2000 USA Olympic Baseball Team is Professional,
Sorta
by Tom Rathkamp
 hey’re
not a Dream Team, nor college stars. Some are lifetime minor leaguers;
others budding young prospects. The USA 2000 Olympic Baseball Team was
announced late last month, and it appears that Manager Tommy Lasorda and
selection committee chairmen Bob Watson and Bill Bavasi are content with
the 2000 squad. The United States qualified for the Olympics by placing
second at the Pan American Games last summer.
Baseball has only been a full-medal sport since 1992, and does not
command the lavish attention of its basketball counterparts (for reasons
we won’t get into). But that doesn’t mean the aforementioned crew didn’t
do their best to lure the best players possible to challenge what
guarantees to be ultra-stiff international competition. This year is the
first time USA professional players are allowed to play in the Olympics.
The new grant comes with a big asterisk though, and it has everything to
do with timing and permission.
Because the Summer Games run smack into the tail of the 2000 Major
League Season, all established major leaguers are ruled out. The selection
for the "next best thing" is relegated to an attempted raid of
the minor leagues, and that too contains a catch. Some of the bright young
minor league stars have been or will be called up to the bigs by
September 1st, the day major league rosters can expand from 25
to 40 players. Since the first true workout for the soon-to-be Olympians
is slated for September 2nd in San Diego (followed by
exhibition games from Sept. 5-13, and the official games beginning later
in the month), these call-ups are also scratched off the list.
Even if a player wants to take an Olympic shot over a September
call-up, he needs permission from his parent organization. Luckily, some
nice looking prospects were made available, including the Milwaukee
Brewers top pitching hopeful, Ben Sheets. Sheets, who has raced through A
to AA to AAA (Indianapolis), would have been a prime call-up candidate for
the Brewers. However, Sheets showed interest in playing in Sydney and the
Brewers granted him that opportunity.
Like their basketball counterparts, you will hear the tired debates
about whether or not USA professional athletes should play in the
Olympics. Jim Callis, distinguished Managing Editor of Baseball America
magazine, states his case (in the latest issue) for allowing only college
players to field the team. The crux of Callis’ argument is that they
might as well send college players, since we’re not able to deploy the
best professionals anyway. I don’t entirely disagree with Callis (since
I despise the basketball Dream Team farce), but the selection committee
simmered different thoughts.
As stated, the minor leaguers grabbed second in last year’s Pan Am
Games. But a team comprised entirely of college players managed only an
eighth-place finish in the 1998 World Championships. Right or wrong, this
gave the selection some ammunition in using the "next best
thing" approach in opting for minor leaguers.
The amateur vs. professional debate isn’t as black and
white in baseball as it is in basketball. With the minor league system of
development in baseball come varying levels of talent (five to be precise,
including Rookie ball, Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and the majors). If
you’re a rookie in the NBA, you’ll have to face a Shaquille O’Neal
or Tim Duncan right away. In baseball, you might wallow around the minors
for years before you get a benign crack at a Randy Johnson fastball.
The average age of the 2000 Olympic baseball team is just a shade under
26 years old (or young, depending on your vantage point). Granted,
minor league players are considered professionals, but only a couple have
seen the light of a major league stadium. Some of the players on the 2000
team are younger than some college players, so youth can’t be a reason
for favoring the collegiate stars. (In all fairness to Callis, he doesn’t
cite age as one of his rationales for giving college players the
nod.)
One of Callis’ concerns is that the appeal of this year’s squad
will fall into a veritable "no man’s land" on the television
ratings meter, mainly because a potential Dream Team is staying home.
Surely a team made up of Griffey, P. Martinez, McGwire, Sosa and
Garciaparra would prompt a sizeable leap in interest, coverage, and
ratings. But claims that college players would spark more interest than
minor leaguers is speculative at best. Why? Because in the "name
recognition" category, the average casual viewer would be hard
pressed to distinguish a college player from a minor league player.
Take Sean Burroughs and Xavier Nady. Callis and I know which guy plays
for the University of California and which one represents the San Diego
Padres in Double-A ball. Do you?
There is no doubt that a collegiate-represented team could be just as
competitive as the minor leaguers. Despite the perception that the 2000
team could be viewed as "table scraps" from the professional
plate, there’s a multitude of talent on the team. Of the 28 players on
the roster, 21 are currently playing at the AAA level. Some are new to
AAA; some are career minor leaguers; some are major league re-treads
(including former World Series MVP Pat Borders); the rest are young
hopefuls knocking on major league doors.
Whoever you think should represent our team, there’s no reason to
believe that the talent assembled by Watson, Bavasi, et al will shame Old
Glory in their Olympic pursuit. Either way, the USA team won’t be the
favorite come fall. Playing the role of underdog suits me just
fine.
Any comments, criticisms, or condemnations on
this sports column or previous ones? Feel free to email me at andydan@milwpc.com
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