Old Time Family Baseball

While looking for a Willie Bloomquist Team USA jersey, sadly learning that such a thing doesn’t exist, I stumbled upon something that is possibly even better.

MLB is offering a series of country-specific tee-shirts with images of national pride upon them. America has the flag and the Statue of Liberty, Italy has the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Netherlands have idyllic Dutch Windmills.

It’s a scene you will rarely see on a tee-shirt, much less a licensed one for a major sport, and is another sign of how wonderful and different the World Baseball Classic is. The Marlins don’t have Dutch Windmills, the Yankees don’t have Dutch Windmills, but the Netherlands do.

As Emma Span pointed out in her must read piece about the World Baseball Classic, there is a team in the Netherlands named the Hoofddorp Pioniers. And that’s to be celebrated.