US envoy brings baseball to 1st home in PH

BAGUIO CITY—American Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas Jr. is a die-hard New York Mets fan although he has a bit of his heart left for the other New York baseball team, the Yankees.

But while stationed in the Philippines, Thomas wanted a home baseball team to root for.

With the aid of his classmates at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, he has been helping a baseball team at the former site of the Smokey Mountain dump in Tondo, Manila.

Now with the help of the United States Peace Corps volunteers, he is bringing back the American pastime in what is said to be the first home of baseball in the country, Baguio City.

Last week, Thomas and Peace Corps volunteers held a baseball clinic at the Athletic Bowl. The ambassador also distributed baseball bats and balls to the participants.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Thomas said Filipinos have what it takes to succeed in professional baseball. “There are many Filipinos in baseball right now,” he said.

He mentioned star pitcher Tim Lincecum of the 2010 champion team San Francisco Giants whose mother is Filipino. “He’s not really that big but he’s a great pitcher that’s why his nickname is ‘The Freak,’” he said.

He also mentioned fellow All-Star Shane Victorino of  Philadelphia Phillies, the leading team in the major league. Victorino is from Maui, Hawaii, and is of Filipino and Portuguese heritage.

Another noted Filipino-American baseball player is San Diego Padres outfielder Jason Bartlett whose mother is Filipino.

But the Fil-Am baseball player closest to Thomas’ heart is former Mets Benny Agbayani, who also comes from Hawaii. Agbayani starred for the Mets in their losing bid for the 2000 World Series against the Yankees.

Thomas brought former Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. in March this year to the Philippines to boost baseball here. “He hit home runs at the Rizal Memorial Stadium,” Thomas said.

Interestingly, baseball legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig also hit home runs at the same ballpark when they came here in 1934.

Thomas said he asked Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim to build a “field of dreams” in Tondo so children there could play ball.

The ambassador also led baseball clinics in Manila and Cebu City but it was his baseball clinic in Baguio that was the most symbolic.

Baguio was the staging ground of the first baseball tournaments in the country, architect and urban planner Paulo Alcazaren said in a paper he presented to a history conference at Teachers’ Camp here.

He cited a 1918 magazine article which said games like baseball were introduced by then American Governor General William Cameron Forbes in the summer of 1911 in Baguio to make the more than 500 Filipino clerks vacationing here active.

The baseball, basketball, volleyball and tennis games were a hit and because of this, the Bureau of Education integrated group athletics in its curriculum. By 1918, about 60,000 Filipino boys and girls were playing these games.

As a fitting example, the Teachers’ Camp Museum has a huge  photograph of an Igorot in G-string poised to hit a baseball with his bat.