Tomorrow Major League Baseball will make its first-ever attempt to expand its horizons to another foreign country. This time, though, MLB will send two teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres to the communist country of China.
The two teams will depart from their respective Spring Training sites, the Padres in Peoria, Ariz. and the Dodgers in Dodgertown, Fla., tomorrow to embark on a one-week trip. The trip is more than about baseball, though. It's about public relations, and expanding the sport to a country that otherwise only cares about basketball.
The two teams will visit the Great Wall and sign autographs there for fans as well as at shopping centers. They will also hold youth clinics in an effort to teach young kids the ins and outs of baseball.
Then, on Sunday, or Monday, by China's time code, the two teams will play two exhibition games in Beijing at the Wukesong Baseball Field, which holds approximately 12,000 fans. The stadium will also host the 2008 Olympic baseball tournament this August.
But after that, the stadium will be bulldozed to the ground in order to make way for high-rises like a hotel or condominium in a typical Chinese effort that makes sure commerce comes first in a country with the highest population in the world.
There is also a basketball arena close to Wukesong Baseball Field, but it won't be bulldozed, as the sport is the country's biggest, particularly due to the Yao Ming following, the 7-foot-6 Chinese basketball player who joined the NBA's Houston Rockets in 2002.
It is estimated that 300 million Chinese people play basketball across the world, and that fewer than 500 kids under the age of 18 in China play competitive baseball.
Major League Baseball is adamantly trying to expand its borders, and some even think that somewhere down the road the league will be expanded past just the U.S. and Canada. But for now, the Padres and Dodgers will do their best just to get some attendance. At a typical game at Wukesong stadium, teams are lucky to reel in more than just a few hundred fans a game.
The two teams will depart from their respective Spring Training sites, the Padres in Peoria, Ariz. and the Dodgers in Dodgertown, Fla., tomorrow to embark on a one-week trip. The trip is more than about baseball, though. It's about public relations, and expanding the sport to a country that otherwise only cares about basketball.
The two teams will visit the Great Wall and sign autographs there for fans as well as at shopping centers. They will also hold youth clinics in an effort to teach young kids the ins and outs of baseball.
Then, on Sunday, or Monday, by China's time code, the two teams will play two exhibition games in Beijing at the Wukesong Baseball Field, which holds approximately 12,000 fans. The stadium will also host the 2008 Olympic baseball tournament this August.
But after that, the stadium will be bulldozed to the ground in order to make way for high-rises like a hotel or condominium in a typical Chinese effort that makes sure commerce comes first in a country with the highest population in the world.
There is also a basketball arena close to Wukesong Baseball Field, but it won't be bulldozed, as the sport is the country's biggest, particularly due to the Yao Ming following, the 7-foot-6 Chinese basketball player who joined the NBA's Houston Rockets in 2002.
It is estimated that 300 million Chinese people play basketball across the world, and that fewer than 500 kids under the age of 18 in China play competitive baseball.
Major League Baseball is adamantly trying to expand its borders, and some even think that somewhere down the road the league will be expanded past just the U.S. and Canada. But for now, the Padres and Dodgers will do their best just to get some attendance. At a typical game at Wukesong stadium, teams are lucky to reel in more than just a few hundred fans a game.
No comments:
Post a Comment