MLB 2006 World Baseball Classic

in just a few weeks the fourth world baseball classic will begin it's the latest edition of a tournament that offers a distinctive sort of baseball competition with many of the world's best players in action alongside their countrymen the competition began 10 years ago and that first year produced a memorable final between japan and cuba both passionate baseball hotbeds both eager to make an emphatic statement in that first wbc it was an auspicious beginning for an ambitious idea a reminder of just how exciting the idea of playing for your country could be my welcome to the wbc moment was in talking to andy chavez in first wbc and he of course played for the mets in the postseason i mean that incredible catch that we still talk about he made the touch saved the day i'll never forget him playing for team venezuela telling me that those games for venezuela and the wbc were the most important games he ever played in in his life the world baseball classic an unprecedented 16 country tournament the very best players from all around the world representing their countries and their territories it promises to be very exciting the 2006 wbc was a pivotal moment in the grand history of baseball that first tournament showed okay this is a viable event that legitimacy was necessary it showed people that this was not a one-time goofy event it was a very serious event with great stakes [Music] july of 2005 the ioc meets and votes baseball out of the olympics on a friday a few days later in a ballroom in a hotel in dearborn michigan at the all-star game mlb and the mlbpa announced the start of the wbc for the first time ever baseball's best players will compete for their home countries in a global tournament when the ioc got rid of baseball in 2005 it seemed like there needed to be a place for international baseball to be played where people could be playing for a team with their country on their uniform shirt then wvc was the perfect venue for that baseball really needed a global stage and it's a great opportunity to expand a talent base too because there are a lot of countries on the planet that don't play and getting the wbc in there was it was a great stage for it it was talked about or a similar type of event had been talked about for a long time talking about a baseball world cup and putting a plan together back as early as 1993 94. it seemed to me like the perfect opportunity to pick up where the olympics left off the original plan for the first wbc called for teams from the united states puerto rico the dominican republic venezuela japan and korea to be among those vying for a true world championship but there was another country missing a powerhouse whose absence threatened the authenticity of the tournament before a single pitch was thrown without cuba the tournament would have been empty would not have been legitimate quite honestly this team is basically the new york yankees of international baseball you cannot have them not participate in this tournament they have to be there [Music] they dominated you know in the olympics they dominated in pan am games it was very important for them to participate in the first world baseball classic it was critical for i think public interest i believe even saddah oh made a comment at one point that without cuba the credibility of the tournament would be weakened the central issue keeping cuba from the tournament was the long-standing trade embargo between the united states and cuba which prevented the cubans from receiving any prize money this goes far beyond baseball you've got washington and havana talking through intermediaries trying to figure out how can they find a way a solution for the cuban team to play classical we had notified cuba that the application for them to play had been denied they said they would get back to us with a response and there's a facsimile sent from havana to new york the commissioner's office and paul archie who at the time is heading up mlb's international efforts receives this facts proposing from the cuban government to say we would still like to come and play and and we would request that any uh prize money that we would receive would all be donated to the victims of hurricane katrina we resubmitted the application made some changes it was approved and everyone was relieved [Music] well for cuba simply getting into the tournament was a huge roadblock for the united states the process of getting the biggest names in the game to participate had its difficulties as well biggest challenge i've ever faced because there were so many unknowns the players didn't know much about it we didn't know much about it we were given strict guidelines you can't practice so long major league teams are reluctant to turn their players loose but if there was a turning point it was when a yankee legend told his team he was committed to representing his country the ball club can let you know how they feel but i mean when you get to derek jeter in 2006 you trust him jitter at that time was certainly in some respects the face of baseball and for him to participate that was a big deal jeter's presence on the roster not only legitimized the team but led to other stars signing on as well we had a dream team we had amazing players from you know future hall of famers to star star of our stars chipper jones told me i've been waiting my whole life to play for my country derek jeter told me uh you know buck i'll do whatever you want you want me to recruit other guys whatever you need i'm on around asked me what the uniforms look like that was his first concern he said i want to play for team usa and once they all got together everybody started to look around and say wow it was a pretty special group that was a roster that major league baseball did not have to apologize for it that was loaded with stars it was a good team but this was a much more even playing field than i think even the americans themselves the major leaguers thought they were gonna [Music] find [Applause] this is not your ordinary march 7 spring training game the inaugural 2006 world baseball classic was underway 16 teams playing on two continents and there was little arguing the americans were among the favorites we see now