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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017
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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