Olympic baseball is in a league to be disowned

Kathy Willens, Associated Press

USA's Matt Brown, right, is congratulated by right fielder Nate Schuerholtz after hitting a second inninng solo home run against the Netherlands during their baseball game Thursday.

A collection of the world's second-rate players is hardly worthy of the global event, even if it is being discontinued.

By JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune

Last update: August 13, 2008 - 11:59 PM

Print this story

More from Jim Souhan

Wednesday night, I attended the USA's first Olympic baseball game since Dougie Mientkiewicz draped himself in patriotic glory by winning the gold for God, Country and Tommy Lasorda in 2000.

The USA didn't qualify for the Olympics in 2004, and baseball will not be an Olympic sport in 2012, so this is a rare chance for gold and glory.

And this should be just about enough, thank you.

It's easy for those involved with USA Baseball to get excited about international competition in front of NBC's cameras, but let's be honest about what we're watching: guys who aren't good enough to play in the big leagues facing other guys not good enough to play in the big leagues.

Baseball already has a high-level international competition. It's called the World Baseball Classic, where you can see Ichiro Suzuki batting against Jake Peavy, or David Ortiz facing Johan Santana. Not Bong Jungkeun facing former Twin Terry Tiffee. (Not making that up -- Tiffee was the DH and batted third for the USA on Wednesday.)

Baseball already has high-level play featuring international superstars. It's called the major leagues.

Baseball has a place where players can go overseas to face quality competition. It's called the Japanese League.

Baseball also has a place for aspiring players to hone their craft against similar competition. It's the minor leagues.

What we saw here on an incredibly smoggy night at Wukesong Baseball Field 2 was baseball you could appreciate only if you were ... well, South Korean.

The South Korean fans had a great time. They chanted and slammed those thunderstick things together and cheered their team to a comeback victory.

Even that didn't make this compelling. Attendance was almost as low as the quality of play.

It's one thing for team handball or judo to draw small crowds -- the Olympics giving niche sports a chance to shine every four years is fine.

When you take one of the most popular games in the world, imbue it with Olympic self-importance, put it on the world's stage and hardly anybody cares, that's a bad sign.

Let's be honest, anybody who really likes baseball gets their fill by watching the big boys play. It's August. Major League Baseball is offering tremendous pennant races and stories. Take the overblown patriotism away, and what the Olympics is offering is mediocre baseball on temporary fields in front of a sparse audience.

The U.S. team consists of players who not only were not on Major League rosters, they weren't even on the short list of players likely to be called up in August.

The Olympic motto is "Swifter, Higher, Stronger,'' but USA Baseball has revised it to be "Almost Good Enough to Sit on the Bench for the Nationals."

If baseball regains its Olympic status in 2016 or beyond, and if USA Baseball at that point wants to take this seriously, it should fill the team with college stars and top prospects, younger players who might not match up well against veteran foreign competition, but would offer the cachet of promise.

I'd rather see a young, unpolished version of David Wright playing for the U.S. team than a well-polished version of Terry Tiffee.

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. jsouhan@startribune.com

Recent Olympics stories

Eric Heiden: 30 years ago, a Wisconsin cheesehead pulled off an Olympic feat for the ages - August 13, 2008

Eric Heiden: 30 years ago, a Wisconsin cheesehead pulled off an Olympic feat for the ages - Even as he stepped on the ice for that final race in Lake Placid, looking unbeatable and with an unprecedented speedskating sweep in his grasp, Eric Heiden had those lingering doubts. More