this dream team that we have assembled here on team usa and it's jeter it's a-rod ken griffey jr and many american fans at this point time think of course the u.s will win in its national pastime in the first wbc but in the americans second game of the tournament they found themselves in huge trouble against unheralded canada and center fielder adam stern who had all of 54 major league games to his name punch toward left slicing along the line and it's going to carob stern racing into third [Music] [Applause] i hate that guy i don't know who he is but i hate him a triple a single and a home run he has driven in four runs in this one all of a sudden team canada in the second game for the us takes an eight nothing lead stunned canada has upset the united states suck the world baby what resonated after that loss to canada going into the clubhouse i realized hey we got to show up we got to play here obviously we got a wake-up call you know what i think one thing that we have learned very quickly in this international play is anything can happen despite the shocking loss the americans did advance out of their first round pool which set up a highly anticipated matchup with japan in the double elimination second round well it seemed inevitable when the polls were announced for this inaugural world baseball classic the us would face japan at some point in the tournament good to see you on that wbc japan team there were only two u.s major leaguers at the time ichiro and otsuka all of the rest of the players on team japan were stars from the japanese professional league and they're being opposed by derek jeter and alex rodriguez and ken griffey jr and they're in awe they stood further away from the batting cage than they normally would almost as if they were fans instead of peers and ichiro sensed this so he gathered all of his teammates in the outfield before the game and he said look this is no time to admire your competition you are professionals and you can be better so you don't need to look up to them you need to look down on them and beat them swings and stings along with the right field wells backing up turning and that's gone he then goes into the game and on the third pitch of the game he takes jake deep over the right field wall ichiro jumping all over the jake peavy pitch and taking him out of the ballpark to make it one to nothing japan so everybody bought into the message because ichiro just showed them exactly the way they had to do it if ichiro set an early tone the next nine innings would be closely fought a taste of october baseball in march it would remind you of a seventh game of a world series because it was so intense it was back and forth we were down we tied it up the game would remain tied into the eighth when japan appeared to take the lead the call or rather the reversal of the call [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we were watching from the dugout and there was an unusual movement in third base nishioka kind of rocked back to gather momentum before he broke the home a pivotal call in this game did he leave early did he not 11 years later we still don't really know if he left early but certainly it was a controversial play the japanese team was very frustrated with the result and their frustration would only deepen when alex rodriguez came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on that's going to third through the ball game is over in the united states has defeated japan by a final score of 4-3 but the win would prove to be the high point of the tournament for the american dream team as the u.s promptly dropped its next two games if the u.s had simply steamrolled to the title people might have said uh okay great this is going to be a u.s event every four years it was anything but that the countries that did advance to the single elimination semi-finals included japan as well as the powerhouse dominican republic boasting stars like albert pujols david ortiz miguel tejada and reigning cy young award winner bartolo colon in the semis the dr would match up against the cuban team who by contrast had no big leaguers the world baseball classic provided a unique experience that many of these cuban players have never had they've never known what it's like to sit in a major league clubhouse and i think just as a human being that will impact you [Music] the world has come to san diego and this tournament i think has exceeded everybody's expectations for excitement and drama [Applause] the drama on that saturday was heightened by a pitching duel and an array of sparkling defense then in the seventh with the dominicans leading one to nothing the cubans finally broke through check swing that'll get dorado and it's an extremely productive out for zepeda he gets the rbi it is one to one [Applause] and it is open a window when you play with the best against the best that brings something in you that you want to beat the best and if you don't want to be the best that 2006 world baseball classic it kind of planted a seed for a lot of cuban players like we're playing against the dominicans we're playing as puerto ricans you know i think i can do this 301 the underdog has defeated the team of great major league stars and the amateurs from cuba are in the final in the evening semi-final japan returned to the field to face a bitter regional rival well listen we think yankees red sox big rivalry we think giants dodger is big rivalry it's nothing compared to south korea and japan i mean you're talking about an ancient rivalry korean ball club they've gone 6-0 they've been the big surprise in the tournament not only are they enormous rivals but they also are both much more excited about the national team than the domestic league teams and i think the players knew that as well ichiro came out and he doesn't say much in terms of being controversial but he was right away he challenged the south koreans what he said was we want to beat our competition in a way that makes them think that it'll take them 30 years to catch up future major leaguer koji yuikara started for japan and overwhelmed the koreans over seven scoreless innings he struck him out strike three call he strikes out the sound still the japanese couldn't score either until finally