The Thunder Bay International Baseball Association couldn’t compete with region-wide television coverage.
One of three cities in the running to host the 2013 Under 18 Baseball World Cup, the group learned 10 days ago it had lost its bid to Taiwan.
Warren Philp, TBIBA’s executive director, said it appears Thunder Bay simply couldn’t compete with the money Taiwan was putting on the table, as well as a guaranteed 25 games to be aired on Asian television.
But, he said, it’s likely they’ll keep trying.
The organization put in three unsuccessful bids for the even in the 2000s, then known as the World Junior Baseball Championship, before winning the right to host the 2010 tournament which brought top prospects like Francisco Lindor, Bubba Starling and Cuba’s Jorge Solar to Thunder Bay.
All three are on the fast track to the major leagues, with Lindor, No. 14 on MLB’s top prospect list, expected to arrive in Cleveland by 2014. Starling, a Kansas City draft pick, is 26th and Solar, a Cuban defector who signed with the Cubs, is 42nd.
“We’re looking for a clearer calendar and bid process itinerary from the International Federation about what events we might be able to bid for,” Philp said.
“We’re unclear right now if this U18 Baseball World Cup will be an annual event or whether it will go back to every two years. I think their plan is to have it every year, but we’ll see and that’s where we need the communication.”
The World Cup event is No. 1 on their list, Philp went on to say.
“With a longer planning period I think we could put together a higher quality bid. But at the same time, with more time, other cities in this country may be stepping up.”
Four or five other communities have expressed interest in the tournament, which packed the stands at Port Arthur Stadium in 2010 as Canada found its way into the semifinal and ultimately dropped the bronze-medal game to Cuba.
Canada has hosted 12 of the 25 tournaments held since 1981.
“Baseball Canada would have to choose us again and there are no guarantees. Every process is different. That’s on the international scale with International Baseball Federation events … Baseball Canada has national championships we may look at some of those.”
The local organization is also looking at possibly hosting pre-tournament games prior to the 2015 Toronto Pan-American Games, but nothing concrete is in place and Philp said timelines may or may not permit it to happen.
Cuba is one country the team is targeting, as their players would likely more easily obtain their release a bit earlier from their every day teams.
TBIBA president Larry Hebert is optimistic they’ll be successful down the road.
“As Warren said, we bid three times on the 2010 event before we got it. This is our first attempt at getting it again. Hopefully at the board meeting next month we’ll OK the bidding for next year and we’ll see what happens,” Hebert said.
