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MLB swings for game in China

By Yang Xinwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-12 10:04

Toronto Blue Jays Aaron Hill dives for a ball and misses on a hit by Boston Red Sox Bill Hall during the seventh inning of their MLB American League baseball game in Toronto, July 11, 2010. [Agencies]

You can't bank on producing the Yao Ming of baseball in China in two or three years. However, Major League Baseball (MLB) is definitely gaining momentum in the world's most populous nation.

The LA Dodgers' manager, Joe Torre, once said in China: You don't get instant success in baseball - it's a game you grow into.

And that's what's happening now in China.

Soon after the final of the World Cup, on the morning of July 12, the MLB All-Star event will be held at the Anaheim Stadium - on July 13 and 14. In an unprecedented act, six Chinese TV stations - in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Shaanxi, Chongqing and the China digital sports channel - will show live All-Star action on both days. Another 27 cities and provinces can also gain access to the home-run slugfest on the 13th and the game the next day, through the closed cable circuit.

When the International Olympic Committee announced last year that baseball and softball would not appear at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, fans and officials started to worry about the prospects of the sports in China, which boasts a medal-focused training system.

However, that is not the case with the MLB, which is aiming to popularize the sport here through an ambitious 10-year development program.

Appearing on local free TV stations means MLB has another solid foot in China's sports market. It is where the Chinese audience grows into, as defined by Torre.

Making MLB action a regular Chinese household program is a huge task which MLB is working at whilst trying to cultivate a baseball equivalent to NBA star Yao.

MLB is working with the nation's education and sports departments to promote the sport in public schools and communities, hoping to reach millions of Chinese youngsters and find and nurture future talent.

Last September, the MLB Development Center (MLBDC), a baseball academy established in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, became the pinnacle of such cooperation.

The academy hosts 16 select school-aged baseball hopefuls and provides them with regular classes, baseball training and English lessons.

Playing the US pastime without neglecting education is welcomed by Chinese education officials and parents. The young hopefuls are learning to play the game the right way.

The development of baseball was well on track here before the Olympic snub.

The Chinese national team, then coached by Jim Lefebvre, stunned the world by beating Chinese Taipei at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and repeated that feat at the World Baseball Classic. The team lost to the eventual champion South Korea 1-0 at the same Games.

The good news is that the game is still a medal sport at the Asian Games, though China has never won the gold.

I don't believe baseball can replace table tennis as a national pastime but the enthusiasm demonstrated by kids in the MLB Play Ball! program did make me believe that baseball has exploded in popularity in China.

Chinese Baseball Association (CBA) statistics show four million Chinese play the sport and more than 60 Chinese universities and colleges and 1,000 high and primary schools have their own teams.

The baseball population in the US is about 50 million. Senior Chinese baseball official Lei Jun has said the road of baseball development has been, and will still be, bumpy.

"That's why we need the help from MLB."