I’ve seen Ronald Acuña Jr. make some dazzling plays in his career with the Atlanta Braves.
Perhaps the most iconic moment of Mr. Acuña’s baseball career in right field, however, came earlier this month in the bottom of the 9th inning in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic, the game’s preeminent international tournament.
Roman Anthony stood at the plate, down in the count at one ball and two strikes with two outs, the letters USA blazoned across his jersey. Jaws locked grim and tight in his club’s dugout. Across the diamond, Team Venezuela flapped their arms, urging a raucous crowd to its feet. It wasn’t lost to either side or their supporters that less than three months earlier their nations were rivals in a different – geopolitical – power game.
Why We Wrote This
Opening day in baseball heralds the arrival of spring as surely as the northern migration of geese. At a time when the United States is taking a harder stance against illegal immigration, the national pastime – with its rosters of great players from a diversity of nations – showcases the value of sport in uniting humanity in the common pursuit of teamwork and excellence.
From the mound, the Venezuelan pitcher Daniel Palencia fired a 99.7 m.p.h fastball. It arced inward, then outward. Anthony sliced at it, too low, and the ball found glove. Far out in right field, Ronald Acuña Jr. fell to his knees, his arms stretched skyward, his face etched in boyish joy.
Yesterday was opening day – the earliest in Major League history. For fans emerging from the long winter months of the offseason, the WBC, played once in three years, was an appetizer – and a reminder that, while baseball is America’s national pastime, it is also a story told across generations of a nation growing into its higher ideals of common affection and pluralism. (In the only game on Opening Day, the New York Yankees shut out the San Francisco Giants 7-0 last night at Oracle Park in McCovey Cove last night.)
According to MLB, last year’s opening day featured 265 players from 18 countries and territories outside the U.S. A fact sheet from the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University puts those numbers in greater context: Players from other countries make up 24% of the big leagues.
Their feats on the field, however, are the greater measure of their impact. Mr. Acuña, for example, won the National League most valuable player in 2023. His counterpart that year in the American League was Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese pitcher who is also the only player in baseball history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. He’s won two more MVP awards and a World Series ring since.
David Ortiz. Juan Marichal. Roberto Clemente. Fernando Valenzuela. Ichiro Suzuki. Names like those sit side by side in the lore over every clubhouse with names like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, and Cal Ripken Jr. Each brought their own blend of flair and flavor, sportsmanship and competitiveness.
Personally, I’m a fan of the bat flips. The Dominican Republic became a fan favorite at the WBC thanks to MLB power hitters like Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr., who would send lumber flying into the air almost as fast as they did baseballs. Bryce Harper of the Phillies, whose clutch home run in the WBC final against Venezuela tied the game, watched a fastball sail over the center field wall before he sent his bat into the direction of a raucous American dugout.
That kind of exuberance not only kindles the sandlot dreams of youth, but is swelling the bottom line for a sport that has struggled to grow a new generation of fans in a more hurried age.
Over 10 million people watched the WBC final, a record for the event and on par with last year’s World Series and NBA Finals.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images/NPSTrans/TopPic/Reuters
“The WBC is kind of a springboard for the rest of our international efforts,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “It gives you kind of a cornerstone to work from in terms of making long-term business relationships with sponsors, broadcasters, and whatnot.”
I’m reminded of the NBA’s distinctive foray into the international game with the success of the Tim Duncan-led San Antonio Spurs of the 2000s, with significant contributions from native Frenchman Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili, an Argentinian. Almost a quarter-century later, the Spurs are contenders again thanks to another Frenchman, the dynamic Victor Wembanyama. Further, ambassadors of the game such as Arvydas Sabonis and the late Dražen Petrović made way for current international mainstays such as Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić.
Baseball has the capacity to do the same Last year’s World Series MVP was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who shut down the Blue Jays in a classic Game 7 performance.
The boys of summer are back, and baseball is showing once again that, through sport, international camaraderie soars above global uncertainty like a fastball turned into a souvenir.
