Baseball Considers The World

If Len Coleman has his way, baseball will start up a World Cup style tournament in the next few years.

Donald Fehr hopes that the World Series and Japan Series winners will meet eventually. He even holds hope that major leaguers one day will play in the Olympics.

“As we look at the business, clearly the international stage is where the development of the game is going to take place as we prepare for the next millennium,” said Coleman, the National League president.

Coleman prefers a World Cup, a quadrennial tournament in which players compete for their countries.

“If you’re looking at putting your best stars on stage, that’s the way to go,” he said. “Ted Williams had a 20-somethingyear career and participated in one World Series. The same with Cal Ripken and Nolan Ryan. If it was just World Series champions, you might never see them.”

Dozens of major leaguers are nonAmericans these days. The Dominican team could include pitchers Ramon and Pedro Martinez; outfielders Manny Ramirez, Raul Mondesi and Sammy Sosa; and infielders Mariano Duncan, Julio Franco and Quilvio Veras.

Puerto Rico looks a little weak in pitching, with a staff that could include Roberto Hernandez, Jose Guzman, Ricky Bones, Angel Miranda and Jaime Navarro. But the rest of the team appears to be strong. The infield could include Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga and Rey Sanchez, and the outfield could include Juan Gonzalez and Ruben Sierra. Ivan Rodriguez could catch, backed up by Benito Santiago.

A Cuban team could include Jose Canseco, Osvaldo Fernandez, Livian Hernandez, Rafael Palmeiro and Ariel Prieto, plus all the players on Cuba’s current national team.

Venezuela has Wilson Alvarez, Ozzie Guillen, Omar Vizquel and Andres Galarraga. Australia has Grame Lloyd, Dave Nilsson, Mark Hutton and Craig Shipley.

Other current major leaguers are from Aruba, Canada, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, South Korea and Venezuela.

“No professional sport has greater potential than major league baseball on the international front,” American League president Gene Budig said. “For example, the 1996 World Series will be seen in more than 200 countries, and interest is up everywhere. Any limitation on major league baseball will be self-imposed.”

So far, baseball has done little internationally. Contentious labor relations, highlighted by the 232-day strike, not only have prevented international relations but led to cancellation of the 1994 postseason tour of Japan.

In August, the New York Mets and San Diego Padres will play a three-game series at Monterrey, Mexico, the first regular-season games outside the United States and Canada. The NBA, which has been much more aggressive, will play in Japan for the fourth time this fall.

“We’ve been interested in developing things at the highest level possible for the longest time,” said Fehr, head of the players’ union. “It is a very hopeful sign that owners are expressing interest in pursuing something internationally. In the Japanese, we have natural partners. I would like to see games involving the Olympics, a World Cup tournament, teams against individual teams. It’s a matter of making sure we get all our ducks in a row.”

Some owners would like to see the World Series champion play the Japan Series champion each year. Other owners think that would detract from the World Series.

Fehr’s hope to have major leaguers in the Olympics seems like a pipe dream. Currently, Olympic baseball is open only to amateurs. Unlike the NHL, which is stopping its season for the Winter Olympics, major league baseball is prevented by weather from starting earlier or ending later.

“Most owners are open to format suggestions and or options,” Budig said. “I do believe that major league baseball has a unique window of opportunity and must act with dispatch. The clock is running. I believe major league baseball must move decisively within the next 12 to 18 months.”

Coleman hopes a World Cup tournament would spark a global increase in baseball interest.

“People rally in a sense around their country, such as in the Olympics and the World Cup,” he said. “That’s healthy, that’s good.”

Fehr hopes baseball in the Olympics will cause the sport to enter new markets.

“One of the things (the) Olympics give you is access to place you wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” he said, citing China as an example.

Coleman said a World Cup tournament would become important once the United States is defeated for the first time.

“I think the rest of the world is getting more competitive,” he said. “Look at the Caribbean, Asia, Australia. I think the dynamic of it could be phenomenal.”