2009 World Baseball Classic - Team "Italy"

[MacVittie]

Team Italy Provisional Roster (http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/rosters/index.jsp?team=ita&season=2009)

Quite a few of the names on that roster are of Italian-Americans. I myself am only 1/8 Italian, but I could never see myself (nor any of my more-Italian relatives) representing a country other than America in a World tournament. I understand that for most of these players its their only chance to participate in the Classic, but it just seems odd that you would have a team for an ethnicity, especially one that is very tightly knit into the fabric of American culture. There's no Team Israel for Jewish players, no Team Germany for players of that heritage, no Team Middle Passage for the black players, etc. I know that there are a fair amount of Italian-Americans on this board; would you ever feel comfortable representing Italy in international competition?

[TheGameHHH]

wouldnt Team Israel be for Israeli players and not Jewish people?

[TheMojoPin]

wouldnt Team Israel be for Israeli players and not Jewish people?

Shhhh, he's on a roll.

[MacVittie]

wouldnt Team Israel be for Israeli players and not Jewish people?

I would have thought that Team Italy would be for Italian players, not Italian-Americans, so who knows.

Anyway, its a moot point, you can't make a team with just Shawn Green, Kevin Youkilis, and a very aged Sandy Koufax.

[TheMojoPin]

I would have thought that Team Italy would be for Italian players, not Italian-Americans, so who knows.

Anyway, its a moot point, you can't make a team with just Shawn Green, Kevin Youkilis, and a very aged Sandy Koufax.

Rod Carew counts!

[Crippler]

Sal Fasano will be in the WBC, and isn't that really all that matters?

[K.C.]

The point is to grow the sport.

Half the teams in it can barely field full professional (at any level of competition) rosters.

The fact that there's an Italian team means it'll get shown on some third rate cable channel in Italy, and maybe a couple native guidos watch it and decide to take up the sport.


Australia has actually shown a little bit of development in the last three or four years. They've started to pump a lot of prospects into the MLB minors, and have had a few make it to the show.

So there's some incidental proof that this is kind of working.

[Kevin]

Meh, to the Baseball Classic. Meh to it, i say.

[El Mudo]

Rod Carew counts!


He converted

http://media.mtvu.com/bands/s/sandler_adam/thumbnails/chanukah_140x105.jpg

[Gvac]

Team Italy Provisional Roster (http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/rosters/index.jsp?team=ita&season=2009)

Quite a few of the names on that roster are of Italian-Americans. I myself am only 1/8 Italian, but I could never see myself (nor any of my more-Italian relatives) representing a country other than America in a World tournament. I understand that for most of these players its their only chance to participate in the Classic, but it just seems odd that you would have a team for an ethnicity, especially one that is very tightly knit into the fabric of American culture. There's no Team Israel for Jewish players, no Team Germany for players of that heritage, no Team Middle Passage for the black players, etc. I know that there are a fair amount of Italian-Americans on this board; would you ever feel comfortable representing Italy in international competition?

I'm pretty sure Mike Piazza played for them last time around, but I could be mistaken. Like others have said, if it helps grow the sport I don't see anything wrong with it. It's not like if an Italian-American decided to fight on the side of the Axis in WWII.

[Dave's Cackle]

It's fun for the fans. If the "Italian" team helps to grow baseball in Europe then it's a winner for the sport.