Politics, leadership woes ruin Philippine baseball

The Philippines was once a baseball powerhouse but not anymore. While local talents still abound, baseball, a sport brought to the country by the Americans has suffered serious decline in recent years because of politics, poor leadership and lack of promotion.

The Philippines ruled the first Asian Baseball Championship in 1954 and then finished third and fourth in the same meet in 1955 and 1971 against Asian powerhouse teams Japan, China and Taiwan. Though it is not as popular as before among Filipinos of the 21st century, the Philippine national baseball team still dominated the 2011 Southeast Asian Games despite lack of financial support from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).