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1C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017 CONTACT US Laura Sellers | Weekend Editor lsellers@dailyastorian.com WEEKEND BREAK FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian BASEBALL CULTURES CELEBRATE IN LOS ANGELES AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill Fans cheer in the first inning of the final of the World Baseball Classic between the United States and Puerto Rico in Los Angeles. World Baseball Classic brings fans together By STEVE FORRESTER The Daily Astorian B aseball comes in many varieties. There is American big city, stick- ball tradition. There is rural baseball, played on sandlots. There is minor league baseball in the South (the Durham Bulls of the movie “Bull Durham”), in the Southwest (Reno Aces) and the Northwest (Tacoma Rainiers). There is Caribbean beisbol — with the music of drums and horns and even danc- ers on the roofs of dugouts. And the Asian baseball variety — with organized cheering in Japan and cooking in the stands in Korea. These international varieties come together every four years in the World Base- ball Classic. It was former Commissioner Bud Selig’s brainchild. And a good one. My wife and I, two Portland friends and a friend from St. Louis took in the fi nal three games this week at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Heart-stopping pitcher On a cool Monday night we saw Puerto Rico squeak past the Netherlands 4-3 in 11 innings. At fi rst glance, you wonder how the Dutch can fi eld a professional baseball team. Its players were born in the Caribbean islands owned by the Netherlands. For instance, Kenley Jansen, the heart-stopping short-term relief pitcher of the L.A. Dodgers, was born in Curacao. The Netherlands should have won the Monday night game. “An offensive pow- erhouse” is how The New York Times described the Dutch team. But men on fi rst and second base in the fi rst inning were put out after violating fundamentals and mak- ing boneheaded mistakes. When, two batters later, a Dutch batsman homered into the left fi eld stands, the Netherlands should have had an additional two runs. Usually a team’s fatal error is committed in the late innings. The Dutch got it over with within the fi rst 15 minutes of the game. As Dodger Stadium emptied follow- ing Puerto Rico’s win, it was a spectacle of shrieking, horns and celebration, akin to a World Series win. Puerto Rico’s team is loaded with dan- gerous talent such as Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals and Angel Pagan, a San Francisco Giants free agent. Clash of cultures This was the fi rst time America’s team made it to the championship fi nals. The USA team comes to the international competi- tion with a cultural defi cit, because the Latin baseball culture is all about enthusiasm, just as Japan’s is about cultish devotion. Except in post-season play, Major League B aseball in the U.S. lacks heartfelt emotion. It is more business and advertising than game. When Japan faced off against the USA team on Tuesday, it was the clash of two baseball cultures — both of which are corpo- rate, in a sense. The American, MLB culture W riter’s N otebook Caribbean beisbol is suffused with drums, horns, singing and even dancers on the roofs of dugouts. is corporate, because the players are mostly millionaires. When their play becomes risky or emotional, we are amazed. Modern-era eccentrics like Jim Bouton and R.A. Dickey are rare. The Japanese baseball machine never stops coming at you. The Japanese had few MLB players. The great bulk of Japan’s team were young men you’ve never heard of. And especially for the Japanese pitchers, this world stage was a great audition moment. Despite the crowd’s chanting “USA, USA,” the American team was blasé about its victory over Japan, after a hard-fought, one-run margin. By contrast, on Monday night the Puerto Rican team — some cloaked in their national fl ag — was as exuberant as a group of adolescents who had won the state championship for their high school. And that describes why this WBC is so much fun. It also showed itself in the Japa- nese fans with headbands, waving Japanese fl ags. A few young Japanese men camped it up in white face make-up akin to Kabuki actors. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong U.S. players celebrate an 8-0 win over Puerto Rico in the final of the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles Wednesday. More than one wrinkle Wednesday night’s championship show- down between Puerto Rico and the USA presented more than one wrinkle. After all, Puerto Rico is an American territory. Its New York City immigrants are famously pre- sented in Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” singing “I like to be in America.” The build-up to the championship game was noisy, with rival chants of “U-S-A” and “Puer-to-RI-co.” The surprise is that the game was not close. With so much power in the Puerto Rican line up, it was conceivable they would win. But in the third inning, the U.S. blew the game open with a two-run home run. US pitching insured that Puerto Rico never landed a punch. It was an 8-0 blow out. But as it fl ooded out of Dodger Sta- dium, the near-capacity crowd seemed not to care. Certainly Puerto Rico’s partisans were deeply disappointed. But all of us are part of the same nation. And if two out of three baseball games are close and well-played … well, that is enough for me in the fi rst days of spring. Steve Forrester is the former editor and publisher of The Daily Astorian. AP Photo/Carlos Giusti People gather to watch television coverage of the World Baseball Classic final be- tween Puerto Rico and the United States in San Juan, Puerto Rico . United States eagle statue mascot stands on the mound in celebration, a blue cap jauntily hanging from one of its large wings, after their 8-0 win over Puerto Rico . AP Photo Mark J. Terrill
