Personal Travel

I'm on holiday at the moment in Thailand. It's a wonderful place and I would suggest to anyone that they make the trip if they get the chance. I have to admit, it is pretty hot though!

Some interesting aspects of Thailand:

First, Thailand is real cheap and it enables the average middle class folk to live a life of luxury if only for a few days. One can drink great beer every day, stay in nice hotels, and spend entire afternoons being waited on hand and foot along the crystal clear waters of the sea.

Second, because it is cheap, the people are very poor. To me this was one of the more depressing aspects of the trip. Thai's provide great service and work hard serving tourists drinks and food all day long but then pile on their scooters and go home to very limited accomodations. It is a reality of life but very hard to see and adds a bit of guilt to the entire trip.

As more tourists arrive and as Thai life develops even further things will change hopefully for the better. Pollution will demand controls, salaries must grow, but the heat, well it will always be hot here!

What Next?

With the U.S. failing to qualify for the final round of the WBC this begs the question of what will happen next? We often get the impression that in order for the game to be recognized the Americans will have to take an interest. This hasn't been the case at all.

I get the impression, from my experience as a U.S. citizen and in my expat life, that American's just don't care that much about international competition in the most popular sports. Whether they lack interest because the U.S. has failed to put decent teams on the field or if the fans really don't care is a difficult to say. I have a feeling it is a combination of both.

In the long run I think it is a good thing the U.S. team didn't make it in. First, it shows the world that others can play the game. I know I know, the argument will be that the U.S. team didn't have its best players. Well, neither did Japan. Cuba has a smaller population to choose from as does Korea, and the smaller countries also have less development opportunities at the professional level compared to the U.S. which has rookie, A, AA, AAA ball and academy's located throughout the Dominican. It's fair to say Cubans and the Japanese play great baseball and have shown they are better than the U.S. Second, without the U.S. in the finals maybe the rest of the world can now see how big the game is to other countries. Lastly, if the U.S. national program (does one even exist?) doesn't care enough to put together a well prepared club then I don't want them in the final!

The WBC has been a great stage for international baseball. It will be interesting to see it develop in the coming years. This truly is the boost baseball has needed, hopefully it will carry over to the Olympic voting.

The Mercenary Mentality

So there you have it. Canada 8, USA 6. And it wasn’t even that close. Adam Loewen a Baltimore farmhand shut down the U.S’ baseball mercenaries lasting 3 2/3 innings while centerfielder Adam Stern went 3 for 4 with 4 rbi.

So what gives with the U.S. team? Well, it’s only one game right. We all know that on any given day in a head to head match up any team can win. But in international tournament play there are less opportunities to recover making every game important.

When it comes to international competition in team sports the U.S. often disappoints. Our approach in fielding teams often lends itself to the ‘Dream Team’ model where we simply look around our top leagues picking our favorite names. When one guy drops out, another ‘star’ fills his place. The result is usually a collection of talented players and giant egos.

Now I’m not saying that the U.S. team doesn’t get along with eachother. On the contrary, they are all smiling a lot and enjoying themselves as if they are in display like icons. A few examples to illustrate my point stuck out in the game versus Canada.

In the fifth Stern hit a line drive to left which ricocheted off the base of the fence. While in pursuit of the ball the U.S. left fielder Matt Holliday pulled up lame with what seemed to be a twisted ankle or knee. The result was an inside the park homerun and an embarrassment to the U.S. squad.

A few pitches later while in pursuit of a lazy pop foul along the left field stands the game announcer urged Holliday “don’t even try it” referring to the risk that Holliday run in attempting to catch the ball on the run so close to the fence. While Holliday wasn’t heeding Sutcliffe’s advice, he did pull up and let the ball drop.

A few pitches later another foul pop down the line brought Holliday, third baseman Chipper Jones, and shortstop Derek Jeter together in pursuit of the ball. All of them pulled up as they realized an attempt to catch the ball would have meant sacrificing their bodies. The ball dropped and Jones and Jeter gave each other a little pat on the back and shared a smile as if to say, “whew, we almost got dirty there eh buddy”. So they sauntered back to their positions and proceeding to lose.

