Earlier this week, Prince George city council decided to dish 10 grand to organizers of the World Baseball Challenge. This at a time when the city is trying to slash expenses as unmercifully as possible.
Think of the game Fruit Ninja -- downloadable on your smartphone or tablet -- but replace the flying watermelons, oranges and bananas with little dollar signs and put them against the backdrop of the cutbanks.
Yes, our municipal politicians are looking for cost-savings in a big way, thus the core services review process currently underway in the back rooms of City Hall. Accounting firm KPMG has even been brought onboard to provide suggestions of where and how money could be preserved.
Given this climate of fiscal restrictiveness, some local taxpayers may ask, 'Why are we giving money to baseball? That $10,000 could have been used for....'
Fill in the rest of the above sentence as you see fit. The possibilities are many.
And people have every right to look at council's decision with critical eyes. A baseball tournament, after all, hardly classifies as something essential to the maintenance and management of Prince George.
Not essential, but this particular event pays the city back in many ways and that makes the $10,000 contribution perfectly acceptable. In fact, turning the funding request down would have been a mistake and a disservice to the community.
To begin with, there's the obvious financial benefit Prince George reaps as host of the World Baseball Challenge. According to tournament organizers, the previous two WBCs -- held in 2009 and 2011 -- pumped close to $6 million into the local economy. Heck, even if that number was $1 million, the WBC generates way more money for the city than council puts into it. Jim Swanson, co-chair of the WBC, said the initial contributions were $90,000 (2009) and $50,000 (2011). So, using those numbers, the total now sits at $150,000.
Then, of course, there's the positive exposure the World Baseball Challenge brings to Prince George. In the eyes of outsiders, P.G. is a place of copious crime, rotten roads and asphyxiating air. But we also have the best amateur baseball tournament in the world and when people come here to see it, they may just have some of their negative perceptions changed. Maybe they end up spreading the word that Prince George isn't such a bad place after all.
Hard to put a price tag on that.
And what about the pure entertainment value of the World Baseball Challenge? That, all by itself, is worth the city's financial backing.
Quite simply, we are lucky to have the WBC in Prince George. Spoiled, even. Just consider the fact that when Team Cuba played here in 2011, it marked the club's only appearance in North America that year. Scouts estimated that if the Cuban infielders on that team were to exit their Communist homeland and sign deals in Major League Baseball, their combined salaries would top $200 million.
Neat tidbit, and a little more perspective -- Cuban first baseman Jose Dariel Abreu was offered a $60-million contract while he was in the Prince George Walmart a couple summers ago. He had been followed into the store by an agent/lawyer from Miami who was here to watch the Cubans play.
In the 2011 WBC final, Cuba faced Chinese Taipei and won 10-5. Both teams will be back for this year's tournament, Aug. 13-22 at Citizen Field. They'll be joined by national teams from the United States, Japan, the Bahamas and Canada.
Team USA was in Prince George for the 2009 WBC but was absent in 2011 because of scheduling issues. If Cuba and the USA were to meet in the championship game this time around, baseball fans worldwide would be giddy with anticipation. Those fans not in the bleachers to see the game live would wish mightily that they were.
Throughout the course of the 2013 WBC, future major leaguers will be on the diamond.
Back in '09, by way of example, the U.S. club was stocked with college-level stars and many of them are now in the bigs. The list includes pitcher Drew Pomeranz (Colorado Rockies), catcher Yasmani Grandal (San Diego Padres), pitcher Trevor Bauer (Cleveland Indians) and, most recently, Gerrit Cole. The six-foot-four, 240-pounder made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday and was the winning pitcher in an 8-2 victory against the visiting San Francisco Giants. Cole struck out the first batter he faced, Gregor Blanco, on three pitches -- all of them 96-mile-per-hour fastballs. Overall, Cole scattered seven hits and took a shutout into the seventh inning. He's projected to be the future ace of the Pirates' pitching staff.
Guaranteed, the upcoming edition of the WBC will feature more guys like Abreu and Cole. They'll be here to add to the legacy of a tournament that is already a true international gem.
Worthy of city council's support?
Absolutely.
In fact, Mayor Shari Green should attach a thank-you note to that $10,000 cheque before she drops it in the mail.
