MLB Olympics 1

Pictured, right: the Canadian national baseball team on their way to practice.

Stubby Clapp isn't going to be a part of Canada's Olympic squad in Beijing this year and it's a damn shame, because the minute or so it took the announcers to talk about how funny his name is would've been the most entertaining minute or so in Canadian baseball this year. The Houston Astros organization should be ashamed of themselves for denying a kinda bad, injured, 35 year old minor leaguer in their employ to pinch hit once or twice on the seventh or eighth-ish place team at the Summer Olympics. Who are they going to get to replace him, Billy Jo Robidoux? That guy isn't even Canadian.

After the jump, today's Dugout, wherein The Stubbster breaks the bad news to his coach, who looks a lot like the singer Sting when you look at him for a while.

Whenever someone makes an all-name list of baseball players, there's always one name that seems to make the cut. He's not a great player but Stubby Clapp has one of the more memorable names of anyone who's ever played the game.

In addition to all-name teams, Clapp's been a mainstay of the Canadian national team since 1999. At 35, that's the only baseball he's still playing, though he's also the hitting coach for Class A Lexington in the Houston Astro system. Still, it's a shame the team has refused to give Clapp permission to play in Beijing this summer.

"The Houston Astros have turned down our request for Stubby to play for us," (Coach Greg) Hamilton told CBCSports.ca. "It's a blow. Stubby Clapp brings leadership to the team and in many ways is the face of the program."

The Astros position is understandable. They hired Clapp to coach and don't want to lose a month of his services while prospects could benefit from his tutelage. But, Clapp hurt his knee in Olympic qualifying and might not even be physically able to play. Why not figure out if it's even possible for him to play before rejecting it out of hand?

The difficulty getting big-name players is a big reason why baseball won't be at the 2012 Olympics. It would be nice if players who devoted themselves to the international game got a chance to go out in style this summer. Plus it would be nice to hear Stubby's name a few more times before he gets lost in the minors.

(H/T BBTF)

International Pastime looks at baseball's influence outside the U.S.

Baseball is a uniquely American sport -- and by that I include North, South and Central America. It's certainly gained traction is some parts of Asia, but for the most part the game is played on this side of the pond. This fact became even more clear when Great Britain officially ended their Olympic bid, not for lack of qualifying (they were still in the race), but simply lack of funding. From the BBC:

The British baseball team was funded by UK Sport until 2005, the same year the sport was dropped by the International Olympic Committee for the 2012 Games and beyond.

The British Olympic Association stepped in and acquired an Olympic solidarity grant of $100,000 (£50,000) from the IOC which funded the team through 2006 and 2007.

"That money was used to play in the 2007 European Championships, where we finished second," said Fromer.

"And that result meant we qualified for the final Olympic qualifying tournament, along with seven other teams, which starts this week, but it also used up the rest of our funds.

How much money did the team need to compete in Taiwan? A mere £40,000, which translates to roughly $80,000. In this day and age of corporate sponsorship, it blows my mind some company like Nike or adidas or even a generous MLB owner (how about Tom Hicks? He could use some positive English p.r.) didn't just step up to the plate simply to be known as the company that saved baseball in Britain. I mean, 80 grand? That's a rounding for these guys.