For all the talk of a globalised world, America’s national pastime of baseball still baffles most of the planet.
The inaugural 16-nation World Baseball Classic opening this weekend in Japan is the latest bid to globalize the sport described almost a century ago as America’s secular religion.
But for a sport whose annual championship of 29 US and one Canadian team is called the ”World Series,” the new tournament will pale in comparison to the World Cup of soccer three months later in Germany.
As many symbols of Americana permeate the world, baseball, with its arcane rules and showcase of the individual, is suffering a global slump in favour of faster, more physical sports such as soccer.
”I don’t think it’s merely a matter of pushing buttons and creating a market for baseball as with Starbucks,” said G Edward White, a law professor at the University of Virginia who wrote a book on America’s baseball passion.
Soccer’s governing body Fifa has 207 members, while the 16 nations in the World Baseball Classic are all in the Americas and East Asia, save for the far-flung minnions of Australia, Italy, The Netherlands and South Africa.
Beijing in 2008 will be the last Olympics for baseball, which was axed out of concern it was an easy medal for the United States. And in Japan, an unprecedented players strike in 2004 turned more fans off from the sport they call ”yakyu”.
Baseball’s woes — and its globalisation of the opposite form — can even be seen in the United States, where fresh stars are often more likely to come from Latin America and Asia.
”Whenever I get into a taxi in Los Angeles or New York, I ask the cab driver if they like baseball and 90% of them say no,” said Shigeyoshi Ino, a former Japanese baseball executive and professor of international relations.
”They say it is because baseball has no violence or the game is too long,” he said.
US Major League Baseball has been reaching out to developing nations to teach the sport. But considering the costs of mitts, bats and catchers’ gear — and the space it takes to set up four bases — baseball can hardly match soccer as a global street sport.
There is also the cultural dimension. Baseball relies on determined team spirit — the famous ”wa” creed of Japanese players — but also provides ample opportunity for humiliation.
”It’s a sport where a lot of people stand around and watch things happen. It’s a sport where there’s a high display of error in public, compared with soccer or basketball,” White said.
”The principal advantage of soccer is not only that you have limited equipment, but more importantly that a small child can learn to play and get some positive experience just by running around and kicking the ball while baseball is a sport that is difficult to master.”
But can a national sport — even the favorite of former Texas Rangers owner George Bush — find converts in the 21st century?
Baseball was brought to Japan by a US teacher just a few years after the nation opened up in 1868 from centuries of self-seclusion. Japan spread on baseball through its colonisation of Taiwan and Korea, much like British imperialism nurtured a following for cricket.
One hopeful sign for baseball can be found in a fellow US sport: basketball. Eight Africans are on National Basketball Association rosters this season after an outreach drive to a continent with little tradition of the sport.
Basketball has also succeeded in tapping the huge new fan base of China due to the success of Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming.
To Major League Baseball’s delight, China is taking part in the World Baseball Classic, where it is set for politically charged games against Taiwan and Japan.
”All you need is a name like Yao Ming, a couple of players in the Major Leagues, and you might well have significant Chinese involvement in baseball,” White said.
But it remains to be seen just how global the sport wants to be.
New York Yankees Japanese outfielder Hideki Matsui, among other stars, is shunning the Classic as it coincides with crucial spring training, leading to grumbling about the timing of the new quadrennial event.
”The United States doesn’t want to stage a contest to decide the world’s number-one after the World Series,” charged Japan’s manager, former home-run king Sadaharu Oh. – AFP