Kansas Royals third baseman Mikhail Garcia received some undue criticism after he was asked to comment in the aftermath of the World Baseball Classic.
The controversy centered on Garcia dismissing a reporter for asking if he thought Venezuela’s win was a victory for Latin America. Instead of giving the type of response the reporter may have hoped would invoke pride for the millions of Latin Americans in North and South America, Garcia said the win wasn’t a victory for Latin America because he was playing for Venezuela, his home country.
I can understand the reporter’s confusion of the tone and tenor of the event. Team Italy, for instance, who the Venezuelans defeated to make the championship round, had an overwhelming majority of U.S. players on its roster. In fact, only three of their players are Italians, which was Italy’s prerogative, but which seems to defeat the purpose of the World Baseball Classic.
As for Venezuela, its entire roster, including coaches, were Venezuelans. In English, Venezuela means “Little Venice.”
Outside of the Olympics, anytime a Venezuelan watches the best his or her country has to offer in the field of baseball, their jerseys are in English.
We Americans take many things for granted, but our place on the world stage of athletics is by far the most egregious oversight. The term World Series is a misnomer. No other country outside of Canada and the United States will ever host a World Series because no other country will likely ever host an MLB team.
Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez, also from Venezuela and who has already won a World Series, was tearful after leading Venezuela to victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic finals. He gave his country the closest thing to a World Series title they’re ever going to get.
Garcia had every right to thin-slice the question. There is nothing wrong with feeling such pride for your country. Considering the current US-Venezuelan socio-political relations, Garcia was a magician in avoiding landmines in his postgame interview.
“It was a good win for Venezuela,” he said, patting the WBC trophy the same way fighters would a championship belt.
