Yankees Nation Eyes Baseball Talent Potential in China
January 26th, 2007 by dd
The Yankees consider themselves the most driven team in a competitive sport, so their push to boost baseball in China is not purely altruistic. They believe there is talent to be cultivated in China, and when future prospects have a choice of where to sign, the Yankees want their brand and reputation to stand out.
The Yankees have been working with the Chinese Baseball Association for more than six months to forge a relationship that would allow the Yankees to send coaches, scouts and trainers to China. General Manager Cashman and three other executives accepted an invitation to travel to Beijing next week. “The Chinese are dedicated to this. They like the game. As you can see from their history, they’re great athletes, and there’s no doubt in my mind there will be a lot of great baseball players coming out of there in the future.”
But the overriding purpose of the trip is to build a foundation in China, which has produced no major leaguers and lost all three of its games in the World Baseball Classic last March by the combined score of 40-6. [NYTimes]
June 18th, 2007 at 5:01 am
The Yankees are so desperate, they have to look outside of the normal realm such as colleges, minor league and so on and try to find talent in China. Why not India, Vietnam, Mongolia, or Peru?