Following the success of the World Baseball Classic in March, MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced today plans for a new event: the Galactic Baseball Classic.
Baseball federations representing the Kuiper Belt, the Oort Cloud and Alpha Centauri have already signed on, with more Milky Way celestial bodies with strong baseball traditions expected to join.
While Earth would be the likely favorite, there are questions about whether some players would skip the Classic to avoid injury, and whether star Manny Ramirez would play for Earth or his native Mars. In addition, the MLB announced that only biological Humans would be allowed to represent Earth, leaving Barry Bonds' eligibility in question.
There has also been controversy surrounding whether MLB will allow Jupiter's moon of Europa to participate in the Classic. Europa has been subject to economic sanctions for 4.6 billion years, including the existence of a 100 km-thick ice blockade.
Expecting the GBC to be a success, Selig said he has already begun preliminary negotiations with the Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies in hopes of establishing an Intergalactic Baseball Classic in the future.