Everybody keeps saying that these players view their participation in the WBC and the opportunity to represent their country as the ‘Most important thing they have ever done in their careers’. I’ve seen Jeter crawl into the stands and steal pop fouls away from souvineer seekers many a time in mid season games that get lost in the massive shuffle of a 162 game season. If USA across his chest is so important why isn’t he risking anything? Compare this to Leslie Anderson of Cuba yesterday that got hit on the hand by a pitch and later collided with his own first baseman on a diving play in pursuit of a foul ball. He seems to be playing a lot harder than any of the U.S. players, and he could make more working at McDonalds in the U.S. than he does playing baseball for Cuba.

I get the impression that playing for good ol’ USA is something these guys view as a token for all of their accomplishments throughout their careers, not as a chance to show the world why they are the best. I hope this is the case, if not I’m afraid we simply aren’t as good as we thought.

Thanks Kirby

Baseball lost a hero today. Kirby Puckett passed away today (March 6th) after suffering a stroke at his home in Arizona on Sunday (March 5). As a man who touched many lives and provided so much hope for little kids throughout Minnesota I can only say thank you Kirby.

Minnesota is a relatively quiet place. It rests inside the U.S. a long way from anything really by global standards. So it doesn't get a lot of national exposure. It was here Kirby spent his entire career leading the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. I grew up on Kirby. He was what baseball was for a kid in Minnesota in those years. It was Kirby who kept me up late into the night in October 91 to see the Twins survive game 6 and eventually game 7.

During high school a friend and myself made the 2 hour drive from our home town to catch a Twins game at Metrodome. It was 1995 and the Twins were a long way out of the race so the Dome was empty and you could get as close as you wanted to the field. The building had that hollow feel to it so you could hear every word spoken. We hung out down the right field line where Kirby was playing. As he trotted out to his position he waved up at us and gave our two man section a big smile. Midway through the first he started talking to us, asking us where we were from and if we were having a good time. We asked him if he wanted some of our Bazooka bubble gum, a dumb teenage way of connecting with greatness. He laughed and said yes so we tossed him a piece and he smiled. Kirby understood what he was doing, he was entertaining all of us, one person at a time.

A few years later while I was working as a groundskeeper at Metrodome Kirby was filming a commercial for Glaucoma awareness. A disease which shortened his career leading him to take a position in the Twins front office. He had down time during the shoot and sat down in the dugout where I was sweeping up sunflower seeds and dirt from the night before. He asked, "Hey, how's it goin' man? You like this job?" "Yeah" I replied with awe, "for the most part". "You wanna switch jobs with me?" He continued with a big smile on his face. I asked, "So what exactly do you do all day?" He just smiled and laughed. I guess there is no way to verball describe a job that revolves around just being Kirby.

If there is one lesson Kirby instilled in me as a player and as a man, it was to keep on hustlin'. Never did Kirby dog it on a ground ball. Day after day, night after night that is one of the most difficult things to maintain in the game, always hustle, always try, even when the odds are stacked against you. This was Kirby's niche.

Thank you Kirby for the wonderful memories and all the lessons. You will be missed.

The World Baseball Classic versus the Olympics

The World Baseball Classic is now upon us. It has a caused lot of excitement, speculation and debate in international baseball circles. Many view the WBC as direct opposition to Olympic Baseball and a ploy by Major League Baseball to make a few more dollars. I've decided I'm going to offer my perspective, whatever that's worth to you.

There is a lot of criticism out there regarding the WBC. People are disappointed because not all of the big names are playing with the likes of Barry Bonds and Vlad Guerrero sitting out. Others see it as a giant marketing ploy by Major League Baseball that works in opposition to the Olympic games. I think Al Leiter has the best persepective on it explaining that regardless of whether the all the best players participate, it is still the best collection of talent in one competition in the history of the game (i'm paraphrasing but you get the point). Is it a marketing ploy? I don't know about ploy, but it sure is marketing. That's the idea isn't it? This is an opportunity to connect people through baseball and spread the game across the world.

I don't know exactly what the perceptions in the U.S. are right now. I would imagine it is beginning to gain attention as the American team begins competition. But throughout the rest of the world people are fired up about this. If you've never been to Holland or Italy you wouldn't understand, but this is a huge event for them. The WBC will have an amazing impact on countries that have been caught in the middle of fully professional leagues and amatuer competition.

