Former Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista is eager for professional baseball to broaden its horizons beyond its traditional borders.
The sport is hugely popular in the United States and Japan, while several Latin American countries have also produced plenty of top-class players.
However, baseball barely registers on the radar in many jurisdictions around the world – an issue that Bautista is keen to address.
In a recent interview with MLB odds site Betway, the 41-year-old urged the sport’s rulers to use international events to promote the sport to a wider audience.
Having represented the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic and Olympic Games, Bautista understands how important they are to the growth of the sport.
Baseball is overlooked in numerous countries that have a rich sporting heritage – something Bautista believes needs to be addressed over the coming years.
“Those types of tournaments didn’t exist back in the day,” said Bautista. “That was not something that I was able to grow up watching. It brings that top level competition from all over the world together.
“Being able to play and represent my country was amazing, you get a sense of pride that’s different. You always want to win for your professional team, you always have that connection with the fan base. I know I felt that when I was in Toronto.
“But your connection to your home country, where you were born, what you identify with as a person, it’s just a different level of passion. And that didn’t exist before in baseball.”
One of the biggest problems baseball must overcome is the historical insular nature of the sport’s top competition – Major League Baseball.
Sports fans outside North America are greatly amused by the league’s championship decider being called the ‘World Series’ when teams from just two countries can qualify.
This self-aggrandising behaviour is widely viewed as being ‘typically American’ and does little to help the sport’s global image.
The recent boom in the popularity of soccer in North America highlights why baseball’s bosses should be working hard to expand the sport’s appeal.
Baseball has traditionally been one of the ‘big four’ sports in North America alongside American Football, basketball and ice hockey.
However, soccer has already surged past ice hockey in terms of popularity and participation and is well on course to overhaul baseball in the future.
Many people connected to ice hockey in North America dismissed soccer as a realistic threat, but are now counting the cost of their apathy.
Bautista recognises the need for baseball to expand into different markets worldwide if it is to develop in the future.
“Hopefully we can continue to grow the game in the places where it hasn’t gotten to yet like India, the Middle East, Brazil,” he added. “Places where people love sports, where there are great athletes already.
“That’ll continue to expand the type of new player that can come into the game and start changing the game and helping the game overall.”
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