Is the World Baseball Classic moving memorabilia?
The one in the middle works: despite the guaranteed presence of the designated hitter and mandatory pitch counts, the game being played is undoubtedly baseball as we know it. We guess World is OK, too, though we’re still trying to figure out why China and Chinese Taipei get separate teams, let alone where and what Chinese Taipei is. Classic. Perhaps residents of Japan, where the inaugural WBC trophy is housed, consider their national team’s 10-6 victory over Cuba in 2006 to be memorable, but we don’t hear much about it on this side of the Pacific. Sometimes, the concept of the Classic seems a bit forced. Nobody can deny the viability of a team made up of players born in Cuba, Japan, Venezuela, the Dominican, or the USA. Korea has provided enough strong players to secure a spot. But calling on China or South Africa to field a competitive team? That seems like a stretch. And Italy? The team is peppered with Italian-American ringers like Frank Catalanatto and Nick Punto. They even hired M
