Though it no longer hosts Grapefruit League contests, beginning on Feb. 21 and continuing through March 13, the stadium will host a 13-game spring series that will include some of the world’s best baseball teams paired against some of America’s Major League Baseball franchises and college squads.

St. Petersburg’s first season of International Baseball will feature three international teams – national squads from Canada and The Netherlands, along with the Seoul Nexen Heroes of South Korea (the No. 2 finisher in the 2009 World Baseball Classic).

The teams will play each other as well as the Rays, Blue Jays and Phillies, and college teams including Penn State and St. Petersburg College.

Games will be held at Al Lang starting at noon, 1, 2 or 7 p.m., with full schedule ticket plans available.

The schedule is as follows:
Monday, Feb. 21 – noon: Penn State vs. Nexen Heroes
Thursday, Feb. 24 – 7 p.m.: Seoul Nexen Heroes vs. USA (St. Petersburg College)
Saturday, Feb. 26 – 2 p.m.: Canada vs. Seoul Nexen Heroes
Sunday, Feb. 27 – 1 p.m.: Beach State vs. Canada
Monday, Feb. 28 – 1 p.m.: Seoul Nexen Heroes vs. Canada
Tuesday, March 1 – 1 p.m.: Seoul Nexen Heroes vs. Netherlands
Tuesday, March 1 – 7 p.m.: Canada vs. USA (St. Petersburg College)
Thursday, March 3 – 7 p.m.: Netherlands vs. Seoul Nexen Heroes
Friday, March 4 – 1 p.m.: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Canada
Saturday, March 5 – 7 p.m.: Netherlands vs. Canada
Wednesday, March 9 – 1 p.m.: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Netherlands
Friday, March 11 – 7 p.m.: Netherlands vs. USA (St. Petersburg College)
Sunday, March 13 – 1 p.m.: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Netherlands

According to the city, St. Petersburg International Baseball is an international baseball program created by Mayor Bill Foster that will include a spring league, and both a summer and fall series, all playing and practicing in St. Petersburg’s spring training facilities.

“I envision St. Petersburg as an international baseball city,” said Foster in a statement. “We already enjoy an expanding international visitor base. This baseball series will add a unique new dimension to our tourism activities, give our residents an opportunity to enjoy international ball, and bring baseball back to Al Lang Stadium.”

Josh is a former catcher on the British National Team and he has authored two books on baseball in Europe – “Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History” and “British Baseball And the West Ham Club: History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London.”

Josh does a great job of explaining the current state of baseball in Europe – from the top leagues in Italy and Holland to countries where the sport is just taking hold, like Hungary and Ireland – click here to listen

Planet Hardball Podcast | Josh Chetwynd on the Top European Baseball Clubs

You can subscribe to the Planet Hardball Podcast on iTunes. Click here to check it out.

Announcers Gary Thorne and Cy Young Award-winner and three-time All-Star Rick Sutcliffe will call this year’s All-Star Game for MLB International.

One of the challenges of international broadcasting of a single event is the customization of sponsor messages in different regions.  MLB International will offer both a global feed and a Japan-specific feed of its “virtual signage” behind home plate, visible from the center field camera.  According to MLB International, MLB is the only sports league to offer more than one distinct country/region specific virtual feed.

Along with MLB International’s broadcast of the All-Star Game, there will be foreign broadcasters on hand for live broadcasts and news coverage including television and radio broadcasters from Canada, China, Curacao, Japan and across Latin America.

Television coverage in the U.S. begins at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday on the Fox television network.  The game can also be heard live on ESPN Radio and on XM Radio.

“Major League Baseball is more popular worldwide than ever before, as demonstrated by the exceptional caliber of players born outside of the United States, many of whom will be featured in the 2009 All-Star Game,” said Paul Archey, Senior Vice President, International Business Affairs, Major League Baseball. “The All-Star Game is an exciting showcase for the best players in baseball and we, along with our broadcast partners, are proud to bring this event to MLB fans around the world.”

There are 13 foreign-born players – including six of the 16 fan-elected starting position players – on the American and National League rosters for the 2009 MLB All-Star Game, hailing from six different countries and territories (Canada, Dominican Republic, Japan, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela).

In addition to introducing the term honkball to the baseball world, the excitement and ensuing attention those victories garnered for the Dutch squad has helped generate renewed interest back home in a sport whose history there dates back nearly a century.  Bert Blyleven, who won 287 games in a 20-plus career, is the country’s most successful and celebrated major leaguer and served a vital role as pitching coach of the Dutch WBC team.

