Wow, how life imitates art. First the Cubs win the World Series and then Donald Trump becomes president-elect. I wonder if it will be Trump who greets the Cubs at the White House? Wouldn't that be like two anti-matter particles colliding?
To steal a phrase from "Back To The Future", who became Vice President, Kim Kardasian?
OK, all kidding aside, Trump's election should bring at least one fleeting question into the minds of baseball fans. How, if at all, will Trump's election impact the number of foreign-born players in baseball? Obviously the NHL has the highest percentage of non-US born players at close to 50%. However, not counting that sport which originated, for the most part, in Canada, baseball comes in second with 28% of their players born outside the US. The NBA has like 2% foreign-born players. Even the NHL, if you don't count Canada, has less than 14% of its players born neither in Canada or the US.
So, if Trump really follows through with actions that support his verbalized isolationist leanings, will it impact the number of foreign players who can even get into the US to play baseball? In the past, due to concerns about identity fraud and other issues, it has not been a piece of cake to get Latin players into the US. Will Trump's regime make it harder and, if so, will it actually impact the talent in MLB?
Probably a non-issue but, given Trump's stated positions, something that we have to at least consider.
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