By Anthony Suntay

THE ongoing World Baseball Classic has me green with envy!

Though I know that the Philippines hasn’t gotten to the level of the teams competing there, it just shows that what Major League Baseball has done around the world, especially here in the Asia Pacific region, should be supported.

Before the inception of Baseball Philippines, the organizing group Community Sports Inc. spoke with MLB about the league and secured a memorandum from MLB for its help in the league.

Equipment was donated, and blueprints of how they established leagues in Chinese Taipei, China and Australia, as well as in Europe, were lent to CSI in order to lessen their growing pains.

MLB’s plan some time ago, as explained by Jim Small, who handles their affairs in this part of the world, was to have a three-year plan in different countries.

It started with Japan, then they moved to Korea, Chinese Taipei, and now China and Australia.

During the elimination phase of the world tournament, Australia performed quite admirably. To date, there are now five Aussies in the majors, while around 15 players are plying their trade in the minors.

The next area of MLB’s travels is supposedly the Philippines and India.

I can hardly wait. I just hope that this worsening economic crisis doesn’t delay their entry into Manila.

As Baseball Philippines moves into Year 3 (starting this summer with games played on weekends at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum), expect the level of play to further increase, and also witness the birth of Junior Baseball Philippines, which will showcase the youth at its very best!

For more info on the league and how you might be able to watch, participate or help out, log on to: www.baseballphilippines.com

Now, back to the world tournament. It just shows that the United States has their hands full with their Asian counterparts, namely Japan (the defending champions) and Korea (the Olympic champion).

So this clearly shows that with the right programs, the proper funding and our talented athletes in this sport, we could very well compete in the grandest stage of baseball, and could even help in getting that coveted gold medal in the Olympics.

We used to dominate these two countries, and I have no doubt in my mind that we can bring baseball back to its glory years.

We all just have to work together. 

Listen to Real Sports today on Wave 89.1 at 2:15 p.m. We will feature some women from the Touch Rugby group and we will discuss the Condura Fun Run happening at The Fort tomorrow morning!

Have a great weekend! God Bless!

E-mail me at realsports891@yahoo.com