Whole slew of kids show off potential to be Chicago Cubs infielders of future

I have been to enough baseball games during the course of my life that I have seen similar scenes many times – a ball gets hit into the stands, a kid or kids attempt to catch it to gain themselves a souvenir.

'Kid' who got 2 baseballs at Sunday's game. Photo provided by Chicago Cubs

And one may get his (or her) fingers on it briefly, but somehow can’t hold onto it.

MEANING THAT SOMEONE else wound up going home with the baseball. Some kid gets a memory of how he “almost” got a souvenir. Or else maybe they interpret it as “evidence” that “baseball sucks!” (and they’d rather play video games in the future).

So I can’t say I was surprised by the incident at the Sunday ballgame between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals – one that has managed to gain national attention and shows the general intelligence level (not very high) of the kind of people who take to Twitter to rant about anything and everything.

In that incident, a Cubs’ coach picked up a stray ball on the playing field, saw a cutesy little kid sitting in the front row and tried flipping a soft toss of the ball to the kid.

But the kid was a klutz, couldn’t hold on to the ball, it fell to the floor under the seats, and the guy sitting behind him managed to grab the stray ball.

VIDEO OF THE incident quickly got posted to the Internet, and under headlines such as, “When going to a baseball game, DON’T be this guy,” the story quickly circulated about the over-bearish oaf who deprived a cutesy little kid of a baseball.

The Cubs, not wanting to have negative publicity stemming from a ballpark incident (even one that they were in no way to blame), found the kid and arranged for the kid to get a baseball autographed by Cubs infielder Javy Baez.

Provided moment of goodwill

They also arranged for photographs of the cutesy kid wearing a too-big Cubs cap showing off his baseballs. Yes, baseballs. For it seems that the kid already managed to gain a ball earlier in the game.

Despite the nonsense Tweets from twits who raged about the bully of a fan, it seems the guy had managed to gain several baseballs throughout the game and had given them to kids sitting in the stands surrounding him.

INCLUDING THE CUTESY kid whom he supposedly deprived of a ball on live television.

Now one can argue that there might be something overly aggressive about a fan who manages to get so many stray baseballs (personally, I have never come close to getting a ball, even though I have gone to ballgames live for more than four decades).

But what I took from this particular incident is that we probably shouldn’t pay much attention to anything anyone says through Twitter. It is too often the means for saying meaningless things.

While I myself have a Twitter account (@tejeda_gregory), I’m not about to say there’s much significance to anything said in 140 characters – and often feel like I’m surrounded by those with nothing better to do with themselves. While I’m usually the first to find something snotty to say about Chicago Cubs fans, we certainly don’t have the bully or oaf that Twitter twits claimed.

AND AS FOR people snagging baseballs at games, the usual rule of thumb is that you have to hold onto the ball in order to stake a claim to it. Otherwise, tough luck.

It reminds me of an incident years ago I saw at a Chicago White Sox game. A ball hit foul into the stands. It bounced around a bit. A kid tried to grab it but couldn’t hold on. It wound up in the next section, where a semi-drunken adult finally snagged it.

What sticks in my mind is that the guy was white, the kid was black and several adults sitting near the kid who also were black tried to shame the “white” guy into giving up the ball. He wouldn’t, and I’m sure there’s at least one individual out there with unpleasant memories about baseball as a result.

It makes me wonder if we had the Twitter twits back then if a racial incident could have been created out of what happened. Particularly if one of the kind of people who feed religiously off every word President Donald Trump spews were to have gotten ahold of the moment.

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World Series champs would like to challenge World Classic champs

I don’t often find anything to praise about the Chicago Cubs, but I have to confess to thinking that Cubs manager Joe Maddon has come up with a wonderful idea – the national team that wins the World Baseball Classic tourney come Wednesday ought to then take on the defending World Series champions.
 

Maddon offers a worthy proposal

Which, if it were to happen this spring, would be the Cubs!

