Crying for fair play in PH baseball

We were still waiting for a possible reply from the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association (Paba) whose controversial formation of a national squad to the Asia Single-A tournament among players 12 years and under was questioned by Mike Asuncion, a baseball father. The Asian tournament is scheduled late this month at the Rizal Memorial Ball Park.

There has been no reply from concerned authorities. Instead, we got another complaint from Fortunato Dimayuga Jr., Tanauan City sports commissioner, who said his standout squad has also been snubbed by the Paba in the formation of the national team. There, indeed, are many baseball parents who have been crying foul over the questionable national team formation.

Please read on:

Dear Sir,

This is Roselito M. Bernardo, a baseball coach and a father of three baseball athletes.

I am writing to bring up a personal complaint that involves my son, Angelo Theodore Philippe R. Bernardo, one of the many 2002-born baseball athletes of our country who were not informed officially of the tryouts for the IBF Asia 12 and under Single-A team.

Angelo started playing baseball at the age of 3. He participated in various local and international tournaments since then and became an effective catcher. He can also pitch and play many positions. His greatest baseball asset is hitting as proven by his high on-base percentage, high batting average (9 hits of 9 at bats in the Mustang 10 World Series in Texas 2013), lots of hits in other local and international tournaments and a record 9 home runs so far including one in a home run derby in the Bronco-11 World Series in Virginia, USA last July, plus one  game winning grand slam off one of our good local pitchers.

* * *

He trains almost every day in school and participates in tournaments, earning his slot meritoriously. He had participated in three world-class baseball tournaments: the World Baseball Cup in Taipei last 2013, the Mustang-10 World Series in Texas also last 2013 and the Bronco-11 World Series in Virginia last month. He would have been in the Asia-Pacific Bronco-12 Baseball Tournament also last July in Korea if not for a valid reason not to go.

My son was actually being strongly considered by potential coaches of this IBF Asia Team way before the actual team was formed, only for me to find in astonishment that the team’s lineup was already complete.  After confirming this news, I immediately turned back to the information that I gathered from the mouths of those who are potentially responsible for this mess. There were sickening statements that I remember vividly like “Pagbigyan naman natin ang iba,” “Masyado ng maraming tournaments na sinasalihan si Angelo” and “Baka ’di na maka practice yan.” These statements are baseless because my son was participating then officially in just two tournaments that eventually merged into a single meet.

I was sure then that, had we been informed of the tryouts, it would have been my son’s top priority because it is a national age group team of the Philippines.  I am sure there are several other 2002-born boys who share this predicament and I seriously detest the act of the main party that is behind the malicious formation of this team.

I call on everyone affected by this action, particularly the others who I feel were deceived to believe that they are members of a genuine national team, to make pro-active decisions to correct this grave mistake. I strongly suggest that a quick, official  and widespread tryout announcement be made with a definite deadline for potential candidates to report in a specific venue and a fair player selection procedure be implemented.  Let the boys earn their slots in this national team meritoriously and let them compete with the national pride in their hearts.

Yours in baseball excellence.