in the seventh kosuke fukudome broke it open [Applause] [Music] [Applause] two innings later the score was six to nothing and japan's vengeance was all but assured japan has beaten korea at long last [Music] and it will be team japan that goes to the final against cuba the final of the world baseball classic there were 16 countries represented when this all started in tokyo 17 days ago down to two japan against cuba the best baseball nation in asia against the best baseball nation for many many years in the caribbean what a matchup the wbc and o6 the cuban players who were on that team it was their first time to compete in the united states in a big league park three decks full house crowds going nuts the excitement in japan was very high fans were very willing to have the players devote themselves to winning this tournament rather than having them focus on their domestic teams pennant if a player led the team to the wbc championship and then was not able to lead his team to the championship in japan that was okay maybe no decision epitomized the importance of the world baseball classic to japan more than the naming of a national treasure as the team's manager they took the biggest name the biggest international name in the history of japanese baseball sarah haruo he's the world home run king and he's chosen as manager the players felt such a responsibility to make the reality of sadaharu on the international stage as great as the image he's the symbol of japanese baseball and it would be an outrage if he did anything other than succeed look at the cheering down in parque central in havana and there's a lot of folks out there rooting on team cuba and havana tonight in the cuban clubhouse just before first pitch everyone was well aware of how much the game mattered these guys have won a lot of international tournaments we always said they're going against amateurs from other nations well guess what they played against the best they played against major league baseball now and they have proven that they definitely belong on the same stage they have major league talent they're just not in the major leagues [Music] bringing these two baseball cultures together these two great baseball cultures that was a huge moment and a huge matchup as well [Music] the tournament had begun with more than 150 major leaguers participating now improbably the rosters in the finals had just two still that didn't mean there wasn't any big league talent left in fact the name of japan's senpatsu toshu or starting pitcher would soon be familiar to american fans machu zaka one of the best in japan this guy has major lick stuff in fact don't be surprised if you're seeing pitching in the major leagues in a year or so the dice k phenomenon was was great to see unfold on this global stage because you know you'd heard about him he has a good fastball good curveball good slider the 2006 wbc was a pivotal moment in the creation of the myth of dice king the gyro ball the pitch that no one could really see understand or comprehend and there was this great mystery and this great mystique about daisuke matsusaka he is 2-0 in this tournament he's been excellent in both of his starts allowing only four hits in nine innings oh the splitter struck him out that was nasty strike three he powered a fastball right by uruthia a perennial batting champion matsuzaka strikes out the side he's got a nice easy motion but his ball explodes on [Music] behind a fast start and dice k's brilliance japan had a 4-1 lead through four and when ichiro led off the fifth with a double another japanese rally was underway his contribution his leadership his presence for that team is is unmistakable well now he's in scoring position for matsunaka matsunaka lines one at the right field that's going to be a base hit nichiro had to hold up to make sure it wasn't caught he goes to third run runners at first and third team japan is set up nicely [Applause] now he just couldn't get it first not in time team japan now leads five to one japan would soon add another run in the fifth to make it six to one but when matsuzaka exited the game right after cuba looked to seize an opening against the japanese bullpen cabinet [Applause] [Music] heading for the corner coming around to score is gorilla [Applause] face head borero will score uruz has made it a six to three game this one looked like it was going to be a blowout but all of a sudden team cuba found some life the cubans had the momentum and in the eighth they struck again high and deep to left field way way back there and now it is a one-run game spectacular home run for frederic cepeda cuba this resilient cuban team is still breathing in this one [Music] six to five can you believe this joe well i can believe it because they have proven that they can play with anyone oh [Applause] and certainly japan could use some more runs cuba had all the momentum in the final of the world baseball classic but in the top of the ninth japan went back once more to fundamentals surprised me a little bit because in the states here he never really had the reputation as being a leader great player no doubt about it one of the greatest hitters of our generation but i think at wbc you saw the leadership skills of each hero he was the heart and soul of the team and by the way the best player on the team i go back to that game against team usa in which he gave the team a pep talk about knowing that you are as good as if not better than your competition the confidence from that moment on was soaring and there's ichiro once again ichiro has been on twice scored twice that's in the right field coming home is kawasaki's and each hero comes through in the clutch it is seven to five he's gonna face three times his score two runs now driven in a huge run here in the ninth inning [Music] and ichiro's rbi would open the floodgates with japan soon adding even more to their team japan they're getting ready to celebrate they now have a 10-5 lead over cuba they've scored four runs here in the night getting to break it back open whatever japan three outs away from a world baseball classic championship [Applause] throughout the history of baseball in japan the goal has always been to see how does japan compare against