Subscribe to the NCSA BlogCould Baseball’s Governing Bodies Be Contributing to International Failure?
July 21st, 2009 - byFailure in the last three major world competitions has people asking, has the United States lost its dominance in its own national pastime? The US has failed even reach the championship game in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2008 Olympic Games, and the 2009 WBC. Now, ESPN 
reports that the United States Collegiate All-Stars have lost to their collegiate counterparts in Japan in a five game series.
Japan took advantage of two errors in the bottom of the 11th inning to defeat the United States 8-7 in the deciding fifth game of the college baseball championship series.
Shuta Koike walked and advanced to third on a throwing error by pitcher Sonny Gray. Masayoshi Kato then hit a grounder to shortstop Christian Colon, who committed an error, allowing Koike to score the winning run.
The Americans took a 7-4 lead in Thursday’s game with three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Japanese team scored three in the bottom of the inning to send the game into extra innings.
Yusuke Nomura picked up the win after holding the Americans scoreless in the final two innings. Gray took the loss.
Many people blame these recent shortcomings to a lack of superstar talent in international competition. Many players from the United States did not participate in the World Baseball Classic because it interfered with Spring Training and they were afraid of injury. Major League players cannot join the US squad during the Olympics because it occurs in the middle of the regular season. Even in the recent collegiate series headliners such as number one overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg were not present. Although this may be a valid claim, the players being sent to these competitions are in no way lacking of talent. In the recent series many of the top collegiate programs such as Florida State, Arizona State, and Cal State Fullerton all had representatives from their rosters. With this in mind then, what could be the cause? Could it be the governing bodies of baseball, the NCAA and MLB?
Recently, athletic interest has been pushed away from baseball and funneled at other sports such as football and basketball. Peter Gammons of ESPN gives pretty valid reasoning for this.
The NCAA has limited baseball scholarships to 10½ for 30 players, it has essentially eliminated full scholarships and the opportunity for poor kids to play college baseball. Now MLB is trying to limit bonuses, which will in turn drive athletes to football and other sports in which they can get scholarships. [Scott] Boras has long railed against the combined efforts of the NCAA and MLB to drive American athletes away from baseball.
It is a shame that America has seemingly lost some of its prowess in the international game. However the reality is that it is getting tougher for every athlete to receive a scholarship with economic times coupled with constantly shifting NCAA regulations on the matter. That is why every athlete should know the 5 Things They Must Do to Get Recruited in order to better their chances of earning a scholarship that will drastically lower the financial burden of a college education.
