AFTER BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL AND RUGBY, BASEBALL WILL BE REINFORCED BY FIL-FOREIGNERS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 11 Nov 2012
First it was the Philippine basketball team which hired Filipino-American players like Jimmy Alapag, Kelly Williams, Gabe Norwood, Jared Dillinger, among others who are also playing as professionals in the Philippine Basketball Association. The Smart-Gilas Pilipinas recently won the 2012 William Jones Cup against the favorite Untied States team. The practice dated back during the time of former Ambassador Danding Cojuangco who hired Fil-foreigners and naturalized players to beef up the national basketball team.
The Philippine Azkals followed suit by recruiting the likes of former Chelsea FC youth players Phil and James Younghusband who are Fil-British and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, playing professional football with the Bristol Rovers, among others. With a host of Filipino-Europeans, the Philippines rose from a very poor 195th FIFA ranking in 2006 to an all-time high of 143rd, one of Southeast Asia?s best.
Then the Philippines' rugby union team, the Volcanoes, hired six Filipino-Australians Jake Letts, James Price, Oliver Saunders, Justin Coveney, Matt Saunders and Michael Letts who played in the professional rugby clubs in Japan. The Volcanoes now surged to 56th in the whole world and fifth in Asia.
Now its baseball?s turn to recruit talents of American and Japanese players with half-Filipino blood to make the national baseball team qualify for the world championships. "We're looking far and wide for good players with at least one Filipino parent. Everyone else is doing it," said Hector Navasero, president of the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, as told to AFP.
Tim Lincecum of World Series champions San Francisco Giants who swept the Detroit Tigers last month was recruited but declined for the sake of his father who raised him when they separated with his Filipina mother. Lincecum already won two World Series crowns with the Giants in 2010 and 2012. Clay Rapada, a relief pitcher for the New York Yankees, who was also qualified to play for the national team, declined due to personal reasons.
Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Geno Espineli and Fil-Japanese Ryuya Ogawa will lead the fine pitchers in the World Baseball Classic qualifiers on November 15-18 in New Taipei City, Taiwan. New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand are also competing, with the winning team qualifying for the World Baseball Classic in March next year.
The team will be strongest being assembled for the country even without the presence of major leaguers. Espineli played with the Giants? Triple-A team Fresno Grizzlies last year. Ogawa pitched for the Chunichi Dragons in the Nippon Baseball League.
"With the composition of the team of Filipinos, Fil-Ams, and a Fil-Japanese, this is probably the strongest team that we will ever send to an international competition," general manager Marty Eizmendi told Spin.ph.
Chad Nacapoy, Leighton Pangilinan, and Ryan Pineda are among the foreign-based batters included in the national team. Nacapoy of the Princeton Rays is a member of the team affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Pangilinan is a part of the Chicago White Sox Class A affiliate Kannapolis Intimidators. Pineda played for the Oakland Athletics Class A affiliate Stockton Ports.
Fil-Puerto Rican Andres Vazquez from Rutgers University will be one of the first basemen. Max Javate of University of Nevada-Las Vegas in the NCAA, Alec Rosales of Vanguard in the NAIA and Devon Bryce Ramirez of California-State Dominguez are part of the pitching staff. William Ireton of Menlo College is a second baseman, while Jonathan Laygo of the Robert Morris Springfield of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association is one of the infielders.
Also joining the team are pitchers Jon Jon Robles, who played for the Ostrava Arrows in Czech Republic in 2008, and Darwin Dela Calzada, who was the pitcher for the Philippines? gold-winning stint in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.
(InterAKTV Photo of the Philippine baseball team winning the gold in the 2011 SEA Games.)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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