?

The United States will be grouped

with Mexico, Canada and South Africa next year in the first

round of baseball's first World Cup-style tournament.

 

? The 16-nation, 18-day event, called the World Baseball

Classic, opens March 3 in Tokyo or Taiwan, where Group A will

include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

 

? The United States will be in Group B, which starts play

March 8 along with the other groups and will be based in the

United States.

 

? Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama and the Netherlands are in Group

C, which will be in Latin America, and the Dominican

Republic, Venezuela, Australia and Italy are in Group D,

which will be based in Florida.

 

? Major League Baseball has spent more than a decade

discussing the tournament and hopes the event will gain in

prestige, such as soccer's World Cup. The International

Olympic Committee voted Friday to kick baseball out of the

Olympics following the 2008 Beijing Games. IOC president

Jacques Rogge cited baseball's refusal to allow players on

40-man major league rosters to participate and the sport's

drug-testing rules, which do not meet the World Anti-Doping

Agency's standards.

 

? ??I don't know if frankly I consider it a blow,'' baseball

commissioner Bud Selig said. ??I'm sorry they made the

decision, but we're moving on in a very dramatic way to

internationalize this sport.''

 

? While Nippon Professional Baseball has agreed to

participate, the Japanese players' association has not yet

given its approval and has objected to having the tournament

during spring training. It also is unclear whether Cuba,

which might fear defections, will accept its invitation.

 

? Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players'

association, said the obstacles could be overcome.

 

? ??Cubans play international events with American and

against Americans all the time,'' he said.

 

? Several players who agreed to participate attended a news

conference on the day prior to the All-Star game: Miguel

Tejada (Dominican Republic), Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico)

Andruw Jones (Netherlands), Dontrelle Willis (United States),

Jason Bay (Canada), Carlos Lee (Panama), Hee Seop Choi (South

Korea) and Justin Huber (Australia).

 

? ??I just hope I make the team,'' Willis said.

 

? Tejada said fans back home would look forward to the

event, which baseball hopes will be played a second time in

2009.

 

? ??They're going to be really excited to see all the

players on one team,'' he said.

 

? Each team plays three first-round games, with the top two

teams in each group advancing to the second round, where each

team plays three more games starting March 13.

 

? Four teams advance to the single-elimination semifinals on

March 18, and the semifinal winners go on to a one-game

championship on March 20. The second round will be split

between the United States and Latin America, and the

semifinals and final will be played in the United States. No

specific sites were announced, but the list of possibilities

include Houston, Seattle and sites in Florida, Arizona and

California.

 

? Each team will have 27 players, including at least 12

pitchers, and there will be pitch-count limits. Players must

be citizens of the nation they play for.

 

? ??We're aware of the issue of country jumping,'' said Paul

Archey, an executive vice president in the commissioner's

office, ??but we haven't adopted a hard-and-fast rule.''

 

? Teams agreed not to block players from participating, but

Orza acknowledged some clubs would try to sway players

against playing.

 

? ??You can't stop people from talking,'' he said.

 

? Forty-seven percent on the net proceeds of the 39-game

tournament will go to prize money, with the remaining 53

percent split among Major League Baseball, the players'

association, the International Baseball Federation and the

organizations of the participating teams.

 

? While soccer's World Cup is run by FIFA, the sport's

international governing body, this event is pretty much

controlled by MLB and the players' association, which has

drawn complaints from Japanese baseball officials.

 

? ??Some already have accused us of being too dominant in

the conduct of this event and we're sensitive to that,'' Orza

said.

 

? Insurance will be the largest single item in terms of

cost, said Paul Archey, a baseball senior vice president.

 

Source: AP

?

The United States will be grouped

with Mexico, Canada and South Africa next year in the first

round of baseball's first World Cup-style tournament.

 

?? The 16-nation, 18-day event, called the World Baseball

Classic, opens March 3 in Tokyo or Taiwan, where Group A will

include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

 

?? The United States will be in Group B, which starts play

March 8 along with the other groups and will be based in the

United States.

 

?? Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama and the Netherlands are in Group

C, which will be in Latin America, and the Dominican

Republic, Venezuela, Australia and Italy are in Group D,

which will be based in Florida.

 

??

 

850740[/snapback]

 

 

SWEET maybe we can use that as way to get a stadium? If the tourney is to be there every year. They are gonna want a real Baseball stadium to use! Extra income for Loria then too :dances: Go fish!

?

The United States will be grouped

with Mexico, Canada and South Africa next year in the first

round of baseball's first World Cup-style tournament.

 

?? The 16-nation, 18-day event, called the World Baseball

Classic, opens March 3 in Tokyo or Taiwan, where Group A will

include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

 

?? The United States will be in Group B, which starts play

March 8 along with the other groups and will be based in the

United States.

 

?? Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama and the Netherlands are in Group

C, which will be in Latin America, and the Dominican

Republic, Venezuela, Australia and Italy are in Group D,

which will be based in Florida.

 

??

 

850740[/snapback]

 

 

SWEET maybe we can use that as way to get a stadium? If the tourney is to be there every year. They are gonna want a real Baseball stadium to use! Extra income for Loria then too :dances: Go fish!

850766[/snapback]

 

 

You can tell I didn't read the whole story....that would be kick butt!!!!