Part Two Story Highlights:

• Three worst teams in 2009 World Baseball Classic compete in 2013 qualifying tournaments
• Three different qualifying tournaments on three different continents for three 2013 WBC spots
• Move part of 2013 WBC to July as part of “Elite 8 World Baseball Classic Week”

The year 2009 will prove to be a defining moment for international baseball. Soon, 16 countries will compete in the second-ever World Baseball Classic (WBC) while this summer, the 38th Baseball World Cup will be held throughout the continent, serving as a prelude to the October vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on whether to reinstate baseball for the 2016 Games. While one hopes the IOC will come to its senses, that’s a best case scenario and the worldwide baseball community must brace itself for a worse case scenario: never participating in the Olympics ever again.

It’s imperative that Major League Baseball (MLB), the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the International Amateur Baseball Federation (IBAF) - and baseball fans across the world - maximize the exposure of this year’s events to demonstrate that the sport is indeed a global game with a long-term vision that highlights: 1. it has become all-inclusive, and 2. has an innovative growth strategy moving forward.

BECOMING ALL-INCLUSIVE

To that end, MLB, MLBPA and IBAF should start by announcing sometime during the 2009 WBC that the next event, in 2013, will be more all-inclusive.

The WBC has been a 16-country, invitation-only professional-level event since inception, and while the majority of invitees are well-deserved, this concept has snubbed other countries in Europe and the Americas from even getting a chance to participate, most notably Nicaragua where baseball is the number one sport in that country.

You can’t argue with the WBC invitations of the super powers of the sport such as the U.S., Japan, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Korea. And you also can’t really argue with the invitations of Taiwan, Panama and Puerto Rico either where baseball is either the No. 1 sport in these countries and/or has a tremendously rich tradition. The Netherlands, with its two Caribbean island hot beds of Aruba and Curacao, would also be hard not to invite. And although hockey and soccer are number one sports respectively in Canada and Mexico, both are deserved of invitations given their long baseball history and contributions to the game.

But inviting China, Australia, Italy and South Africa over a Nicaragua and Colombia just isn’t right. Sure, you don’t need to be a marketing major to understand why MLB has pumped millions in coaching and training into 1.3 billion strong China, trying to find the Yao Ming of baseball. And you have to admire Australia for producing 80 plus MLB Minor Leaguers despite having a population of just 20 million and when its best athletes choose cricket, Australian Rules Football, rugby, golf or tennis over baseball.

You can also understand from an advertising standpoint why MLB is trying to find the Giovanni Pizzeria of Italy and is interested in turning baseball in South Africa into a mini-MLB pipeline like Australia has become. Yet future WBC’s risk losing credibility by continuing to exclude the likes of Nicaragua and Colombia, and other European countries, just because they may not have the “marketing cache.” Fortunately, there have already been some hints from MLB that the 2013 format will be expanded to 24 teams with possibly qualifying rounds, and indeed that’s the one thing that must definitely happen - some sort of a qualifying tournament.

I think most fans would agree that the WBC - while a great event - shouldn’t be any longer (a few weeks) than its current set-up, especially given it has taken place during MLB Spring Training. Do eight more countries deserve the right to make the “Round of 16?” Absolutely - and perhaps even more than that. Does the main event need to be expanded beyond 16 teams? Absolutely not - a few weeks are plenty.

AN INCLUSIVE QUALIFYING PROCESS

But there need to be some sort of qualification process. My suggestion would be for the three teams with the worst record in the 2009 WBC (I’m guessing China, Italy, South Africa, or either Australia, Taiwan or the Netherlands) would have to earn their place in a 2013 WBC. Why not have three quasi-continental qualifiers - one in the Americas; one in Europe; and the final one encompassing Africa, Asia and Oceania? The governing amateur bodies of each continent, in cooperation with MLB, MLBPA and IBAF, could determine the set-up of each qualifier, with six-to-eight of the historically top teams in each geographic region competing. The winner of each of these three tournaments would then land spots 14, 15 and 16 in a 2013 WBC. Assuming a March 2013 WBC, the qualifying tournaments could be held on each continent(s) sometime from late September to early November of 2012, enabling those players competing in pro leagues in Asia or U.S. Minor League or independent leagues to have a chance to go home and participate.