In the past the Olympic baseball has struggled to gain the legitimacy that many hoped it would attain. The Cubans have pretty much dominated having won gold in 3 of the 4 Olympic competitions mainly because they send their best players while the rest of the field sends, well, not their best. Because the games overlap the MLB season many of the best players are in the middle of the professional season and their employers won't let them leave.

A lot blame has been placed on MLB for this. I think it is a bit unfair to place all the blame on their side. The reality is that the Major League Baseball Players Association has a hand in it as well and the IOC and IBAF simply couldn't ever come to terms. Sadly baseball is one of the world's most popular team sports and it won't be in the 2012 London Games.

The American method of organizing sport differs greatly from most countries. While the U.S. is organized through schools and organizations most other countries offer more direct methods of managing their sports through national federations. For example, most of Norwegian Baseball's funding comes from the government. When baseball is dropped from the Olympics this is a sign to the governing bodies that baseball isn't as important resulting in less funding. This is the true shame of the IOC's decision.

I had heard rumors that one of the major reasons to vote the baseball out was because the stadiums were too expensive and oversized resulting in a void when the Olympics left. I see the point but it is ridiculous to beleive that smaller facilities can't be expanded with portable seating to accomodate extra spectators. The Netherlands did this in the 2005 World Cup creating a great environment for thousands of spectators.

The Olympics need to define themselves more clearly. In certain sports that are highly professionalized like baseball, hockey, and basketball they need to establish eligibility rules that limit the level of competition to equalize the playing field. Major Leaguers are employees working to win something very valuable. No business man in their right mind would shut down the ballpark for 2 weeks to have their very expensive labor force play for something that doesn't benefit them. It would simply be bad business.

How to See the World on a .200 Average

I spent my youth dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player. I spent my days at the ballpark and my evenings pounding my fist into my mit. I had a respectable college career but it was obvious looking back that I wasn't Big League material. I was slow, small, and not nearly athletic enough to compete at a professional level. I worked hard however and landed an opportunity with a independent minor league in the Frontier League. That didn't last long as I injured my rotator cuff resulting in surgery and thoughts of a career change.

Throughout college I had worked at Metrodome in Minneapolis as a groundskeeper and I loved it. Working on the field every day and being in the professional sports environment was a passion that I still hold today. So I enrolled at the University of Minnesota to study turf management and gain work experience with the athletic facilities department.

One night while killing time in the athletic facilities department in the basement office of the football complex I came across a job posting in Sweden for a player/manager. I was curious and applied thinking that if my arm wasn't healthy I simply wouldn't play myself, besides how good could they be in Sweden. It was a chance to see someplace new and continue playing.

Sweden turned out to be a great experience. The level of competition wasn't fantastic but it was adequate. Since I left, the Swedes have enjoyed success internationally by qualifying for the European Championship A Pool and participating in last years Baseball World Cup.

Sweden was the first step in what became a three year baseball journey around the planet. My next step was on the other side of the world in Brisbane, Australia. I spent a season playing for Rapids Baseball Club on the outskirts of the city and only an hour drive from the Surfers Paradise. It was here that I met my Norwegian girlfriend.

Motivated by my new found love I ventured back toward Europe for a season in the German Bundesliga with the Cologne Cardinals. After a very interesting season in Germany I moved back to Minnesota where I spent a few months working for the Minnesota House of Representatives. One day while eating my lunch on the steps of the State Office Building I saw an article about a young Dutch pitcher who had signed with the Minnesota Twins. I made a few phone calls, sent out some resumes, and two weeks later I was back in Cologne managing the Cardinals and working as an international scout for a Major League organization.

I now make my home in Oslo, Norway alongside my lovely girlfriend. I coach the Norwegian National Team part-time and scout throughout Europe most of the summer.

Travelling the planet and being able to do it while working in a game I love has been a great thing. I guess this blog is a way of sharing those experiences as I go along.

A friend of mine who has had similar experiences to mine once told me of his plans to share his adventures in a book. He wanted to call it, 'How to See the World on a .200 Batting Average'. Well, I don't know if I was that bad a hitter, but I have been to some pretty cool places with more yet to come.

I'd love it if you would all join me along the way.