Please stop adding flags to mlb roster pages. They do not belong. Thank you. Blahblah32blahblah (talk) 04:54, 31 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, I appreciate the effort put into editing and maintaining roster pages. It was no attempt to vandalize or anything. I've just always found it odd how nearly all other team pages, weather it is Indian Premiere League, NHL, EPL, La Liga, all have their players' birth nation identified. However, if there is an implicit reason for not having them posted on MLB rosters, I'd appreciate having that reason identified.
If it is an issue of incorrect information, I referred to baseball-reference.com to confirm the information. I'd hope you'd reconsider because I think it does add to the brand of baseball MLB provides and I've seen comments added before asking why the flags have been removed in the past. Instead, we'd have to result to individually looking at each player's profile.
Again, I hope you would reconsider because currently 50 percent of minor league players are foreign born and having the increased representation of foreign players identified would be beneficial, especially considering MLB's intent to move forward with a larger and more talented World Baseball Classic in 2013. This was just a subtle way of keeping tabs on the strengths of each baseball playing country, much like the world soccer community keep tabs on how their players are progressing.
However, I will defer to you. If you say you won't allow it. I will make no further attempts to edit. Baseballclarity (talk) 22:06, 31 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's not that they aren't useful, it's just that it will be hard to keep them up to date with the IP editing and people who don't know what they are doing. Also with 40 players on a roster and the many transactions in Spring Training and the regular season the flags will get lost in the shuffle. Plus there are only three countries (USA, Dominican Republic and Japan) that really have great baseball players. The other countries have minority/immigration issues. Ositadinma 14:25, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The real issue is what do the flags stand for? Place of Birth? Nationality? Country represented in international play? For many players that could mean multiple countries, which makes the purpose of the flag very confusing (and pointless). Blahblah32blahblah (talk) 14:57, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Would probably mean place of birth on the MLB rosters, but I see how it can be confusing with A-Rod and R. Ibanez both being born in the US, when some people might think otherwise. Ositadinma 15:30, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Birthplace should be the standard. It would get confusing if we adopted the World Baseball Classic's standard of eligibility which entailed if your parent was born somewhere then you could place for that place.
Most foreign born players obtain U.S. citizenship just as South American soccer players obtain citizenship in Europe. It does given them eligibility to play on the national team of those European countries, some do, specifically Brazilians who play for Portugal because they can't make the Brazilian team. This doesn't seem too difficult, the birth nation should be identified unless the player has made public their intent to play for a country they are now a citizen of. Citizenship just isn't workable nor is it public.
The main issue is that there are about three MLB players who were born in West Germany. The issue here is that they aren't German but Americans who were born on U.S. bases. I think then birthplace can be overruled if information is found that they were born under such circumstances.
A case would be Justin Masterson who is American but was born in Jamaica while his parents were doing missionary work there.
Also, there are more than just great players from the Dominican Republic, Japan, and the United States. Miguel Cabrera was born in Venezuela, as was Johan Santana and Felix Hernandez. Marino Rivera and Carlos Lee were born in Panama, Andruw Jones and Jair Jurrjens were born in the Netherlands, specifically the Dutch territory of Curacao. Jason Bay and Justin Morneau were born in Canada. The list goes on with quality players from Nicaragua, Cuba, Colombia, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea. And just look at the minor league system to see in what direction baseball is heading.[1]
This issue is in no way clear cut, but it is workable. Once the method is worked out, it can be done once the regular season has started and the rosters are set. On wikipedia, even NBA teams have their places of birth listed and there are several teams that have only American born players[2] and at best a team will have four foreign born players. You won't find an MLB team without any foreign born players. Baseballclarity (talk) 16:23, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You see this is how it gets confusing, the examples that I and you have brought up. Bring to to WT:MLB to get a consenus, I for one don't really care for either way.
And the three countries I listed have the most well-known and most talented players. Other countries do too, but just limited in the quality/quantity pool. Ositadinma 17:25, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I wouldn't go so far as to say it is confusing. There are a few players where it is ambiguous, but nothing that can't be decided upon so there is a consistency and understanding to it.
And yes you did name those three countries, Japan is a great baseball country but most of their talent is back in Japan still. I only brought it up because there are countries with more talent in MLB than Japan. Dominican Republic is second to U.S. born players, but Venezuela and Puerto Rico are right up there in terms of talent and quantity. Baseballclarity (talk) 17:34, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Like I said, bring it up with the MLB project to get a wide consenus of whether to have the flags or not.