The general manager of the Netherlands team, Robert Eenhoorn, one of eight Dutch-born players (and five since 1900) to reach the Major Leagues and still the only to have hit a home run, is encouraged by the direction of the sport in the country, and in the prospects for the national team – now ranked sixth in the IBAF World Rankings – and its players on the international level.

Eenhoorn recently took some time to discuss the state of Dutch baseball today, Marlins pitcher Rick VandenHurk and Eenhoorn’s own experiences in baseball.

BD: What has the success of the National Team at the World Baseball Classic meant to the sport in the Netherlands?

RE: We received more publicity and recognition through these results. We just signed a three-year deal with Reebok as an outcome and have many people motivated to to continue to grow our level.

BD: Have you seen a change over the past few years in the numbers of kids playing baseball? What is the youth league structure there?

RE: We just found out that we have a 50% increase of new kids than normal around this time. We have a club system where kids can go to and play organized baseball. If they are good enough they will be invited to play in one of the six academies we have to develop the best talent.

BD: Have you kept in touch with Rick VandenHurk since the WBC?  How is his recovery progressing?

RE: Rick is currently rehabbing and will start pitching soon. His father is the GM of one of the Academies and through him we are always very up to date. Rick is one of the finest people I have been around in Baseball. He really enjoys what he is doing, which isn’t as easy as one would think

BD: Who are some of the other “home grown” Dutch players that you feel will make an impact in the U.S. major or minor leagues?

RE: Besides Rick,we also have Rogear Bernadina who is currently in the ML. From The Antilles we have [Atlanta righthander Jair] Jurrjens and [Nationals' righty Shairon] Martis pitching in the majors. All these guys will have good careers I believe. In the minor leagues we have about 50 players between Holland and the Islands who are all dreaming of a career in the ML. The future of the Kingdom of the Netherlands looks very bright.

BD: How has your own experience in the U.S. major and minor leagues affected your career back home?

RE: I understand both worlds. I was raised in Europe and International baseball and had a professional career in the U.S. I know how both places work and think. So I would say it is a big advantage for me in my daily work.

BD: How did the WBC experience compare to the Olympic experience, both personally and for the team?

RE: I was at four Olympics as a player and manager. This event is tremendous. One of the reasons, because the best athletes in all sports are there and it is a milestone and an honor for an athlete to be part of this. It is also important for countries in their development of their sport, baseball. The WBC is an amazing tournament when you are a baseball player. You play under the best conditions against the best players in the world. This tournament could be the FIFA World Cup of Baseball in my opinion.

BD: What is your best memory from the 2009 WBC?

RE: My best memory is of course the winning run at the D.R. in the second game. I still get goosebumps when I play the clip on the MLB site. To know where we came from nine years ago and to see this accomplishment take place, is a tribute of all the hard work of players, staff and all of the field personnel that were involved in this nine-year journey.

1. Cuba
2. Korea
3. Japan
4. USA
5. Chinese Taipei
6. Netherlands
7. Mexico
8. Canada
9. Australia
10. Puerto Rico

The IBAF debuted its World Rankings earlier this year in January.  Developed in conjunction with Scott Goode, a sports information director from Harding University (Arkansas, USA), the rankings are based on a point total which IBAF member federations (teams) earn from IBAF-sanctioned events in a four-year window, or a period of time that encompasses two IBAF Baseball World Cups.

Teams earn points based on their finish in an event. A tournament winner takes home 50 points, second place, 40; third place, 30; and fourth place, 15. From there, points are divided evenly among the remaining teams in the event to ensure balance between tournaments that feature different-sized fields.

Once points are rewarded based on a team’s finish, that amount is then multiplied by a number based on the strength of the event. Major world championships, such as an Olympic Games, IBAF Baseball World Cup or World Baseball Classic, all receive 4X multipliers. Minor world championship events (Junior, Youth or FISU University Worlds, or the Honkbol Tournament, for example) have a 1X multiplier, and all other continental championships receive multipliers from 1X-.25X based on how many teams in the top-10 of the current IBAF World Rankings compete in the event.

