These questions were answered by Kelsey Meridieth and I.
1. We determined Klein meant that "growing the game" means trying to develop the sport in Nations where it is weak. The WBC gives every nation an equal opportuinty to play and get involved in baseball on a huge international stage. It also gives exposure to countries that host the event and raises their economy during the event. FIFA is a few steps above the WBC still and has had so much sucess while it has been around much longer. FIFA has an outstanding reputation and is known has the best league in the world.
2.Some of the Pros of the WBC are traveling to other countries during the offseason and bringing exposure to those countries. Also showing different talented players that aren't in the MLB. It could bring tourists to places that they wouldn't normally go. A con would be the MLB season is so long that many of the best players wouldn't want to compete in the WBC.
3.Based upon other sports efforts in globalization we would suggest that baseball stars go into countries and promote youth baseball.
One of the criticisms of MLB's staging of the WBC was that only a limited number of countries were invited. I felt that Klein was critical of that since some of the other countries thought the WBC should use a more democratic process (like FIFA). As far as the length of the MLB season, I definitely agree with you that it keeps many MLB players from participating. I would say that is probably true of U.S. players more than others, although MLB teams seem to have something to say about it. I wish there was a better time for everyone to play but with the length of the MLB season, I don't know when that would be.
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