I don't feel overwhelming strong about it where I'd take it to MLB project. Like I said outright, I was looking for the otherside of the argument that doesn't want the flags. But yes, Craig Stansberry is a similar to the West German born players. There could always be a note made that players are listed according to their birthplace. (Baseballclarity (talk) 18:26, 1 April 2010 (UTC))[reply]
Me either, but if you decide to add the flags you have to bring it up with the MLB project since it is a radical change. Ositadinma 18:33, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
What about minor league pages, specifically the Gulf Coast league which has an overwhelming amount of foreign born players? Just going through the rosters listed at MiLB.com, I'm hard pressed to find players born in America. (Baseballclarity (talk) 18:49, 1 April 2010 (UTC))[reply]
No, it has to be consisent, either all of MiLB or none. Ositadinma 18:57, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four tildes ( ~~~~ ) at the end of your comment. You may also click on the signature button located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your username or IP address and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you. --SineBot (talk) 20:05, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Welcome to the newest member of the task force, baseballclarity. Though they haven't been active in recent days, its always good to see a fresh face round these parts.
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News from the diamond
Claxton Shield: Congratulations to the Victoria Aces for winning the trophy once again, the state's 22nd title. Commiserations to the other teams, particularly to South Australia who made the finals series only to be beaten two games to nil. Though the new league will be commencing this summer, the Shield will still be awarded to the champions, as was the case during the previous incarnation of the ABL.
Australian Provincial Championships: The Australian Capital Territory beat teams representing Country New South Wales, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, as well as New Zealand in the Australian Provincial Championships held during April in Geelong.
Australia Women's Championships: Western Australia won their first title at the Women's Championships on the Gold Coast in April.
Australian Schools Championship: New South Wales took out their 11th title in the Schoolboys Championships, held during May in Perth.
World Junior Baseball Championship: Australia took out second place at the 2010 World Junior Baseball Championship in Thunder Bay, Canada. They went down to Chinese Taipei in the final, but not before beating tournament heavyweights Cuba and USA. It's the best result for an Australian team in the tournament's history, and the first Australian medal since 1995.
Australian Baseball League: On 19 May, the new league had its primary brand launch. Some of the details can be seen at the Australian Baseball Federation's website - www.baseball.com.au - or you can take a look at the brand spanking new website just for the new league: www.theabl.com.au. Earlier this month the new team's names and logos were announced, and work has already started on the new articles for the league and its teams.
Welcome to Qwertyqwas, the newest member of the task force. They've already made some great contributions, particularly to the various ABL roster templates and to the Sydney Blue Sox article. Keep up the good work!
The Bill Ponsford article has been selected for inclusion in Wikipedia:Version 0.8; a collection of articles packaged together for offline release.
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Featured content
The following articles have been promoted past start-class, or included in the task force's scrutiny, since the last edition:
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Congratulations to the Australian Women's Team, who finished in 2nd place at the 2010 Women's World Cup in Venezuela in August. It surpassed the 4th place finishes at all three previous World Cups. Congratulations especially go to Laura Neads, Christina Kreppold and Kim McMillan for their selections in the tournament All Star team, and to Katie Gaynor for leading the tournament with the most RBIs. As a result of this silver medal, the team is now ranked 3rd in the world behind Japan and United States.
The final edition of the the Intercontinental Cup was held in Chinese Taipei in October. Cuba won the tournament, beating Netherlands in the final for their 11th IC title. Italy took out the bronze for their first ever medal at an Intercontinental.
"The Australian baseball public really deserve this."
— Comment from a fan at the ABL's opening night between Sydney and Canberra.
News and announcements
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Things have been a little quieter around hear, no doubt due to the holiday season. With the first ABL postseason coming up, let's see if we can get things going again.
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The regular season for the ABL has come to a close, and the Sydney Blue Sox have finished in first spot earning two guaranteed home finals series. They'll face the Perth Heat in the major semi, where the winner will go straight to the championship series and the loser will have a second chance. The Adelaide Bite will host the Melbourne Aces in the sudden death minor semi. Commiserations to the Brisbane Bandits and the Canberra Cavalry, both on missing out on the finals, and on not getting to play the makeup games from round 9, cancelled because of the Queensland floods.
Perth and Sydney split their season series 4–4, with the Heat sweeping 4–0 playing in Sydney. Adelaide convincingly won their season series with Melbourne 7–1, including a 4–0 sweep in Adelaide.
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"We did what you have to do to win. We got three very good starts, we played some outstanding defence and the bats came alive and we peaked at the right time."
New ABL-themed userboxes are now available to go on your user page. Each of the six teams have a standard one ready to go, while the Blue Sox have an additional one using the crowd chant as heard on Triple H FM. If fans of the other teams want a similarly adjusted userbox, let me know and I'll have it up as soon as I can.
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Congratulations to the Victoria Blue team, defeating New South Wales in the final at Narrabundah Ballpark in Canberra to claim the National Championship. Country New South Wales defeated Western Australia to claim the bronze medal.
Australian Provincial Championships:
After the finals were washed out at Blacktown Olympic Park in Sydney, Western Australia were declared champions at the conclusion of round robin play. They finished in a three-way tie with Country New South Wales and Victoria with a 3–1 record, but finished ahead having given up fewer runs. With its head-to-head win, Country New South Wales claimed silver and Victory bronze.
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located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your username or IP address and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you. --SineBot (talk) 20:05, 1 April 2010 (UTC)
