didn't want to play in a pretty aggressive tournament that close to the season and all, but maybe that's the problem. Why bother fielding a team of major leaguers for an international tournament if it's only the bottom half of top major leaguers and they don't even take it seriously?Because if you're not going to play MLB guys then what's the point? If you wanted to watch amateurs or young guys there's was already a tournament for that. And no one really cared about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldswoosh33 Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Any word on products such as caps and jersey for this new WBC? Romans 5:8 NikoLazar.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waffles Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Well Braun would quality to play for Israel under IOC rules because of his father being born in Israel and the fact that its been at least three years since the last WBC.I do tend to agree that the citizenship issue with both the IOC and the WBC is kind of crap but it is what it is.Any Jewish player is eligible to represent Israel, regardless of whether their family has roots in the modern state of Israel, as they are able to claim citizenship under the Law of Return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Being able to claim citizenship isn't the same as having citizenship, though. Partitioning off American Jews to play as Israelis so we can perpetuate this facade of "international play" winds up being closer in spirit to putting together, I dunno, Team Black Guys or something. I also get kind of uneasy about how it may invite any sort of "so they're Americans second?" stuff. Let's just send the entire Yankees team to this tournament, because New York, New Amsterdam, hop, skip, jump, Team Netherlands. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waffles Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Being able to claim citizenship isn't the same as having citizenship, though.The World Baseball Classic doesn't seem to think so:According to the rules, a player is eligible to join a team if a player is a citizen of the nation, qualified for citizenship or can hold a passport of that country.While I agree fluid citizenship cheapens the idea of an international tournament, I don't think the sport of baseball has much of a choice at this point. Without the diaspora teams, it's essentially a North American/Caribbean/East Asian tournament that might intrigue countries that already play baseball, but does nothing to establish interest in new places. I'd imagine the organizers envision the WBC igniting worldwide passion for baseball to the point where future Israeli and Italian teams have more Avis and Luigis than Ryans and Mikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gfonk04 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I'd imagine the organizers envision the WBC igniting worldwide passion for baseball to the point where future Israeli and Italian teams have more Avis and Luigis than Ryans and Mikes.I think you're right on there. I remember watching the '06 WBC and everyone kept talking about "expanding the game," which meant crazy things like having Mike Piazza play for Italy, for example. MLB has been very clear from the outset that this thing is less about pure international competition and more about expanding the market for baseball. Maybe four or five iterations from now we'll see for-real national teams, but this thing is so new, and baseball is such a small sport compared to the real international titans (soccer, cricket) and local sports like rugby and Aussie football, they need to expand the strike zone a little, create some global buzz and then go from there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSox44 Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 I'm surprised Great Britain has a national baseball team. In my mind soccer, cricket, and rugby dominate the British sports scene. It just seems like "the American pastime" would get no love across the pond.Nearly every country has a national team for nearly every sport.Exhibit A: The US Australian Rules Football Team.Exhibit B: The Ireland National Baseball TeamExhibit C: The United Arab Emirates national ice hockey team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkrdevil Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Hopefully they fix the format so after round of one of pool play there is cross over so teams don't play eqch other over and over again. I think Japan and Korea played each other something like 5 times each the lear two tournaments. That makes the tournament loom bad, when you consider other similar major sports tournaments have a set-up where teams play twice max. It is a very simple solution 1st place of pools A and B go to a group with second place of C and D and vice versa, Also with two teams advancing there is no need for a "seeding game" of the double elimination. Whoever clinches advancement out of the winners side of the bracket is the pool winner, the team that comes from the loser side is the runner up. If you set it up right the whole tounament can be olayed in a week in half if you play every day (and build in travel days beween rounds). The odd formats like that for the first two shows MLB had little to no experience running an international tournament.The eligibility rules are loose, but they kind of have to be or you are going to have major blowouts. Of course qualification this time around should help competition. No more South Africa being invited so there is an African team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wally1912 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Any word on products such as caps and jersey for this new WBC?MLB Shop has 20 of the 28 team caps up for sale.http://shop.mlb.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2186354&cp=2180646&view=allI don't see:JapanMexicoKoreaVenezuelaGreat BritainFranceBrazilThailandAnother site is showing slightly different versions of Australia (white logo), Italy (white button), and Panama (blue visor) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBGKon Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 IIRC, Japan and Korea dont wear New Era caps, and I dont ever recall MLB shop selling them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldswoosh33 Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Any word on products such as caps and jersey for this new WBC?MLB Shop has 20 of the 28 team caps up for sale.http://shop.mlb.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2186354&cp=2180646&view=allI don't see:JapanMexicoKoreaVenezuelaGreat BritainFranceBrazilThailandAnother site is showing slightly different versions of Australia (white logo), Italy (white button), and Panama (blue visor) Thank you Romans 5:8 NikoLazar.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSox44 Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I like them except Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Nicaragua and Germany. The Israeli one is awesome, right up there with the Aussie, American and Canadian caps (which are the class of the WBC).Can't wait to see the British, French and Brazilian caps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sportstar1212 Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Germany's is alright, but it would be cooler if they put the eagle on the front. I think I might go for an Australia one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hathaway Browne Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Can't wait to see the British, French and Brazilian caps.I guessing that Great Britain will probably keep their existing hat with the 'Swinging Lion'. You can see it here..http://www.britishba...r-national-team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.