the best players in the world so two outs and two strikes and that's been the dream of japan you know forever [Music] [Applause] it was euphoria it was euphoria in japan and they still talk about it today the inaugural world baseball classic has crowned its first champion team japan there's a tradition in japanese baseball it's called doage and traditionally all of the players in unison throw the manager up in the air three times [Applause] [Music] congratulations to sahara or team japan they are the world baseball classic champions there are a lot of memories of that moment but for me you have sada haruo and you have ichiro together on the field enjoying this moment of victory maybe the two greatest stars in the history of japanese baseball brought together by this one tournament this one moment and the pride of japan if you're an american baseball fan who knew ichiro and watched him play for the mariners you saw his level of emotion and what this meant to him this victory for his country and maybe this is how you start to understand just how important this tournament is on the global stage watching it through jerome's eyes and seeing what this triumph meant for team japan was really immense [Music] daisuke matsuzaka the starting pitcher for team japan tonight he has been named the world baseball classic most valuable player certainly dice k played a huge role against cuba major league scouts knew about him he was not exactly a secret but at the same time he did this on u.s soil he did it against cuba he only elevated his profile with that performance we just had this preview now dice came out suzaka it was just the next year he's pitching for the red sox in the world series and this wbc was the preview for him if you look back 11 players went on to make a major league debut iwa murder matsuzaka kawasaki way harder the list goes on and on so that shows you how many of japan's stars at the time were budding bonafide us professional baseball players nobody was surprised when the 2006 world baseball classic was dominated by countries where baseball is king but three years later for the tournament's second installment a number of the 16 teams all returning had improved significantly the most improved team might have been the netherlands who played the heavily favored dominican republic in the first round whose roster included all stars such as jose reyes robinson cano and hanley ramirez when you play against teams like dominican republic you know those guys are all-star players so you got to show those guys that you know what we respect you guys but we believe in ourselves [Applause] so the dutch were there to win and right from the start they looked to take advantage of every chance they got ground ball up the middle diving stop hanley ramirez fires it wide at first and the netherlands have three runs in the first inning by the ninth the dominicans had cut it to 3-2 and had the tying run on second but then willie tavares looked to test the arm of a 21 year old named kenley janssen the dodgers all-star closer was a catcher then and unloaded a fastball from behind the plate he is out at third base wow kidley johnson the youngster guns down to varys that changed the whole game right there so i'm just staying relaxed down there and let's take the whole game the netherlands beats the dominican baby the biggest win in the history of baseball for the netherlands everybody was interested in what they were doing and once they beat the dominican republic in the first game i mean it was like wow what's going on here and we were interested i think to see if we were watching a moment three days later the double elimination bracket pitted the countries against each other again with both teams needing a win to stay alive and the netherlands feeling confident we beat them already the first time so we know that the pressure is not on us it's on them so going to end that game we just try to put pressure on them swing at a miss down goes ortiz they hit a couple of balls that they thought were out and they didn't get out hanley ramirez hits it deep and engelhardt makes the catch you can see some frustration because they just couldn't get that hit they needed it went all the way to the top of the 11th still scoreless but then with jose reyes on first the dominicans finally broke through winds it to right sliding and it gets by king sail reyes around third he's going to score and the dominican republic scores first i don't know what to do it was so so emotional and exciting because i know that now i put my my country you know in great position to win that ball game you look across into their dugout and they're jumping up and down like they'd won the game it was over but our guys they just didn't have any quit it was almost like the sense of hey it's our turn let's go come on we gotta start right here let's go let's go we gotta start running right here we were facing one of the best closers in baseball carlos [Applause] 114 strikeouts in 87 innings and sydney deyoung drives a double to left center young hits that ball in the gap left center field de young on his way to second he'll stop there with a lead-off double then king cell to get the base hit to tie the game drive to right center yeah the netherlands has a run in the 11th we've been sitting on the runs all day we stood up for run sport jean king sale then advanced to third on a throwing error which put the netherlands 90 feet away from the biggest shocker in the wbc's short history [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you got that expectation you had a great team and if you see the picture i was with my feet open my head down and they take my heart away absolutely unbelievable baby our guys did a great job of playing the game and not playing our opponent and i think that was the biggest difference is we never played the dominicans we played the game of baseball for that tournament the sun would end up setting on the netherlands in the second round when they were eliminated by the united states the americans then advanced to the semifinals in dramatic fashion team usa moves on to the semis [Music] [Applause] now all of a sudden you think maybe this is the year for the u.s to get to the final and win the wbc but