For many British baseball fans Wednesday’s announcement that London would host the 2012 Olympics was important for one reason: for the first time ever quality professional baseball would be live in the UK for a whole tournament. It didn’t matter that those Major League stars we watch on Five, NASN and MLB.TV wouldn’t be there, what was important was that the sport had finally arrived on a big stage.
Then, less than two full days after the cheering and celebrating in Singapore this dream was shattered as the IOC (International Olympic Committee) voted both Baseball and Softball to be cut from the programme after the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Before the repercussions of this decision can be discussed – for British Baseball will never have a better chance than in 2012 to popularise the sport – it needs to be said that the verdict was quite probably the right one.
Looking at the facts, if they were to cut two sports, these two were the most obvious for a few reasons:
1.It’s expensive for the host country. It would have cost over £50m to create the correct facilities in London, ones which would be up to the high standard this level of competition requires. Now, as British Baseball fans, we would argue that this would be money well spent as the new pitch and stadium could be used as a centrepiece for the sport, and possibly the home for a club. However, our love for the sport may well cloud our judgement in assessing exactly how popular Baseball would become after the Olympics. We’d all love to see it become professional, with televised games and good foreign imports, but that could easily not happen. Britain is full of sports as it is, and it will be winter sports that will flourish over the coming years as football’s popularity wanes.
2.It’s not Major League Baseball. I’m not saying the quality is anything like that seen in Britain today, indeed many of the players are good enough for Major League teams, but it’s the popularity and celebrity of them that’ll be unattractive. MLB is an international brand name and publicly bans its players from competing in the Olympics. This is like the Premiership, La Liga and all the other top football leagues refusing to let their players go to the World Cup! Maybe MLB will realise this – the creation of a sort of World Cup of Baseball from next March shows they recognise the need to improve World relations – but they are notoriously narrow minded and probably fail to understand the impact this has in Europe.
3.One of the factors most important in a sport if it is to participate in the Olympics is that of worldwide participation. This is something Baseball lacks. It is not in quite the same boat as Cricket, which has around 10 major playing nations and then a handful that play at a low level, but it is still clearly the most unbalanced of Olympic events. Only Cuba, US, Japan, Korea, Canada and Australia have well funded leagues and development systems, the rest being so far behind they can’t hope to compete in the near future.
However, here is where the Catch-22 kicks in.
The level of competition is unfair so what is the obvious answer? Make the strong teams weaker. How is this done? Take out the best players. Then we go back to problem no2, of the lack of quality players!
The only way this problem can solved is if the weaker teams improve, which means the increased funding and popularity the Olympics would have brought. Sigh.
This really is a sad, confusing, annoying and yet incredibly important day for British Baseball.
Today, Friday 15th April, marked the second of what will become an annual baseball celebration, commemorating one of the all time great baseball players. 58 years to this day, the Major League career of the first black player in MLB history began.
The minute Jackie Robinson was even considered by the Brooklyn Dodgers, baseball was forever changed. Up until Robinson and the Dodgers, no team in the Majors had contained a non-white player.
The general consensus was that black people had their own leagues – the Negro leagues – and for them to compete at the same level as the white people was preposterous. As disgraceful as it is to even think now, this feeling was very strong, and the sport of baseball, being the standard bearer for good, middle class families, bore harsh, racist roots.
No doubt both Robinson and the Dodgers staff knew this when they considered him, but there is always a time for change. With the country barely out of the Second World War, many people saw it as a chance for the US to change and become a more equal nation. But the sight of Robinson - a giant of a second baseman and with astonishingly dark skin – made many people defensive and afraid.
For that first season, Robinson went through hell.
Roger Kahn’s famous and brilliant book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, ‘The Boys of Summer’, tells many tales of Robinson and later dark-skinned players such as hall-of-fame catcher Roy Campanella and one-year-wonder pitcher Joe Black, as they travel around America with the team. Some are predictable: they stay in separate hotels, get called names. Then there are others that are utterly deplorable: death threats to players and family.
Jackie Robinson braved some of the toughest levels of abuse ever seen in sport, and as a result the best players of baseball were able to play together. It is so sad that someone had to suffer like Robinson did for such a basic right like playing in the same sporting league. But he did, and the baseball world should be thankful, and must never forget
Last Sunday’s opening day game between the Yankees and Bo Sox may have been the big one for many baseball fans around the world, but right in our own back yard we have one of our own.
On Sunday April 10th, the surprise 2004 National Champions, Croydon Pirates, play host to the Bracknell Blazers and the Richmond Flames in the National League South.
Croydon won less than half their 2003 games and failed to make the post-season, and for the first half of 2004 didn’t look much better, but conquered all in the second half of the year, before beating the Liverpool Trojans, London Warriors and finally Brighton Bears in the final.
The National League is Britain’s top division, and the only one that uses wooden bats. It’s split into a North and South section, where the top two teams in each go into a short post-season – the final four – and compete for the NL title.
Meanwhile, if you can then, once you return from opening day, tune in to Five's live game - The Chicago White Sox at the Minnesota Twins - opening pitch is at 1:05AM British time.
As time bites into the month of February, the first sign of Major League Baseball comes into view as the 30 best teams in America head towards the equator in search of warmth and, more importantly, the formula to a winning season.
162 games. The longest regular season in sport. That's what the teams are looking up to as they meet for the first time since October. For many the winter has been a time of consolation and consideration, thinking of what may have been had that one important play been made, that iffy decision gone their way or those 40 extra wins that were needed had been won. For a very lucky few it was a time for celebration.
But none of that matters now. For these blissful few weeks the Tigers can consider themselves equal to the Yankees, the Royals to the Red Sox and the Nationals to the Cardinals. For everything can change in a winter. Players and staff can come and go, wounds can heal and fresh injuries appear. No club is unaffected by the off-season antics, all 30 have been touched up and edited by the GM's so that, one can hope, that key moment can go their way this year.
After somewhat of an extended absence from the internet, StrikeUK - Britain's leading amateur baseball site - is back on your screens!!!
We have a new host, address and writers with which to follow another glorious season of baseball in America, Great Britain, Japan and all around the world!!!
Please come back soon when the first of our many pre-season previews will be up for your enjoyment!
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