NOT THAT I would think the Chicago Cubs need to beat anyone else to legitimize their accomplishments of 2016. Or that the WBC champion would gain any more legitimacy by beating up on the Cubbies.

But it could very well be the perfect way to end spring training, where the camps are scheduled to shut down toward the end of next week before U.S. major league ballclubs leave Arizona and Florida to begin the regular season in their home cities.

Now I’ll be the first to admit I don’t expect this idea to be acted upon this year. These things take time to prepare, and this idea would have about a week to become reality – what with we won’t know until Wednesday who even wins the World Baseball Classic.

So I don’t expect any team to leave Los Angeles and Dodger Stadium (where the championship games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday) to head for the Cubs’ training camp in Mesa, Ariz.

ALTHOUGH THE IDEA of the national teams put together for the World Baseball Classic playing U.S. major league teams isn’t absurd. Heck, there already have been such matchups during spring training.

If  Puerto Rico team wins, who would Javy pick?

Even the Cubs got to play Team Japan Saturday (the Cubs won 6-4) as part of that ball club’s efforts to cope with jet lag and adjust their body clocks (the games they have played thus far were in Seoul and Toyko) to playing in Pacific Daylight Time.

Pitting the two winners, whether in a two wins out of three games series like Maddon suggests or perhaps just one ballgame before breaking training could become a new tradition for the 21^st Century.

If this idea had been in place previously, then the defending WBC champion Dominican Republic team would have played the San Francisco Giants, while the Japan national teams that won the World Baseball Classic in 2009 and 2006 would have played the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox respectively.

Easier rooting decision if Netherlands wins?

THE LATTER WOULD have provided a particularly intriguing scenario, and not just because we can’t help but wonder how much then-Sox manager Ozzie Guillen’s feisty spirit and loud mouth would have intrigued (or offended) the Japanese.

But that Sox team had Tadahito Iguchi as its second baseman. How much grief would he have got playing against his home nation?

Actually, that same scenario could occur this year, if it turns out that Puerto Rico keeps its undefeated ways going and wins the World Baseball Classic. We’d get the chance to see the Boricuans versus los Cachorros.

There's already been a Javy controversy

Except that the second baseman for team Puerto Rico is Javy Baez – who also happens to be an infielder for the defending champion Cubs. Somebody would have to make a judgment call on which team would get him, and it would be a decision guaranteed to offend a segment of baseball fans.

AS IT IS, Puerto Rican fans already are upset at the MLB-TV channel that has been broadcasting the games (Channel 233 on my cable TV system), a graphic of Baez depicted him in front of a Dominican flag!

It’s almost enough to make some people hope desperately that the Netherlands’ national team prevails. No conflict, and considering that their big star is New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius, it’s likely the Yankees-hating world of baseball will unite in rooting against them.

How would Ozzie have 'played' in Japan?

All I know is that this spring already has had some intriguing baseball moments due to the World Baseball Classic, such as Team United States of America having the tying run on third base when they lost Friday to Puerto Rico, the fact that Team Israel briefly was unbeatable as they even knocked out Equipo Cuba. And the outrage I personally feel at watching Team Mexico blow a four-run lead to Italy, then getting knocked out of the tourney altogether even after they beat Venezuela because of a screwy tie-breaking system.

Maddon’s idea is one that could help further cement the idea that the tourney is a part of the professional game – rather than something to be conducted in isolation. Even more important, it would be fun – and that’s what baseball is supposed to be about.

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Chgo baseball on view for world to see

It will be intriguing to see how Chicago White Sox fans cope with the "big game" their ball club's star pitcher will be starting Friday night.

Who do Sox fans root for?

Jose Quintana will take to the mound at Marlins' Park in Miami, where his "home" Colombia national team will begin to play in the World Baseball Classic, the international tourney that began earlier this week in Asian parts of the world and now comes to the western hemisphere.

