DUNEDIN, FLA. — It will never be the World Cup, not in its wildest dreams. But the World Baseball Classic could have an added cachet next year when some of its first-round games are played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
In Tokyo today, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced that Toronto is one of four first-round sites for the tournament, to be held in March of 2009. Tokyo, Mexico City and San Juan are the others.
On the record, baseball is miffed that the International Olympic Committee has voted to turf baseball from the Olympic Games after Beijing this year. Off the record, it couldn't be happier. Baseball gets no economic benefit from having the sport played in the Summer Olympics, and the game's profile doesn't get much of a boost because the summer is already a strong drawing period.
That's why there's no percentage in shutting down the baseball season for a Summer Games the way the NHL shuts down for the Winter Olympics. The NHL isn't on the radar screen in the United States, and it can be argued the TV exposure the NHL gets during the Olympics is far superior than it gets in the United States during the regular season. Hockey doesn't matter anywhere in the United States except in Minnesota and pockets of New England - and that interest owes as much to colleges and high schools - and whichever one of Gary Bettman's bastard southern franchises is having a good season in a particular year. Other than that, it's stuff that's played by white guys leading up to the Arena Football League season.
So baseball, while it can't say it, would just as soon wave bye-bye to the Olympics. It certainly won't do anything to mitigate it, nor should it. It's not so much the Olympics need baseball more than baseball needs it. More like, neither side really needs each other.
Toronto will be the host city for the first round of games involving a pool composed of Canada, the United States, Venezuela and Italy, whose team will be composed largely of second-generation players of Italian parentage.
Blue Jays president and chief executive officer Paul Godfrey, who started working on securing the games more than a year ago as an offshoot of negotiations aimed at bringing the All-Star Game back to Toronto, is not at all concerned the city will be staging a showcase event in the middle of the hockey - all right, the Toronto Maple Leafs - season and in the middle of the Toronto Raptors' campaign.
"It's not just that it's going to be something that really promotes the game in Canada, it's that the number of great major-league players here with the U.S. team, the A-Rods and the Jeters and some of our own guys ... you'd like to think that you'll be able to attract fans from some of those baseball cities in the northern U.S.," Godfrey said. "I mean, you see a city like Detroit and with Magglio Ordonez likely to be with the Venezuelans, that would be a draw."
The inaugural World Baseball Classic, played in 2006 in Japan, the United States and Puerto Rico, with the semi-finals in Los Angeles and the final at the Petco Park in San Diego, was an artistic success and even managed to turn a profit. Japan beat Cuba in the final, and the games on the West Coast were riveting, emotional spectacles because of the support of the large South Korean and Japanese communities in the area.
Blue Jays centre fielder Vernon Wells and outfielder Matt Stairs played in the first Classic - Wells with the U.S. team and Stairs with Canada. Canada beat the United States 8-6 in round-robin play, but lost in a complicated tiebreaker.
"It was outstanding," Stairs said. "There were a few rusty things, and they might need to change some rules. But it was a good experience for players to get together and represent their countries. You don't always get a chance to do that on the ball field."
Mexico eliminated the United States in the last tournament, and Wells, who went on to hit .303, with 32 home runs and 106 runs batted in, for the Jays in the 2006 season, says more players will want to take part this time.
"Especially after the poor showing that we had," Wells said. "It's a matter of showing some pride for your country's colours."
Originally, there was concern the tournament would interrupt the spring-training regimen of players, particularly pitchers. Some clubs were reluctant to release healthy players, let alone ones coming off injury.
"You know what: It makes you get ready earlier and there's nothing wrong with that," Wells said.
"It would be great," he said, continuing. "The country of Canada takes so much pride in their players and it would be a huge turnout - as long as they're not snowed in, obviously."
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