The benefits of this idea ensure that multiple countries from multiple continents have at least an opportunity to land one of three spots in the WBC. And isn’t that the point of baseball’s global growth strategy - to grow the game in as many places as possible? What better way to do that then to motivate the “unsung countries” with at least a chance to earn a coveted WBC bid?

Think about the possibilities. Brazil, with a dozen players signed to MLB contracts (albeit, minor league ones), would have a chance to compete for one WBC bid against the likes of Nicaragua and Colombia in the Americas qualifier. No two countries deserve the right to compete in the WBC more than Nicaragua and Colombia and it’s an utter travesty they’ve been excluded in the invitation-only WBC up to this point. Nicaragua and Colombia boast winter leagues and each has a long, rich baseball history. Baseball is the most popular sport in Nicaragua, and the fans are almost as fanatical as the Cubans and Dominicans - trust me, I’ve been there, I know. Along Colombia’s Caribbean Sea Coast, no sport rivals baseball. The likes of Spain, Germany, France, Sweden and Britain, among others, would have an opportunity to compete for one separate WBC berth in a European qualifier. As for the Africa/Asia/Oceania qualifier, this leads me toward my second point made at the outset: getting innovative.

GETTING INNOVATIVE

MLB, MLBPA and the IBAF also need to be realistic with their global growth goals. It’s why I have long advocated for the African continent, in particular, to be comprised of an “All-African All-Star team” instead of seeing South Africa get pummeled, as it did in two of three 2006 WBC games. Let’s face it: there are few givens in life, but here’s one of them: South Africa will finish no higher than 14^th in the 2009 WBC. Now, I have nothing personal against the country or its baseball program. In fact, it’s one of the most beautiful and diverse lands in the world that I’ve been fortunate to visit and there baseball has markedly improved. But why let talented athletes from Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana, among other African nations, sit on the sidelines when the entire continent could have a collective All-Star team?

The MLB International European Academy has trained players from multiple African nations, and since pretty much all countries on the continent, minus South Africa, lack funding to manage their own national teams anyway, this would seem to be the best option. Plus, why try to grow the game in one country - South Africa - when you could grow the game on the entire African continent? (This “All-Star team” concept might also be applied to Eastern European countries, which, as a whole, lag in player development behind many of their wealthier Western European counterparts. An Eastern European All-Star team could boast the top players from as far west as Austria and as far east as Russia, including top players from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia, Romania, Greece and elsewhere).

So under my scenario for an Africa/Asia/Oceania qualifier, you could have an All-African All-Star team compete against, potentially, China, Australia or Taiwan (assuming the high likelihood that at least one to three of these teams will finish in the bottom three in the 2009 WBC). Other countries that could potentially participate in the qualifier are Israel, or perhaps even a “Southeast Asian All-Star team” with players from the likes of the Philippines, or an “Oceania All-Star team” with athletes from Guam, New Zealand or even Australia.

Some might cringe at the fact that a ‘continental All-Star team’ takes away from the very spirit of international competition, but I beg to differ. MLB, MLBPA and IBAF may get a big dose of reality this October from the IOC, and let’s also not forget what one of the underlying purposes of the WBC - to grow the sport abroad in as many places as possible.

Additionally, ask yourself this: what has fundamentally changed since the inaugural WBC in 2006? Answer: not much. Is baseball more popular abroad as a whole? Answer: no. In individual countries? Answer: Well, yes, perhaps, but only in those countries that participated in the inaugural ‘06 WBC. So with more countries given the chance to participate, it would seem to me the growth of the game would therefore increase in more places, which leads me to my final critical point.

RESCHEDULE THE 2013 WBC - TO ENHANCE THE GAME’S MARKETABILITY

MLB, MLBPA and IBAF need to seriously consider rescheduling the next WBC in 2013 to maximize its true potential. Too many MLB players and front office personnel bemoan the fact that the WBC takes place in March during its Spring Training, and they have some valid points. Asking pitchers, in particular, who haven’t thrown competitively in several months, to all of the sudden go full speed - may not risk injury in the short-term - but there’s certainly some evidence of adverse affects in the long-term. For example, in 2006, pitcher Jake Peavy suffered arm soreness in that year’s MLB season and he was not the same performer as he had been the year prior for the San Diego Padres.

