This is a couple weeks old, but nobody has commented on it so here goes.
In Joe Morgan's May 25 Insider column, Joe Morgan discusses the proposed World Baseball Classic. He writes:
For most of Major League Baseball's history, players have come predominantly from America, and before Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947, all were Caucasian. In the latter part of the 20th century, the number of Latino players has increased dramatically.
Now, I think we're past the point of asking Joe Morgan to do even a modicum of research when making retarded arguments, but honestly. Does anybody at ESPN read his columns before they are printed? A three second-long Google search would tell you that Major League baseball has featured Latino players since 1911. By 1939 there had been players from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
He continues:
Besides being talented, Latino players have shown that they have a true love for the game and a true passion for playing the game.
That's a pretty provocative statement there, Joe. And I'm not even sure it's true. Watch players like Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, and Pedro Martinez, and it's quite obvious they hate baseball, hate playing baseball, and would rather be doing literally anything else.
He then uses this platform to yet again repeat his retarded argument against pitch counts:
The problem with pitch counts in general is 85 pitches for one guy might be the same as 100 for another. Pitchers have different tolerance levels, so who will decide the number of pitches that is too many for each pitcher?
Joe, I'm going to take a wild stab at this one and say...maybe...the coaches?
Later, Joe Morgan proves he is one step ahead of us with this insightful question, which hopefully someone (a lawyer, hopefully!) will figure out a way around.
Another issue: It will be interesting to see how the teams are formed. Will a player compete for his birth nation or for the nation where he lives?
The prohibitive favorite in the 2006 World Baseball Classic has to be the US, with a devastating roster featuring EVERY major league baseball player.
