The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Baseball Federation president Theodore ‘Teddy’ Sweeting said he longs for the day when the Bahamas can regain its rightful place as a member of the international baseball fraternity.

But while they work out the knits with the Bahamas Baseball Association that has prevented that process, Sweeting said he applauds the efforts of the professional players to keep the dream alive.

For the second time, Antoan Richardson of theSouthern Maryland, Atlantic League and Albert Cartwright of the Ottawa, Can-Am League will be playing for Great Britain in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier that will take place from September 22-25 at the MCU Park in Brooklyn, New York.

And for the first time, they will be joined by Ali Knowles (Garden City, Pescos League), Jasrado Chisholm (Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB), Kyle Simmons (Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB), Todd Isaacs (Cleveland Indians, MLB), Reshard Munroe (Cincinnati Reds, MLB), Byron Murray (San Francisco Giants, MLB) and Champ Stuart (New York Mets, MLB).

Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan will compete over the course of the four-day contest to decide the 16th and final entry in the 2017 WBC.

After playing for the first time in 2013, Sweeting said Richardson began the process again in2015.

“Antoan wants to see the Bahamas play in the qualifying rounds of the World Baseball Classic,” Sweeting said. “So this time around, he was the one who initially did the introductions with the Baseball Federation and the Great Britain Baseball Federation.

“From that point, after the introduction, the two federations started collaborating on the possibility of other qualified Bahamians participating on the team for Great Britain. I formulated a committee headed by Patrick Adderley out of Grand Bahama, who liaisoned back and forth with Liam Carroll, the manager of Great Britain team, who began the process of reviewing our professional ball players.”

Once they identified the players they were interested in, Sweeting said Great Britain made contact with the relevant baseball teams to grant approval for the players to play, if they so consented. For those who were interested, their grand parents had to be born in the Bahamas before the Independence of the Bahamas in 1973.

Additionally, Sweeting said Great Britain is also looking at the possibility of including Byron Ferguson Jr, Chad Burrows and Desmond Russell from Grand Bahama on their roster.

As for why the Bahamas, with so many players available to make up a team, is not playing as a country, Sweeting said they are working on developing a strong relationship with Major League Baseball with the view of granting the Bahamas the rights to be included in international play.

“We have been in contact with them back and forth from the beginning of 2015, trying to see whether the Bahamas could have submitted a team in the preliminary rounds, which would then afford you, if you win your pool, the opportunity to play in the actual World Baseball Classic,” Sweeting said.

“We were advised that they will do some research and get back to us. When they came back, they advised us that the International Baseball Federation does the recommendation for all of the countries that are afforded the opportunity to play in the World Baseball Classic.”

When they did, Sweeting said the federation was informed that the Bahamas would not be granted permission due to its inactivity in international baseball.

“We had set out a plan, which was to begin in 2015 when we, in collaboration with us sending a youth team to compete, didn’t compete because we were not properly registered,” Sweeting said. “So we did not attend in 2015.

“This is now 2016 and we are now in preparation to sending a under-16 youth team to Mexico to compete in the Pan Am qualifier for 2017.  That looks very promising so that we can actually start the process of qualifying for the World Baseball Classic to be considered for the preliminary rounds.”

Despite the ongoing feud with the BBA, Sweeting said the BBF is forging ahead with the view of getting its national teams prepared for the road to the World Baseball Classic.

“Our goal now is to get a team prepared to compete next month, then prepare for the under-23 AU next year in 2017 and then in 2018 prepare to send a team to represent the country at the Central American and Caribbean Games,” Sweeting said.

“If we do well in that, which is a qualifier for the Pan American Games, the following year, that would move us into 2019 and hopefully 2020 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan where baseball is added back.”