World Baseball Classic just what MLB, U.S. needed

Sorry, Mr. Steinbrenner, but the World Baseball Classic is not only a good thing for baseball,… Sorry, Mr. Steinbrenner, but the World Baseball Classic is not only a good thing for baseball, but it’s the best thing to happen to the game since the inception of the designated hitter.

In previous years, most baseball fans spent their March idly following the NCAA Tournament while anxiously awaiting Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. This spring, however, American fans are getting cultured.

For the first time ever, many fans are experiencing the pageantry, importance and pride that “America’s pastime” instills in nations throughout Asia and Latin America.

Face paint, foghorns and flags – traditions American fans usually reserve for football – have all been on display from Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Korean and Japanese fans for the entirety of the tournament.

Even an army of flag-bearing, chant-singing Canadian fans showed up to Phoenix, Ariz., to root their team past the United States, whose constituency sat nonchalantly in their seats and provided little more than half-hearted golf claps as America unsuccessfully attempted to come from eight runs behind.

Fans aren’t the only ones getting an education, either.

On top of its loss to Canada, which started a career minor league pitcher and whose star player of the day has had a mere 15 major league at-bats, the United States also dropped decisions to Korea and finally Mexico. It even needed the aid from a seemingly senile American umpire to narrowly slip past Japan.

Note to Chipper Jones and company: Other countries play “our” game, too, and they’re getting good.

Cuba – who was initially denied entrance into the tournament by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and was only granted permission to play when they offered to donate any profits they receive to victims of Hurricane Katrina – stormed through the tournament to reach the finals.

Along the way, it lost only twice – to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. After beating Puerto Rico in their second meeting, the Cubans also managed to avenge their loss to Pool 2 favorite Dominicana, whose team was comprised by such superstars as David Ortiz, Miguel Tejada and Albert Pujols, in the semi-finals.

Oh and Cuba? Zero Major Leaguers.

“I think this is should be a reality check for the United States,” Puerto Rico’s Eduardo Perez told the Akron Beacon Journal. “You have to realize that other countries play this game, too. And anything can happen in a three-game series.”

So what went wrong for a U.S. team laden with some of the Major League’s finest players?

First, while many Latino players spend their off-seasons playing in Mexican, Venezuelan or other winter leagues, most established American players spend their winters recuperating from the rigorous Major League season or weight training for the upcoming one.

Very few, however, actually see live pitching.

Secondly, the United States just didn’t seem to take this as seriously as other nations. While Japan and Korea have been practicing for the tournament all winter, American ballplayers and owners spent more time contemplating the detriments the event may have on Major League Baseball rather than preparing. I guess we’re too good to show the rest of the world how good we are.

Maybe it was just our style of play. Our brawny bunch should step back and realize that there is more to the game than the three-run homer.

Japan, who boasts only two position players weighing more than 200 pounds, used its slap-hitting, base-stealing, team-first attitude to climb its way into the finals.

Whatever it may be, the United States certainly received a wake-up call this March. One can only hope that this revelation will lead to changes in our own form of the game.

One day, perhaps, instead of glorifying the steroid-enhanced game we have come to know, we will once again realize the beauty of the infield single, the hit-and-run and the sacrifice bunt.

If so, we might just realize the World Baseball Classic isn’t the scourge of the universe after all.

Eh, Georgy?