But worst of all, a March WBC has caused the best players not to participate and represent their country. What a shame. It’s why Ryan Dempster won’t pitch for Canada and why American stars like Joe Mauer have declined. Also missing in WBC action have been the likes of Manny Ramirez (Dominican Republic), Mariano Rivera (Panama) and Hideki Matsui (Japan), among many other stars. Chan Ho-Park won’t pitch for Korea in the March 2009 WBC either. Lastly, March isn’t favorable because it forces baseball to compete against multiple sports for fan and sponsor exposure. In the U.S. alone, the WBC in March is up against professional basketball and hockey, to say nothing about the highly-popular men’s college basketball tournament - the equivalent in popularity of the World Cup soccer tournament outside America (e.g., in most parts of the world).

Solution? I recommend the 2013 WBC be split up in three parts. Part one would be the qualifying tournaments, as previously mentioned. Part two would be round one of the “Sweet 16” or main tournament, and would still take place in March during Spring Training as a double-elimination, four-pool format, as the 2009 WBC will. But that would be it - for March 2013 WBC play.

The winners of first round play - eight countries - wouldn’t compete again until mid-July 2013 as part of the “Elite 8 World Baseball Classic Week.” Under this scenario, all professional leagues with countries participating in the “Elite 8,” such as Japan, Korea and MLB (U.S.), would stop their season for only one week so the countries could participate in a double-elimination tournament to determine the 2013 WBC champion.

The benefits of this scenario are multiple. For starters, on the international sports stage and particularly in the U.S. in July, there are few other major competing sports or events, and therefore it would garner most of the worldwide sports attention, or at least the attention of the eight participating countries. In short, assuming the likelihood baseball is never reinstated in the Olympics, this “Elite 8 World Baseball Classic Week” would be baseball’s new version of the Olympics. The baseball world would stop everything else it is doing for one week every four years for this signature event.

All of the game’s greats - from all over the world - could throw out a first pitch over the course of “Elite 8 Week.” Hank Aaron from the U.S. Sadaharu Oh from Japan. Juan Marichal from the Dominican Republic. Luis Aparicio from Venezuela. Rodney Carew from Panama. Omar Linares from Cuba. Ferguson Jenkins from Canada. And on and on.

The other benefit is that all participants would be in prime playing form, having been playing competitively for months. Lastly, a double-elimination format could take place over a week, therefore not drastically disturbing the regular season schedule of MLB and professional leagues in Japan, Korea or elsewhere. And it could be held at one ballpark.

Also worth noting, chances are greater than the best players will play for their country, not wishing to be left out of the biggest professional spectacle of the sport, outside the MLB World Series. Additionally, with only one round taking place during Spring Training in March 2013, MLB players - as well as their bosses, MLB owners and General Managers - would breathe easier knowing the risk of injury during WBC play would be reduced with only one round of March play. Furthermore, baseball fans across the world would be ensured of seeing a riveting tournament in the heart of summer (in most parts of the world) representing the top eight nations.

Downsides to July? MLB, Japan, Korea and other pro league seasons in WBC years would have to be expanded, and some fans of each league will complain that one week of their season “on hold” is too much. MLB would likely cancel its annual All-Star Game during WBC years, which means, uh, oh, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will have to find a new way to “award” home-field advantage for that season’s World Series (here’s a smart suggestion, Bud: the team with the best MLB regular season record in 2013 gets home field).

TIME TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

It isn’t the Olympics, it’s called the ‘World Baseball Classic, with the emphasis on the ‘world,’ and the only way for the game to realistically grow big time across the globe is for more players and more countries to be allowed to participate, and for the game to think big in extending its reach across this place we call planet earth. This is the year and this is the time for amateur baseball federations around the globe, as well as fans everywhere, to join together in strongly pushing MLB, MLBPA and IBAF for a 2013 WBC qualifying tournament and for pushing a one-week extravaganza in the middle of the summer of 2013.

Joe Connor is a freelance writer who has visited more than 30 baseball countries on six continents and written about his travels for espn.com and mlb.com, among others. He’s the author of "A Fan's Guide To The World Baseball Classic," which is available for purchase exclusively at the Buy Joe's Guides page.