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| WBC picture becomes clearer By Barry M. Bloom DALLAS -- Major League Baseball brought its "We are the World" tour to the annual Winter Meetings on Monday, putting a face on the World Baseball Classic for the first time since the inaugural tournament was announced this past July before the annual All-Star Game in Detroit. Among the 150 or so Major League players announced for many of the 16 teams competing in the 18-day tournament are the best and the brightest of this era. "This will change the sport," Commissioner Bud Selig said last month about a tournament that is expected to be staged again in 2009 and then every four years thereafter. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, Dontrelle Willis, Ken Griffey Jr., Carlos Delgado, Carlos Lee, Javier Vazquez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Ichiro Suzuki, plus both of this year's league MVPs -- Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriquez -- have already committed to play in the games if selected by their respective teams. Sixteen countries or territories are committed to participate in the event that will begin on March 3 in Japan's Tokyo Dome and end with an inaugural champion crowned on March 20 in San Diego's PETCO Park. In between, venues like Scottsdale Stadium and Chase Field in Arizona, Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico, Cracker Jack Stadium at Disney Wide World of Sports in the Orlando area and Angel Stadium in Anaheim will host either first- or second-round games. Or in San Juan's case, both. Former Toronto skipper Buck Martinez will manage the U.S. team and he'll have Davey Johnson, who just led Team USA to a five-game sweep in its Olympic pre-qualifying tournament last month at Phoenix, as his bench coach. Each team is limited to five in-uniform coaches and on the U.S. team, Johnson will be joined by Ken Griffey Sr. (first base), Marcel Lachemann (pitching) and Reggie Smith (hitting). Still undecided is the third base coach. Rick Eckstein, who was on the recent Olympic staff, will help in the bullpen, but probably won't be in uniform. The landmark tournament field includes Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Chinese Taipei, the United States and Venezuela. Cuba is the only country that hasn't formally accepted its invitation, although long-time president Fidel Castro has made statements during the past week indicating that the baseball-rich Cubans will be there. Thirteen of the 16 teams announced their managers with nine of them having at least one game of Major League playing experience --- Ernie Whitt (Canada), Jim Lefebvre (China), Manny Acta (Dominican Republic), Paquin Estrada (Mexico), Robert Eenhoorn (The Netherlands), Roberto Kelly (Panama), Jose Oquendo (Puerto Rico), Martinez (U.S.) and Luis Sojo (Venezuela). The Japanese will be represented by Sadaharu Oh, the world's all-time home run king with 868 career dingers. The Australians will be managed by Jon Deeble, who pitched 16 years for their national team. In-Sik Kim led the Koreans during several of their Olympic bids. And Hua-Wei Lin was skipper of the Chinese-Taipei squad that won a bronze medal when that country hosted the 2002 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) World Cup. Managers for Italy, Cuba and South Africa are still to be announced. And rosters for the four Asian teams are expected to be released later in the week. Sixty-man rosters must be submitted by Jan. 17 with the ultimate 30-man rosters finalized 24 hours prior to the start of the tournament. The final rosters must include a minimum of 13 pitchers and three catchers. MLB has committed to 60 percent of the players having either a Major League or Minor League contract. All the players announced on Monday were blessed by the players association and MLB, who have collectively spent months in the initial culling process. The projected U.S. roster, now at 45 Major League players, is stocked with a plethora of stars that span the ages. It goes from Clemens, Griffey and Bonds at one end of the spectrum to Eric Chavez, Brad Lidge and Joe Mauer on the other. Three players -- Rodriguez, Mike Piazza and Marco Scutaro -- have the opportunity to select between two countries because of their family heritage and have yet to make a decision for which team they will play. A-Rod can choose between the U.S. and Puerto Rico; Piazza between the U.S. and Italy, and Scutaro between Italy and Puerto Rico. The tournament will begin on March 3 with first-round played at four sites: Pool A, consisting of Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and China, will meet at the Tokyo Dome, March 3-5, with the other three pools all on March 9-11. Pool B, featuring the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South Africa, will play at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Scottsdale Stadium, Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants, March 7-10; Pool C includes Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama and the Netherlands, and will play at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, March 7-10, and Pool D, featuring the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Australia and Italy, will play at the spring home of the Atlanta Braves near Orlando, March 7-10. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the second round, which takes place March 12-15 back at Hiram Bithorn Stadium and at Angel Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Angels. Again the top two teams in the four-team second-round brackets will each move on to the semifinals and finals to be held at the home of the San Diego Padres on March 18-20. Fans can follow all of the games live via MLB.com. Tickets go on sale Dec. 10 for games in Puerto Rico and Dec. 12 for games in the United States, while the dates for ticket sales in Japan are still to be determined. For more information, go to www.worldbaseballclassic.com. The tournament will run concurrently with Major League Baseball's Spring Training in Arizona and Florida and Nippon Professional Baseball's camps in Japan. Strict pitch counts will be incorporated in the tournament games and there will be suggested limitations on the use of position players, conforming to the usual playing time expended by most Major Leaguers during Spring Training. No team can play more than eight games in the tournament and only the two that go to the championship game will do that. In the first two rounds, each team plays three games per round with the two teams having the best records surviving to play another day. Only the semifinals and finals are single-elimination games. Thus, eight of the 16 teams will be eliminated after the first round with all Major League players participating for those teams returning immediately to their respective camps. Barry M. Bloom is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. |
| QUOTE (TheBigSwigg @ Dec 5 2005, 06:37 PM) |
| So they can claim that equality with soccer |
| QUOTE (eStragand @ Dec 6 2005, 12:06 AM) | ||
I'm sorry... I don't understand the last word in your sentence. |