MAKINGS OF A GREAT CLASSIC.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

When this happened really doesn't matter. Why this happened is a topic for another rainy day. What has happened is startling, significant and the key to appreciating the World Baseball Classic as Friday's first pitch draws near in the first national-teams baseball tournament to feature major-league players.

What it has come to is that right now, if you put together a dream lineup for the sport still commonly referred to as America's Pastime, you might not pencil in a full-blooded American to start at any position.

Yes, All-Universe third baseman Alex Rodriguez was born in New York City. But he spent part of his childhood in the Dominican Republic, and because his parents are Dominican he could have played for the Dominican team if he'd wanted.

Without stretching things too far, you could make a case for players from the Dominican, Venezuela, Panama, Curacao, Canada and Japan topping the galactic depth chart over the unalloyed products of the United States.

The point is that at a time when young U.S. athletes are increasingly siphoned away by other sports and African-American participation in baseball is at an all-time low, it's the imported talent that has kept the game entertaining.

Which is the reason World Baseball Classic, an 18-day tournament that will serve as the greatest celebration of international baseball to date, strikes me as a worthwhile venture no matter what the event's many critics are saying.

There will be three rounds of competition, beginning with all 16 teams playing in four round-robin groups, the United States facing Mexico, Canada and South Africa on March 7-10 in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz.; then eight survivors playing two further groups, the United States in line for March 12-16 in Anaheim; then the final four squaring off March 18 and 20 in San Diego.

First, though, there has been a round of WBC-bashing from the likes of Barry Bonds and George Steinbrenner and writers all over the country. Some of the reaction has been so hysterical, I thought Dubai must have sent a team.

The critics don't like the fact the WBC is being held at a time of year when participants will have to take time away from their major-league teams' spring training camps. They don't like the fact the WBC is being held at a time when participants are in less than midseason form, forcing the organizers to adopt pitch limits. They don't like the fact dozens of stars are declining to play, including Bonds (United States), Manny Ramirez (Dominican Republic) and Nomar Garciaparra (Mexico) among them. They don't like the fact some stars will play for what sound like odd teams, among them Mike Piazza (Italy), and Mark Mulder and Andruw Jones (Netherlands). They don't like that the schedule is dotted with who-cares match-ups.

``Wow,'' the Chicago Tribune's Mike Downey wrote of Canada-South Africa, ``the betting in Vegas must be furious on that.''

They don't like that in baseball's first try at a World Cup-style, quadrennial championship, it looks less like a World Cup than a corporate tactic by Major League Baseball to try to catch up to basketball in overseas markets.

But the basic complaint seems to be that the WBC will interrupt the normal flow of spring training and jeopardize players' healthy prepping for the regular season.

Well, once every four years, couldn't we re-arrange our priorities just a touch to celebrate what has become the greatest element of the game? To cheer what those other countries' players have done for the sport, instead of thinking about what it has done for them? To watch a Dominican batting order (Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Miguel Tejada, Adrian Beltre) and a Venezuelan pitching staff (Johan Santana, Freddy Garcia, Gustavo Chacin, Francisco Rodriguez) - and a U.S. roster -that would be the envy of the best major-league teams?

I said you could fill a dream lineup card with imported major-league players, so here's mine:

Catcher - Victor Martinez (Venezuela).

First base - Albert Pujols (Dominican Republic); second base - Alfonso Soriano (Dominican Republic), third base - A-Rod; shortstop - Jose Reyes (Dominican Republic) or Miguel Tejada (Dominican Republic).

Left field - Ramirez or Miguel Cabrera (Venezuela) or Jason Bay (Canada) or Hideki Matsui (Japan); center field - Andruw Jones (Curacao); right field - Guerrero or Ichiro Suzuki (Japan).

Designated hitter - Ortiz.

Starting pitcher - Santana.

Closer - Mariano Rivera (Panama) or K-Rod.

Oddly, considering that the Dominican Republic has been Shortstop U, the position where I have to strain to pick imported players is shortstop. I wouldn't argue with Americans Derek Jeter and Michael Young.

Look at it this way: Foreign-born players accounted for nine of the top 13 hitters in total bases in 2005, four of the top six in National League MVP voting, three of the top four in American League MVP voting, and the top three in AL Cy Young voting.

I'm going to watch the WBC to honor what those guys bring to the game.

If you'd rather watch the Rockies play a Royals' split squad, be my guest.