Plaaaay Ball ! プレー球技 !!

No matter what country to which MLB may send its season-opener, it'll still be a great game. As if to solidify that truism, the World Champion Boston Red Sox came from behind to beat the upstart Oakland A's 6-5 this morning in Japan to serve notice that they will have to be reckoned with once again in 2008.

Whether baseball will remain "America's game" seems open to question. With both hero and goat candidates from the home country of Japan and with the biggest slugging exhibition coming from a man who hails from Latin America, that particular moniker would seem to be highly problematical.

But does it really matter? Would the World Series be a true "World Series" if the players all hailed from the 50 states? I don't think so. That game popularity has been exported along with player development efforts is ultimately good for the game, although American fans may suffer a little along the way.

The game started at 6AM ET and, despite consuming a few cups of coffee (another wonderful product from Latin America), this fan could not keep his eyes open another moment, but did have the wherewithal to hit the "record" button on his VCR before submitting to the Sandman.

Awakened about three hours later though, I was treated to a great ending. I managed to see Huston Street of the A's blow the save for Joe Blanton in the 9th and watch the A's blow their opportunity to recapture the win against Boston's Jonathan Papelbon. I got to see another Japanese product, Oakland's Kurt Suzuki, ground out weakly to second base with the tying and winning runs on base.

What I did miss, however, was Boston’s Dice K, Daisuke Matsuzaka, give up two Oakland runs in the first inning, this despite the honor of getting the start in the season opener in his home country. I also missed Manny Ramirez’s clutch 2-rbi double in the 6^th. But Manny hadn’t finished yet, driving in two more in the 10^th with still another double to clinch the win.

As good as was the game though, it had to be somewhat drowned out by the enormity of the cultural event. Although it was not the first MLB game played overseas, it was the first one played on the Asian continent, and may be a prelude to many others, both in Japan and elsewhere.

According to Wikipedia, 34 Japanese played in MLB between 1964 and 2007. Several Japanese players have signed their first Major League contracts for the 2008 season: Kosuke Fukudome (Chicago Cubs), Masahide Kobayashi (Cleveland Indians), Yasuhiko Yabuta (Kansas City Royals), Hiroki Kuroda (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Kazuo Fukumori (Texas Rangers).

Most of those 34 players were stars in Japan and performed creditably or better in the U.S. The best player, without a doubt, has been Ichiro Suzuki (aka Ichiro)of the Seattle Mariners.

Ichiro may be the best all-around player in the Major Leagues today. Ichiro hits for average, his 262 hits in one season is the current major league record. He may be the best outfielder in the game as well, catching anything even remotely within range and possessing a gun for an arm. He has also stolen 272 bases between 2001 and 2007.

Almost as ballyhooed as Ichiro was Hideki Matsui, who came to the Yankees in 2003. Known as “Godzilla” in Japan, Hideki has yet to perform to the lofty expectations that name had promised but nevertheless has been one of the best clutch performers on the Yanks. In his five years as a Bomber, he hit .295 with 103 homers and 462 rbi’s. He continues to be one of the most colorful players on a team that has been chock-full of stars such as Arod and Jeter, Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon.

The influx of foreign-born players has energized the game. Just as Jackie Robinson excited baseball fans back in 1947 and Roberto Clemente did in the Fifties and Sixties, so has Ichiro and Dice K, Hideo Nomo and both Matsui’s, Hideki and even Kaz, who last year helped propel the Colorado Rockies to the National League pennant with his fielding, timely hitting and verve on the basepaths.

The Latino players who have become stars in the United States are almost too numerous to mention. In fact, there has been concern voiced on the part of black U.S. players that their representation in the major leagues has become marginal, that player development has become stilted in the U.S. and that Latino players are easier to manage both financially and on the field.

There is, of course, a great deal of truth in that thinking. Latinos compose today almost 30% of all players and there are about 80 players in MLB from the Dominican Republic alone. But they are also among the best players. In fact, in October of 2005, a “Latino Legends” team was named and its membership reads like a “Who’s Who” of baseball superstars in the modern era.

From Puerto Rico, there was Ivan Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez and Roberto Clemente. Representing the Dominican Republic were Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal. There were also two players from Panama, Rod Carew and Mariano Rivera. And one great pitcher from Mexico named Fernando Valenzuela. One other player I’ve saved for last for obvious reasons, none other than Manny Ramirez of the Dominican Republic, who outshone every other player on that Japanese field with his performance today.

Fans may have to get up at 6:00 AM, or even 3:00 AM for those Oakland fans, to view a MLB game played in Asia, or be somewhat inconvenienced by a game played in Mexico or the Dominican Republic, but it’s evident that, as measured by the excellence of the product on the field, we all benefit from the globalization of our game.

There aren’t too many sandlots to be found in the U.S. today, at least not in our major cities. Perhaps there should be.