The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THOSE who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles - - - - - -

— Isaiah 40:31

THE fact that we have so many young talented players trying to crack into Major League Baseball is a clear reason why we need to resolve this age old dispute that has hampered the progress of local baseball.

One of those reasons is the fact that both Antoan Richardson and Albert Cartwright had to suit up this weekend to play for Great Britain in the qualifying rounds of the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

The two minor league players were afforded the opportunity to wear the gray and purple uniforms of Great Britain because the Bahamas doesn’t have a team eligible to compete in the field of 28 teams, divided into four different pools, vying for a chance to compete in the final next year.

This is the third time that the classic has been held - the first in 2006 and again in 2009, but it’s the first time that the Bahamas has had any representation.

Richardson, who played for the Bowie Baysox in the Double-A Eastern League, and Cartwright, a member of the Clearwater Thrashers in the Class A Advanced Florida State League, got the starting nod in center field and shortstop respectively for Great Britain in their opener against Canada in Regensberg, Germany, on Thursday.

That speaks volumes for the sport because without a presence at any of the major international tournaments, the Bahamas was still able to qualify two players to participate. And it couldn’t happen to two better players who have spent their whole lives relishing the idea of playing together.

Imagine what could happen if the long standing dispute in local baseball was resolved and the Bahamas Baseball Association and the Bahamas Baseball Federation was playing under one umbrella.

Who knows, the Bahamas could have been one of the 28 teams vying for the four spots for next year’s World Baseball Classic.

The dispute has been lingering on for too long and it doesn’t seem as if there is any resolution in sight, except that the two bodies continue to function as usual with the Bahamas really feeling the full impact because we’re still not getting a chance to compete in any of the major international events.

Just imagine if this dispute was resolved how many more players we could have developed to follow Richardson and Cartwright in the pipeline for the major leagues. We’ve only had six major leaguers, including Richardson who played sparingly last year for the Atlanta Braves.

Richardson broke a drought of more than two decades since Ed Armbrister was the last of the famous five to have played in the majors when, as an outfielder, he wore a uniform for the Cincinnati Reds in 1977. With Richardson just one step away from returning and Cartwright not too far behind, this could be a good time for the renaissance of baseball in the country.

It will probably take a mammoth task for us to regain our rightful place firstly in the region because of the fact that we are lacking what has been the downfall of the men’s national softball team at the Pan American and World Championship qualifying tournament in Medellin, Colombia - pitching.

As a result of no active senior league in baseball, the players have either switched to playing softball or they have retired.

With plans afloat for the construction of the new Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center, we need to make sure that we start to make some inroads in the renaissance of the sport.

But it has to start with the resolution of the dispute so that we can start gearing our players up to participate as one unified team again in the future.