Last night (our time) our tiny country, the Netherlands won the World Championship Baseball 2011 after beating Cuba (twice) and by that becoming the first European team in 73 years to win the Gold Medal in the IBAF Baseball World Cup.

I guess for 95% of the Dutch people knowledge of baseball ends with the fact that they throw a ball, someone should try to hit it with a pieces of wood, which some people keep beneath their beds, and run a sort of circle. O, and that if the ball gets hit over the fence it's a homerun.

Over here Baseball is just an amateur sport, my experience stops with playing softball at secondary school. I for sure can't name a single baseball player.

We apparently have an American coach, Brian Farley and also benefit a lot from our caribbean colonies, especially Curacao.
Also I know the best US pro guys aren't allowed to play for their national teams.


But anyways, to the more experienced baseball people here who maybe watched the championship, should we be proud on this achievement? Was it good, did they deserver to win?

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You didnt get the memo? Nobody cares about baseball.

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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD

You shouldn't be proud at all. I've never even heard of the World Champion Baseball. The World Baseball Classic, maybe, but that's only because professional American, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban players don't care at all about any of these tournaments. The MLB season lasts 7 months, and the WBC is held usually during spring training right before the season begins. In fact, most teams discourage their players from participating due to risk of injuries before the season even starts.

Regardless, no MLB players participating=it's basically the Little League World Series.

There are a few pretty decent Dutch players who play in the MLB, but I'm sure they didn't participate in this tournament you're talking about.

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Originally posted by nchs09 You didnt get the memo? Nobody cares about baseball.

What the f*ck is baseball?

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Originally posted by srussell0018 You shouldn't be proud at all. I've never even heard of the World Champion Baseball. The World Baseball Classic, maybe, but that's only because professional American, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban players don't care at all about any of these tournaments. The MLB season lasts 7 months, and the WBC is held usually during spring training right before the season begins. In fact, most teams discourage their players from participating due to risk of injuries before the season even starts. Regardless, no MLB players participating=it's basically the Little League World Series. There are a few pretty decent Dutch players who play in the MLB, but I'm sure they didn't participate in this tournament you're talking about.

Well, I also never heard of it till the end of last week. So it can be compared to basketball and soccer teams at the Olympics which also aren't the best of the best for different reasons. (Or did it change for basketball after the Dream Team came in years ago, don't know for sure).

Yeah, I also heard some good MLB Dutch players weren't part of the Dutch team.
So maybe a good achievement, but certainly no reason to think your the best of the world. Something I hardly could image in first place actually.

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Originally posted by Trance-MB Well, I also never heard of it till the end of last week. So it can be compared to basketball and soccer teams at the Olympics which also aren't the best of the best for different reasons. (Or did it change for basketball after the Dream Team came in years ago, don't know for sure). Yeah, I also heard some good MLB Dutch players weren't part of the Dutch team. So maybe a good achievement, but certainly no reason to think your the best of the world. Something I hardly could image in first place actually.

Well I'd hardly compare it to the Olympics, due to it's seemingly irrelevant stature. However, I suppose any achievement is worth some bit of praise. They didn't not win it.

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Originally posted by srussell0018 Well I'd hardly compare it to the Olympics, due to it's seemingly irrelevant stature. However, I suppose any achievement is worth some bit of praise. They didn't not win it.

With e.g. hockey you have the best of the world at both events and with some sports like basketball and soccer (and probably then also baseball) (maybe some others too) that's not the case. That's why I thought it was comparable, World or Olympic champion without the best men or women.

A bit of praise then sounds good taking in mind they are not the best

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Longest (classic) Trance playlist on YouTube (5000 tracks released up to and including 1997), click here