Moderately strongmen Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega are proposing a pan-Latin American professional baseball league. Kind of a neat idea, actually. The best part: they want to include Bolivia:Bolivia's western mountains would be quite a setting for baseball. The capital La Paz, at 11,800 feet above sea level, is one of several Bolivian cities that would make Denver's famous elevation laughable. The Colorado Rockies hosted World Series games last year at Coors Field - at a mere 5,280 feet.Let's see, home runs, no curve balls, lots of wheezing and shortness of breath . . . wasn't this already tried with the 1993 Phillies?Baseball fans have long argued over how much the game is distorted by Denver's altitude, where balls fly farther and pitches lose their curves.
Bolivia's high plains would provide an extreme laboratory. The thin Andean air raises the specter of vast home runs, no breaking balls, and visiting lowland players bent over wheezing after a sprint to first base.
1 comment:
Baseball & Chavez is interesting.
There has been speculation, not just amongst us chattering classes but major league teams and Venezualan players as well, as to what the future holds.
I've read some teams and players ( can't remember names ) are hesitant to make investments in youth baseball academies - or that sort of thing - out of fear that they will be nationalized. Also, will Chavez start forcing his players to play at home?
The Bolivia aspect of this story is novel but Chavez and baseball bears watching.
Post a Comment