now here comes japan [Applause] and in their semi-final match-up japan once again relied on their relentlessness to take control with a five-run rally in the fourth i knew they were going to be aggressive i knew who their head you know i i knew they had speed and they're going to slap the ball and get on base right center field base hit nakajima's got an rbi and japan's got a 6-2 lead the americans looked to rally late but japan would respond and then 23 year old right-hander you darvish secured his country's second straight trip to the wbc final that's in there and japan's going to defend their title tomorrow night with a 9-4 win over usa meanwhile south korea would beat venezuela in the other semi setting the stage for a final featuring asia's twin baseball powers both of these teams are current international champions korea with the olympic gold japan the last world baseball classic korea wanting to unify these titles japan saying wait a minute this one's ours japan took an early one-nothing lead but in the fifth shinsuchu responded for korean but it would be japan who led three to two in the ninth you darvish then comes out of the ninth inning they think it's gonna be another situation like in the semifinals where he closes it out in the ninth well guess what korea has other ideas that's gonna be amazing and so the battle would stretch to extra innings where in the top of the 10th japan would put two on and one out for ichiro who had another chance to play the hero on the international stage [Music] [Applause] the hit put japan once again on the verge of a second straight wbc title and gave you darvish another chance to close it out successfully defended their world baseball classic title that was like the wake-up call for anybody who said yeah they won the first one when no one cared no one was paying attention and they snuck up on everybody they didn't sneak up on everybody this is a bunch of really good baseball players who form a cohesive team and our dynamite together winning again [Music] 2013 was the third installment of the world baseball classic it's gonna be loud it's gonna be noisy it's gonna be raucous and with the united states looking to finally live up to expectations their team captain looked to play the hero well this is the captain america time for him captain america's catched in again they were hanging captain america hats and the team usa dugout he had really sort of embraced the role of sort of the guy for team usa one two three he cleared him with a double he's done it again david was an unbelievable player for us i mean he took control and then showed a great deal of leadership and we pretty much jumped on his back but despite wright's brilliance the u.s came up short again eliminated from the tournament in the second round puerto rico eliminating team usa [Applause] there were other surprise early exits too headlined by cuba who fell to a team once again playing the role of giant killer the netherlands but the dutch cinderella run would come to a crashing halt in the semis against a dominican team on a mission they had been embarrassed in the previous tournament by the netherlands and they were quite fired up about it quite focused on winning i think the players in the dominican would tell you the first couple of wbcs they didn't take it seriously enough well that wasn't the case in 2013. i mean you could see from the get-go they were not going to allow that to happen [Applause] the dominicans were unstoppable robinson canola was playing out of his mind he was just crushing baseballs all over the place robinson don't you know oh man was that ball smoked the dominicans dominated the field becoming the first team in the tournament's history to go undefeated for the perfect 8-0 record that earned them their first world baseball classic title [Applause] miss mission accomplished the dominican republic the world baseball classic champions this wing is it's all about dominican republic i mean you know they was hungry waiting for this moment and we did it you know we we give everything that we have so i was on the 1997 world series team in the marlins and that was my biggest thing until we won that 2013 wbc that was way more overwhelming than winning the 97 war series the 2017 world baseball classic begins on march 6th and this year a new generation of american stars is eager to erase the disappointment of previous tournaments maybe it's this year where team usa really starts acting like team usa and by that i mean really acting the kind of passion and urgency that you have to show in this tournament that buy-in has to come from the players i think it's starting to happen now in 2017 we're starting to see more and more players that are of superstar caliber buying in you've got buster posey you've got luke roy nolan aronado was one of the premier i think five players in the sport right now i'm excited for it i've already told my teammate alex colemay that during spring training we're not friends it's somewhat playful but deep down we both want to prove to each other whose country is better at baseball now i think u.s has put itself out there enough that they should win and that the excuses now have disappeared there are no more excuses about the record 10 and 10 over the first few wbcs this team is now built to win and let's see how things go it was 11 years ago that the world baseball classic began as much as an experiment as anything else [Applause] but now it's no doubt an experiment that succeeded beyond expectations the primary objective in 2006 was that we have a second one and that was not only i think accomplished but exceeded that immediately after we're like we got to keep this going more countries get involved in the wbc the bigger a success it is you're not only introducing those teams to the tournament you're introducing those fans from those countries maybe to baseball for the first time go holland i don't know of anybody who doesn't get excited when country plays against country there's a pride factor that you really can't explain it's just something that takes precedent over anything else

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Length: 44min 4sec (2644 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020