Tough Call For A-Rod
Posted by Steve L. on July 6th, 2005 · Comments (10)
From an AP story:
Alex Rodriguez will definitely be on the American League All-Star team next week. Next year, he could have a choice to make about which country to play for in the World Baseball Classic.
The New York Yankees third baseman was born in New York and raised in the United States. But his parents are Dominican, and that might give him the option of playing for either country.
“That’s such a hard call for me,” Rodriguez said Tuesday. “Before I give an answer, I’m going to wait to see what the rules are.”
Somebody should tell Alex that “The Boss” has deep ties to the U.S. teams in the Olympics. Think that could factor in?
I have zero interest in the World Baseball [non] Classic. To me, another farce from the non-commissioner Bud Selig.
Performance enhancement?!? Why I never even heard whispers of such a thing until recently Bud Selig. The false worship of a good man, Jackie Robinson, Bud Selig. Etc., etc. Blah!
Why is this a tough call? As Steve said re: July 4th – ARod is an American and he should play for the USA. His parents are Dominican – so what? We are a nation of immigrants.
this type of thing happens to me all the time…being of Italian and German decent, and living in America- I always have conflicts between the meatball rolling contest, the braatwurst throwing contest and the Nathans hot dog eating contest- all of which take place on 7/4 each year.
A-Rod- I feel your pain.
I must say, I’ve always been troubled about the idea of dividing teams among lines of nationality, which in most cases means lines of ethnicity. A-Rod’s a good example of where this can get muddy (BTW, from what I remember reading when he was first traded to NY, his family actually moved back to the DR when he was very young, then back to the States). But my real problem with it all lies in the fact that MLB and baseball in general are US creations and given the nightmarish racial history of this country, and baseball’s role in bringing people *together* (Irish and German immigrants in the early 20th century, Italian immigrants in the ’30s and ’40s, African Americans and Latino’s soon after, and now Asians) it would seem counter productive to be working overtime to find ways to divide up the national pasttime along lines of nationality/ethnicity.
Excellent point Cliff.
Isn’t Manny in a similar situation? He was born in the DR and moved to the US in his early teens (Washington Heights to be exact). I believe he recently became a US citizen too.
I’ve seen his name mentioned as a candidate for the US representative in the HR Derby. But I’ve also seen him mentioned as a possible member of the DR team in the world tournament thingy.
Actually, Manny is the opposite. He was born in the DR, and moved to Washington Heights as a kid. A-Rod was born in NY, then went to the DR, and then to FLA – as a kid.
Alex is a US citizen by birth.
Right, but by similar situation I meant that he’s name has been thrown around for both the DR and US team.
I think we are going overboard with this- I don’t see this World Baseball Classic as a racial divide.
Noone has a problem when people play for their home country in the olympics- so this is no different
However- it is funny- this World Baseball Classic should really be called the “World Series”…..
…and the world Series should properly be called the US/Canda Baseball Classic. I always and still think it is arrogant to call it the “World Series”- if noone else is allowed to play except the US and one Candian city.
For a proper definition of a “world” event- see World Cup.
Well, if Clay Bellinger can play for the Greek National team…