YET THE CONFLICT will be for those White Sox fans who just can't get with the baseball program and want to let their nationalistic sentiments prevail.

Because the Colombia national squad plays its first game Friday against team United States of America! Which, by the way, includes amongst its ranks White Sox relief pitchers Nate Jones and Dave Robertson.

Who do you root for? Do you stick by your favorite local team? Or do you root for your home country?

Do White Sox fans want Quintana to go out and get trashed, preferably early, so he doesn't throw too many pitches? Or would they rather see him do well on the grounds that a solid performance in a prominent ballgame will reflect well on Quintana, and boost his trade value?

BECAUSE QUINTANA WAS one of the pitchers whom the White Sox were looking to trade last winter, hoping to get lots of young quality (and cheap) prospects in return that could help bolster the quality of the ball club quickly.

Former White Sox star nicknamed 'el Charro Negro'

But this is just one of the many baseball scenarios that will play out in the next couple of weeks, which is why I feel sorry for those individuals who want to denigrate the World Baseball Classic. It's real-live baseball back (and not just a spring training game like the one played Wednesday in which overhyped former football star Tim Tebow got applause for hitting into a double play that managed to drive in a run for the New York Mets) after the winter chill.

Personally, I'm following the play of Mexico's national team, which began Thursday night with a 10-9 loss against team Italy (following losses this week to the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks at their spring training camps). I find it intriguing that their first round of games is being played in a stadium near Guadalajara, which happens to be where my maternal grandfather came from.

Pitching for Mexico, then White Sox

And also is the home stadium of the Jalisco Charros -- a team that includes amongst its athletic and managerial alumni the late Minnie Minoso of the White Sox.

THE MEXICAN NATIONAL team also happens to include Miguel Gonzalez, who pitched last year for the White Sox following several seasons with the Baltimore Orioles and himself is Guadalajara-born (but a Southern California native). Which means he expects to have family sitting in the stands for the games against Italy, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

For those of you who feel this commentary is getting too Sox-centric, relax. There are some Chicago Cubs ballplayers who qualify as being amongst the world's elite. Cubs infielder Javy Baez will be playing second base for the Puerto Rico national team, while White Sox pitcher Giovani Soto will be pitching for that Boricuan squad.

Making the most of an Israeli 'first'

Not that there hasn't been local angles to the play thus far. The big story of the World Baseball Classic has been the surprise play of the Israel national team, which was figured to be a token squad that would get its butt kicked out in the first round. Instead, they went undefeated -- including crushing the Taiwan team and beating Korea in a game played in a ballpark in Seoul.

One of the Israeli ballplayers in that game was Alex Katz, a White Sox minor leaguer who pitched an inning in relief. While another White Sox minor leaguer is Brad Goldberg, who is being added to the Israel national squad that resumes play Sunday in Tokyo (Saturday at 9 p.m., Chicago time). Yes, it's one of the tournament's quirks that they can add more ballplayers so as to reduce the chance of anyone suffering a severe injury that hurts the professional team they play for during the summer months.

SO FOR THOSE of you who are letting your nativist thoughts get the best of you and claiming the World Baseball Classic is a sham (because nothing beats the appeal of a late-season Tampa Bay Rays/Minnesota Twins matchup, right!), keep in mind that I'm also aware that the be-all and end-all of baseball will not be the championship game to be played March 22 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Puerto Rico infielder once defended Des Moines honor

I'm just as intrigued as how all of this impacts the American and National league activity in upcoming summers. So as for that Quintana start Friday night against Team U.S.A., I'll be the first to admit I won't be disappointed if the Colombian kid manages to shut our national team down.

A good game could help boost his trade value, which could result in the White Sox getting some talent back in return that could make the Summer of '17 a little more pleasant while enduring the scene now at Guaranteed Rate Field.

While also putting the White Sox a step closer to fulfilling their end of achieving the ultimate fantasy of true Chicago baseball fans -- an all-Chicago World Series, one in which the White Sox show their superiority over a certain other ball club that wants to believe they're all that matter in the world of baseball.

