Europe Holds the Key to MLB's Next Evolution

Major League Baseball is a diverse league, but it didn't become diverse overnight. Turning MLB into the melting pot that it is today took time.

Doing away with the color barrier was MLB's first major step towards becoming a more diverse league. Jackie Robinson became the first black player in Major League Baseball when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and he was followed by Larry Doby, Hank Thompson, Monte Irvin and so on. 

Once the color line was down, players started pouring in from all over, especially from Latin America. More recently, MLB has started taking on more and more players from places like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and even Australia.

Baseball can't hope to match soccer for the title of being the "world's game," but it's getting there. There are only a couple continents left for the sport to conquer.

Chief among these is Europe—a place that has traditionally been a hard nut to crack for Major League Baseball and the sport of baseball in general.

You don't need to conduct a complicated sociological investigation to determine why baseball has had a hard time catching on in Europe. It's a place where soccer is king, and those who want to play a bat-and-ball sport are going to take to cricket before taking to baseball. Other sports like rugby, golf, tennis, basketball and even ice hockey take precedent over baseball as well.

It doesn't help that baseball is a sport that requires a few things that are, shall we say, specific to the sport. You have to have a dirt infield with a mound, as well as gloves, bats, balls and all the usual equipment. In America, these things are commonplace. Across the pond...not so much.

Baseball does exist in Europe, however. There are fields, there are players and there are people dedicated to helping the sport grow throughout the continent. There are more of these individuals than you probably think.

Regardless of the numbers, the good news for baseball is this: Where there's baseball, there's baseball talent.

Major League Baseball finally moved to be more proactive with its outreach to the baseball talent in Europe in 2005. That was the year the league held the very first MLB International European Academy—a sort of tryout meant to provide elite young European baseballers with a few weeks of instruction and exposure.

In attendance at the inaugural MLB International European Academy was this young man:

Meet Alex Liddi. He's a third baseman for the Seattle Mariners who is currently batting .259 with three home runs in 24 games. He recently hit his first grand slam, which you can see over at MLB.com.

Liddi was born in San Remo, Italy, and he was signed by the Mariners as a non-drafted free agent in September of 2005 after he participated in the European Academy.

Liddi is not important because he's the first European player to play in the majors. Many players have traveled across the Atlantic to play in the States since baseball was born in the 1800s. Among the more recent imports is former Baltimore Orioles pitcher and current Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Rick VandenHurk.

However, Liddi is important because he holds the distinction of being the first player to break into the big leagues after participating in the MLB International European Academy. 

He's the first, but he's not going to be the last. Major league teams are ramping up their scouting of young European players, and many of these young players have signed on with major league clubs in the last couple years. 

As reported by Leander Schaerlaeckens of ESPN.com last September, 77 European prospects have signed with major league clubs since 1999, most of whom hail from the Netherlands and Germany. Of those 77, 63 have signed since 2005.

Considering what MLB's interest level was in European baseball was just 10 years ago (virtually nonexistent), these signings represent a monumental step forward.

Robert Eenhoorn, a native of Rotterdam who played for the Yankees and Angels in the 1990s, says this is no fluke:

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"MLB organizations recognize that today there's talent in Europe, too. Back when I signed, there were maybe three organizations that even scouted internationally. And nobody looked at Europe. These days, when we stage an event there are 17 or 18 organizations that come check it out."

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The league's interest will help what European baseball academies there are in Europe (see ESPN.com article for more on those) not just stay afloat, but flourish. There's already impressive talent to be found in Europe, and it stands to reason that there will be more and more as the sport continues to gain traction.

In other words, if Europe isn't already a breeding ground for legitimate MLB talent, it soon will be. Interest in baseball spread like wildfire in Latin America and in certain areas of the Far East, and it could very well do the same in Europe.

Major League Baseball is starting to understand that there's something going on in Europe, and it also understands that it's in the league's interest to start spreading its influence even more. The league already has a dedicated European Twitter account. The the next logical step is to give the people of Europe a glimpse of the real deal.

As reported by Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com back in late March, Major League Baseball officials are weighing the idea of playing regular-season games in Europe, possibly in London or Amsterdam. After playing regular-season games in places like Japan, Puerto Rico and Mexico, Europe is the next logical step.

All the league needs is a proper venue, which, as mentioned above, is the tricky part.

The good news for Major League Baseball is that baseball is going to get a major showcase in Europe thanks to the World Baseball Classic. An expanded qualifying round is scheduled for September, and one of the venues is Armin-Wolf-Baseball-Arena in Regensburg, Germany. This will be the first time an official WBC event will be staged in Europe.

For the time being, the growth of baseball in Europe is happening under the radar. But make no mistake, it's happening. There are lots of people in Europe who take the sport very seriously, and Major League Baseball is now taking the notion of European baseball very seriously.

It's just a matter of time before this combination leads to a steady stream of talent coming from across the pond to the big leagues.

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