Bleacher Report - Articles by Jeff Swiryn

MLB China Series 2008: Dodgers, Padres Tie in Game One

Jeff Swiryn — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:56:56 -0400

The baseball gods were smiling on Beijing on March 15.

The skies were clear and blue, which is a lot to ask from China’s capital city. Besides running out of hot dogs in the bottom of the second inning, the first game of the China Series went off without a hitch.

Fans witnessed the first MLB home run, pickle, and broken bat in Chinese history as the Dodgers and Padres battled to a 3-3 tie.

The Gwynn twins

While Matt Kemp and Andruw Jones launched batting practice balls over the right field bleachers, fans started to file into the park as early as possible. The line outside the gate bent down the street—and in a clear effort to practice for the Summer Olympics, a time-consuming security check caused hundreds of fans to miss the first inning after an hour wait.

Frank and Barbara Glenski have been to every Padres game since 1978. As they entered Wukesong Stadium in matching Tony Gwynn jerseys, it was clear that a trip to Beijing wasn't going to stop the streak.

But they seemed less concerned with the historic significance of the first MLB game in China than just seeing their Padres play baseball.

In addition to these San Diego diehards, fans ranged from Japanese and South Korean baseball enthusiasts to Beijing Little League and high school teams in full uniform, plus a number of Americans wearing an array of NL and AL caps.

Chinese people are great baseball fans. When the American ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, accompanied by the VP of the Beijing Olympic Committee, threw out the first pitch, the crowd went crazy. When Padres right fielder Drew Macias threw a ball into the bleachers between innings, they cheered. The first ball lifted into the air was a sky-high pop foul down the left field line—and they cheered louder.

Chinese fans might not understand all the intricate rules of baseball yet, but for the most part, they watch every pitch and applaud, well, everything.

Plus, they have fun translations for baseball lingo, including “double murder,” meaning double play.

Please turn to page 16

Bud Black was right when he admitted that Beijing might favor the Dodgers because of their three Asian players. Every time Taiwanese shortstop Chin-Lung Hu came to bat, he received hearty support from the bleachers.

He also committed the first-ever MLB error in China and lined into a bases-loaded double play—but Beijing was proud to have a Taiwanese brother on the field with the mighty Dodgers.

In the top of the third inning, fans were given a real opportunity to cheer. Justin Germano surrendered a solo bomb to George Lombard that sailed into the right field bleachers—where it was caught by the same guy who caught the ball tossed by Macias earlier in the game.

Of the 12,000 people in attendance, he was one of a handful who'd brought a glove—and it paid off for him. The crowd loved it.

In the top of the fourth inning, a foreigner-induced wave overtook most of the stadium. That's when you knew baseball had truly arrived in China.

After five innings, "Hell's Bells" rang loudly over the loudspeaker, and Beijing welcomed baseball's all-time saves leader to his first Chinese mound.

Trevor Hoffman made fairly quick work of the Dodgers in the top of the sixth.

An inning later, the announcer came on the PA system to lead the stadium in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Before the singing started, he welcomed all who didn’t know the words to "turn to page 16 of your programs, where you’ll find the lyrics to a traditional American baseball song."

Double Murder

The Dodgers and Padres traded runs to leave the score tied at three heading into the top of the ninth. With Chin-Lung Hu due up again, the fans were up out of their seats.

Sitting in the right field bleachers was a local man who obviously knew the intricacies of the game, as his cheering was on point and his yelling at the Taiwanese shortstop seemed like second nature.

His name was Wu Ling. I decided to ask him the question of the weekend: “Are you cheering for the Dodgers because this Taiwanese guy is on their team?”

“I was,” he said, “but he seems to commit double murder more often than he gets on base.”

Mr. Wu has been a baseball fan since he was in middle school. Though he didn’t really understand the game until high school, he explained that baseball had always intrigued him as a kid—an interesting fact given the lack of baseball in China when Mr. Wu was a boy.

Sitting next to him was his son, and the duo reminded me of a typical father-son fan combo in the bleachers at any American game.

As Mr. Wu seemed to be about the closest thing to diehard a baseball fan I was going to find in Beijing, I asked him a few more questions.

