In an effort to entice Japanese-Canadians to make the trek to the 2017 U18 Baseball World Cup, the Thunder Bay Wolves are challenging an all-star team from the Japanese Canadian Baseball League.
Thunder Bay International Baseball Association executive director Warren Philp said the Aug. 2 doubleheader is a great lead-up to the 2017 event, a chance for two cultures to come together and play a little ball.
Philp said they’ve spent the past two years trying to strengthen the relationship between with Japanese-Canadians, especially in the Greater Toronto area.
“There are probably about 50,000 or 60,000 Japanese-Canadians or ex-pat Japanese who live in the Greater Toronto Area,” Philp said. “We saw one way of doing that as bringing in the Japanese-Canadian Baseball League to Thunder Bay for two exhibition games.”
Japan was noticeably absent from the 2010 World Junior Baseball Championship, as the U18 tournament was formerly known.
Held in August, it conflicted with a popular high school tournament, leaving most of the country’s best young players unavailable.
Japan is hosting this year’s U18 Baseball World Cup, and barring an upset, is expected to be a contender in Thunder Bay in two year’s time.
Having a contingent of fans on hand would be fantastic and help boost interest in the tournament – and potentially its global media coverage.
“Japan has to qualify, of course, for 2017. But we’re sure they will,” Philp said.
“They’re hosting the tournament this year, so they could potentially come into Thunder Bay as the defending gold-medal champions. We know high school baseball is absolutely huge in Japan, whereas it isn’t elsewhere in the world.”
One subtle difference in the Aug. 2 event will be the ball.
Kenko balls have ridges and grooves and are made of hard rubber.
Wolves star Kody Anton said it will take a little getting used to, but he’s expecting some great competition.
“We’re going to have to have a couple of practices with it to get used to it, but we’ll see where it goes,” said Anton, a batboy with Team Canada in 2010.
Admission to the games, being held at Port Arthur Stadium, is free of charge.
Expected to play for the Japanese-Canadian squad is Daisuke Suzuki, the older brother of Thunder Bay Border Cats pitcher Yuji Suzuki.
The doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m.