The full rankings can be seen at: http://www.ibaf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Files_-_world_rankings/2009_IBAF_World_Rankings_March.htm

Chetwynd, a veteran of professional European baseball and Great Britain’s national team, is the author of Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History
, and served as recruiting and game preparation consultant for Team South Africa in both the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics. Following is a Q & A I did with Josh after the Netherlands qualified for the second round of the WBC.

Have you played against the Netherlands? What is their country’s baseball history?

I’ve played against the Dutch National Team twice — most recently in 2005 when as a member of the Great Britain national team we fell in the opening game of the European Championships 4-1 to the Netherlands. The have won each of the past five European Championships.

The sport in Holland can trace its roots back to the first decade of the 20th century. But it was J. C. G. Grasé who started the process of making baseball (or honkbal as it’s known in the Netherlands) a small yet sturdy fixture on the Dutch sporting landscape in 1910.

Holland wasn’t the first European country to try baseball (a number of locales including Great Britain, France and Italy all had tastes of the sport earlier), but the Netherlands had a few factors that helped baseball gain a level of legitimacy early on. First, members of the professional class took to the game. Grasé was a teacher and one of the first teams to play the sport in Holland had lawyers, doctors, engineers and businessmen. Moreover, the school system embraced the sport in 1912 and a handful of the country’s biggest soccer teams, including the monolithic Ajax club, started baseball wings. Beyond that, the Dutch sought out tough competition: A Netherlands national team would consistently play American Navy personnel who docked in Dutch ports during the early 20th century.

Even World War II did not fully stop baseball in Holland. Unlike practically every other location in continental Europe, baseball continued during the War. Thus, while most other European countries had to start from scratch after hostilities, the Dutch continued practically unabated. Another element that has helped the Dutch is its relationship with Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Those members of the Dutch Kingdom are located near Venezuela and have added a great level of athleticism and baseball know-how to both the country’s national team as well as its top domestic league — the hoofdklasse, which is effectively a professional circuit.

Throw in the fact that Holland’s baseball fathers have always aggressively sought out first-class American baseball coaches and it’s not surprising that their national team have an amazing 157-31 record in the European Baseball Championships through 2007. If you take away its head-to-head record against its closest rival — Italy — they are 115-1 at that event!

Have you seen this year’s Netherlands team? Were you surprised that they made it through the first round?

While I haven’t seen them this year, I’ve played against a number of members of the Dutch squad, including facing pitcher Rob Cordemans, who had a lot of success in the first round of the WBC. To be honest, I’ve always felt that Dutch baseball has not received the respect they deserve internationally. They were the first team to beat the Cubans in an Olympic tournament and have often fared well in international tournaments.

What people may forget is that playing in an international tournament is a lot different than playing in a professional baseball setting. The single-game pressure that a tournament like the WBC provides is one that many Major Leaguers are probably not accustomed to regularly feeling. After all, even the World Series is a best-of-seven series. (For this reason, a country like Cuba also has a distinct advantage in the tournament setting.)

Most of the players on the Dutch team have a tremendous amount of that double-elimination experience. In addition, most of them have played together before. This isn’t a slapped together squad of superstars. I sometimes believe that chemistry is an underrated element of baseball. The Dutch have that experience. They have the experience of being in the trenches together in tight situations in the past. I suspect — despite clearly far greater innate talent — the Dominicans could not claim that same level of shared experience.

What would it take in Great Britain and other European countries for baseball tov’break through’ into the national consciousness? Would a Netherlands WBC winvmake any difference to European sports fans?

The sports landscape is so crowded nowadays, it’s hard for any sport to breakthrough in non-traditional territories. We’ve seen how hard soccer has worked to establish itself in the US and, yet, it remains a minor sport despite such popularity at the youth level. Clearly, a Dutch victory would bring more attention to the sport in Europe, which would certainly help, but I’m not sure it would be enough.

There has been discussion for sometime about setting up an MLB-supported professional league in Europe. There are two competing proposals out there — one would be a league based solely in Italy and the other would be a pan-European league. Both models have pluses and minuses. The bottom line is that without sustained support for a professional league, baseball will continue to remain a very minor sport on the continent. Even with a league, it will require deft marketing and patience in the development of interest in the circuit in order for it to have a lasting impact in raising baseball’s profile in the region.

Many thanks to Josh Chetwynd for sharing his insight on the Netherlands and European baseball. We hope to hear more from Josh in the future. In the meantime, be sure to check out his book Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History

(John Fitzgerald also contributed to this article.)