The Show Notes #2: The World Baseball Classic’s Potential Impact on the African Diaspora’s Relationship With Baseball

I just wanted to ramble about what the World Baseball Classic could do for the African diaspora's relationship with baseball over the next two decades in less than 1000 words

Mar 22, 2023

The 2023 World Baseball Classic was an absolute win for baseball, and it was thoroughly needed. The irony of MLB fans pointing out that the WBC is less than 20 years old every time an important MLB player got hurt captures the point of why the WBC is long overdue and necessary for the sport to thrive on a global level.

Created as a response to the International Olympic Committee’s 2005 decision to no longer consider baseball an Olympic sport, the WBC will be 20 years old when the event gets held in 2026. From its inception, the tournament was meant to showcase players from the world’s best professional leagues representing their home countries.

Baseball’s premier international competitions of the past such as the Baseball World Cup and Olympic baseball were centered around amateur players from their respective countries, barring individuals who had already made their professional debuts. This trend was a huge travesty to baseball history and culture as the sport is now playing catch-up to other sports that have thriving international competitions showcasing top-tier professional talent.

Unlike most of my peers who write about Black baseball, I cover the entire African diaspora’s past and present involvement with the sport instead of just focusing on the contributions of African-Americans.

Seeing all the Black players and coaches on the rosters for the competing countries during 2023’s edition of the WBC inspired me to look ahead another twenty years.

Photo Credits: Players Alliance Instagram Account

When I think about watching a World Baseball Classic in my 40s instead of my 20s, I hope to see more Black baseball players and coaches representing their true countries of origin instead of the nations that colonized them.

The World Baseball Classic exponentially magnifies the potential possibilities in place for Black baseball to grow on a global level.

The inclusions of Jerry Manuel, Lou Collier, and Ken Griffey Jr. on Team USA’s coaching staff have been covered by journalists such as Clinton Yates, delving into what it means for the African-Americans on the USA team’s roster to have such individuals.

One photo means more for Team USA's Black baseball contingent

The Afro-Caribbean and African baseball players in MiLB and MLB currently could and should be in those shoes two decades from now. Think about the knowledge they could pass down to help the game’s growth in Africa and the Anglophone Caribbean.

There are Black players that have their sights on helping the game grow internationally, one of them being Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin. He took on a myriad of roles with Brazil’s national team, applying a hands-on approach in trying to grow the game in the nation with the most Black people outside of the African continent.

LET ME MAKE SURE IT IS ON RECORD: It is not a requirement and I am not saying that it is something they have to do. Although I am sure some of the Black baseball players in professional baseball possess similar sentiments to mine.

Harry Ford and Triston McKenzie on the coaching staff of a team representing Jamaica instead of wearing the Union Jack on the blandest baseball uniforms in the galaxy would be the equivalent of ten thousand fire emojis.

Seeing Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the hitting coach for a hungry and energetic Bahamian team ready to establish itself on the international stage would be so much fun. Join me, and think about Estevan Florial, Miguel Sanó, and Alfonso Soriano on a coaching staff for Haiti in a few decades.

Kenley Jansen as the manager of Curaçao’s squad would be so cool to see after watching him participate in the WBC as a catcher and pitcher. Fellow ABC-islander Xander Bogaerts managing in a uniform with Aruba spelled out across the chest would be really dope to see.

Oluwademilade Orimoloye on the coaching staff for a team representing Nigeria’s first WBC entry in 20-something years is a possibility I’d be ecstatic for.

Watching a team from Uganda make a run in a WBC in a similar fashion to when it made a splash in the Little League World Series would be one of the greatest baseball moments of my lifetime, personally. Hopefully, the first handful of Ugandan minor leaguers to play in MiLB can be involved as coaches and/or front-office staff somehow.

You also have Canaan Smith-Njigba of Sierra Leonean descent and Akil Baddoo, who is half-Trinidadian, half-Ghanaian. The first MLB player born on the African continent and long-time professional baseball player Gift Ngoepe of South Africa would be the perfect candidate to lead a South African team from a dugout.

The perfect conditions are in place for the African diaspora’s lengthy relationship with the sport of baseball to reach new frontiers and reclaim old heights. Hopefully it happens over the next 20 years.

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The Red Black Green Baseball Blog

The Show Notes #2: The World Baseball Classic’s Potential Impact on the African Diaspora’s Relationship With Baseball

I just wanted to ramble about what the World Baseball Classic could do for the African diaspora's relationship with baseball over the next two decades in less than 1000 words

Further Reading

Bo Naylor Could Write A New Chapter for Black Catchers

Dodgers sign two prospects, coach from Uganda

This RHP is just the 3rd Ugandan-born int'l signing

The Guardians duo carrying Jamaica's baseball legacy

There's a Ugandan team at the Little League World Series and they're incredible

Ngoepe makes history, singles in 1st AB

Lindor, Clemente Jr. talk 'Colorism en Beisbol'

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