Remember that spoiled kid who lived down the street who owned the most expensive bike and the newest video game? How you had to go by whatever rules he made up if you wanted to use all his cool stuff? And how you always wanted to punch that kid in the face whenever he pulled the “it’s my ball and I’m taking it home” shtick? Well, after Sunday’s controversial 4-3 win over Japan in the World Baseball Classic, I’m starting to feel a bit like that kid. After all, we organized the event, we hosted a bunch of the games. Hell, we invented the game and “allowed” other countries to play it too. And, oh yeah, we brought the umpires. Before you get all bent out of shape, let me explain. I don’t think for a second that Bud Selig told the umps to tilt any close calls towards the US favor. And I highly doubt that these professional umpires would let their national pride get in the way of fairness. But when one call goes in our favor, then another… Well, let’s just say that you didn’t want to play with the spoiled kid after awhile, did you? It just doesn’t look good.
Here we have a hard-fought game going into the late innings between two of the paragons of baseball, and Japan pulls ahead 4-3 on a sacrifice fly. But wait, after a US appeal that the runner left third before the out was recorded, Home Plate Umpire Bob Davidson overrules the original call on the field. And we’re back at 3-3. This turn of events makes even cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow Sadaharu Oh lose his temper, and he gives Davidson an earful. On replays, there is nothing to suggest that the runner left early. Honest mistake? Most likely. But perception is every thing.
Between that incident and a pair of tight plays at first that saw the US runners come out on top (drawing venemous stares from Japanese first baseman Micihiro Ogasawara), the old axiom of “it’s better to be lucky than good” might come to mind. I like to think the US was both of those things.
For right or wrong, any breaks the US team gets are going to be scrutinized ad nauseum. It’s going to look like a case of “we threw the party, so we’re getting the biggest slice of cake.” We already had a flap about having access to extra scouting reports that would have been available to other countries, had they been told of their existence. Plus our pool mates of Mexico, Canada, and South Africa’s Wondrous Semipro Baseball Experiment weren’t exactly shining examples of baseball powerhouses.
Think Major League Baseball didn’t have a big hand in choosing the pools? Then you have the natural advantages of the American players playing the more important games in their home country, in parks they’ve played in before, with no linguistic or cultural issues to get in the way. Comfort level can be a huge factor.
Sure, the whole event was designed to get as many big-ticket teams (US, Dominican, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Japan) as deep into the festivities as possible, but again, one can’t help but notice the American slant. And there’s noting wrong with that. It’s a byproduct of the creation process that just happened to work out that way based upon the resources Selig had available.
The World Baseball Classic is a great showcase for the sport. The passion of the players and fans, even here in the jaded and somewhat apathetic States has been phenomenal. But in order to make sure the other teams feel like they’re getting a fair shot, we need to let everyone else in on the planning too.
So next time around let’s get a little less “Major League Baseball” and a little more “International Baseball Federation.” Fly in umps from all around the globe to call the games. The People in Scottsdale, Anaheim, and San Diego already know and love the sport, so let’s play fewer games in the States and more in, say, Italy or South Africa. Hey, it worked for Albert Goodwill Spaulding’s European tour 100 years ago, it could work again. If the purpose of this event is to truly spread baseball around the globe, then let’s do it for real. It’s one thing to go through the motions, to say all the right things, but it’s another to walk the walk.
Bud Selig has done an admirable job of getting this thing off the ground. He’s said all the right things and bent over backwards to make it all happen. But no matter how good his intentions are, it’s still his party, and most of the presents are coming his way. And don’t think the other guests haven’t noticed. What if the US makes it to the finals, maybe against Cuba, and a tight call that could go either way, or worse a horribly blown call, gives us a win. Think that would go over well?
It’s not right and its not fair, but it’s the way things work. I can’t imagine the uproar in Japan right now. If someone like Italy had gotten the breaks we did in that game, nobody would care. But we’re not Italy, the skinny cousin from across town that we sometimes give a mulligan to when we feel guilty. We’re America, the spoiled rich brat from down the street that everyone calls names behind his back.
It’s time for the bully to give up the ball and let the other kids make some rules too. That way everyone goes home happy at the end of the day. This inaugural effort has been a blast so far, and with more international involvement in the future, who can tell how great it could become? But if we’re not careful, everyone else will go off and have their own tournament, and maybe not invite us to play.
How Classic would that be?
One reply on “Home Field Advantage”
Examples needed This is structurally a pretty sound article. However, despite the fact that I’ve been pretty into the WBC to this point and think that it’s a tremendous (if somewhat misexecuted) idea, I didn’t get an opportunity to see the game, and as such I don’t have any basis on what calls went which way. I, like many others around here, was busy watching the instant classic Big Ten Championship between Ohio State and Indiana.
Throw a couple of examples in this thing and I’ll change my vote in a hot second. Until then, it just sounds like so much whining.