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Chicago ball clubs well represented throughout World Baseball Classic

Jose Quintaña is likely to be the top pitcher during 2017 for the Chicago White Sox (unless the ball club chooses to trade him away as part of their rebuilding effort), while infielder Javy Baez will be returning this season with hopes of being on a second-consecutive championship Chicago Cubs team (something that hasn’t happened since 1907-08).

Will his trade value shoot up?

But those won’t be the sole highlights of the upcoming baseball season (which to the hardcore fans begins Tuesday, yes Valentine’s Day, with the opening of spring training camps for both of Chicago’s ball clubs).

FOR IT SEEMS this is one of those quadrennial years in which the World Baseball Classic, first held in 2006, will be held beginning March 6 amongst national teams competing for an international championship of sorts – ending March 22 with a real “world” champion at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

It also seems that 16 of the players competing on those teams during March are guys who will be spending this summer playing ball for either the Chicago teams or their assorted minor league affiliates.

A sign that there is hope for the White Sox future if they actually have players in their organization who are considered among the world’s baseball elite?

As things turn out, the national team from Puerto Rico (which earlier this week had a ball club win the Caribbean Series that represents the symbolic championship of Latin America) will have in its infield for the World Baseball Classic the Cubs’ infielder Baez.

Could Baez play for two champions in '17?

WHILE HECTOR RONDON will be a relief pitcher for the Venezuela national team. Six Cubs minor leaguers will be playing for national teams from Italy, Canada, Mexico and Colombia, along with Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

Erling Moreno, the Cubs’ farmhand who will play for Colombia, will be able to count White Sox ace Quintaña as his teammate for a few weeks, while White Sox pitcher Miguel Gonzalez will be playing for Mexico.

Then, there will be the two arms that White Sox fans will be counting on to be their relief pitchers for 2017 – David Robertson and Nate Jones.

Both of them will be playing for the United States national team, with many baseball observers saying this year’s U.S. team may well be stocked with enough talent to actually be capable of winning the World Baseball Classic (which in 2006 and 2009 was won by Japan and in 2013 was won by the Dominican Republic).

Will Robertson hear chants of "U-S-A"

WHILE FOUR WHITE Sox minor leaguers will be playing ball for Puerto Rico, Venezuela and two for Israel.

If that isn’t enough of a Chicago connection for you, take into account that the Canada national team will include on its roster Ryan Dempster. As in the former Chicago Cubs pitcher.

He hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2013. But perhaps he still has enough to be capable of pitching a game or two in coming weeks, and probably has dreams that he can throw well-enough during the games to be played in Miami that he can entertain a baseball comeback.

Either that, or he figures March in Miami will be far more pleasant weather-wise than it will be in his home province of British Columbia.

NOW I KNOW some baseball fans mock the concept of the World Baseball Classic, claiming it somehow is phony or perhaps threatens the existence of their favorite ball clubs during the regular season that will begin April 2 with, among other games, the Cubs traveling to St. Louis to play the Cardinals.

Seeking a baseball comeback?

Although I have never bought either concept. If anything, watching some of these games will be more interesting than the prospect of a Minnesota Twins/Tampa Bay Rays game. And as for the threat of an injury to Quintaña during a game, wouldn’t the White Sox be harmed just as much if he got hurt during a spring workout or exhibition game at their training camp in Glendale Heights, Ariz.?

Part of what I enjoy about this tourney is that it provides competitive baseball at a time when the wintry weather would otherwise be depressing – the same reason I followed the Caribbean Series rather than the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Besides, that alludes to the other benefit – the arrival of baseball means spring can’t be that far away. It’s certainly a better signal of good things to come than any silly groundhog in Punxsutawney, Penn. – who for all we know cast his vote last November to swing the Quaker State's Electoral College votes over to Donald Trump before going underground for the winter to hibernate!

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