“To tell you the truth, I think Beijing will have a hard time accepting baseball anytime soon,” he said when asked about the game's future in China. “There are not enough fans, it’s hard to watch a game here, and it’s rarely on TV.”

Bummer, I thought.

Mr. Wu went on to talk about the lack of Chinese talent, and then pointed to the crowd, which was beginning to thin out.

“Look around,” he said. “Maybe a third of these fans are Chinese. It will be a while before we can fill a stadium with Chinese people.”

I guess the instructional video on the subway trains about the rules of baseball hadn’t quite reached the masses yet. But even though nobody won the first MLB game in China, it happened.

Baseball was here. It was historic.

And it beat the NFL to Beijing.

Baseball in China, Part 2: Dodgers, Padres Settle Into Beijing

Jeff Swiryn — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:35:16 -0400

Five Pine Trees

After the opening of the new No. 5 subway line in Beijing, the city decided to lower ticket prices in an effort to get some cars off the roads. The new price is 2RMB (about 30 cents) no matter how far you ride any of the subway lines.

The result: Same amount of cars on the road—and a subway system that couldn't get any more saturated with cheap commuters. But it also has instructional videos of baseball rules.

Wukesong Stadium—Wukesong means “Five Pine Trees” in English—is on line No. 1. Coming from the east side of Beijing, I rode past Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and through the crowds to Wukesong station.

The Olympic baseball venue isn't hard to spot. It's actually three ballparks—two competition fields and a practice field. The giant “MLB Series 2008” banners hanging from the outside of the main stadium make it stick out quite obviously.

Sadly, all three temporary stadiums will be torn down after the Olympics.

In front of the stadium, the setting is not unlike that at any typical Chinese sporting complex. A group of elderly women dances with drums, another group practices Tai Qi, and a couple of old men are sitting with their caged birds.

When asked if they know what this weekends' events are all about, the old men say confidently, “bangqiu”, the Chinese word for baseball, and then continue discussing their birds.

Keep your head down

From Wukesong stadium, some of the reporters took the 10-minute trip to Fengtai Shiyan Elementary School, where a group of Padres would be teaching Chinese schoolchildren the ways of America's pastime.

As part of MLB's agreement with the Chinese Baseball Association, a program called “Play Ball” was started last year. According to Jeff Brueggemann of China's MLB Envoy, the goal of the Play Ball program is to train Chinese baseball coaches and students, and to spread the culture of baseball to the world's biggest untapped market.

The program reportedly aims to reach 100,000 Chinese kids in its first stage. Bruggemann said that last year program participants trained 40 coaches across Chinese cities, and this year they hope to train another 40 or so.

After a slight delay in the Padres schedule, they finally made it to the school, where a group of about 20 kids had already begun their training with Play Ball coaches. Adrian Gonzalez came down the stairs to the basement gym with a camcorder in is hand, filming his own version of the China Series. With him came pitchers Heath Bell and Justin Germano—but although the kids looked excited, they wouldn't know the difference between Trevor Hoffman and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

After being introduced, the Padres stars began their sessions. Despite the fact that the children only got about a half-hour with them, the players were genuinely involved. Bell and Germano taught pitching mechanics to kids throwing to the Padres' Friar mascot behind the plate, and one of them noted, “I think we've found the next Trevor Hoffman.”

On the other side of the room, Gonzalez gave individual lessons to kids on a hitting tee.

“Keep your head down”, he said. “Keep your eye on the ball and bring your power arm through”.

Meanwhile, Mr. Brueggemann answered questions about the Play Ball program and baseball in China.

“Is there a Yao Ming of baseball?” one reporter asked.

Having helped coach the Chinese National Team and having visited a handful of training sites, Brueggemann has seen his share of the good, the bad, and the ugly in Chinese baseball.

“I haven't seen any players wit A+ tools", he said, “but I've seen lots of B's, and those guys are draftable. It's a little early to be asking for a Yao of baseball, but programs like Play Ball are pushing China in the right direction to cultivate new baseball stars. These kids are growing up as the first generation to play this game, but it has to start with the youth."

“I played baseball with my brother and dad growing up,” said Brueggemann. “Most Chinese kids don't even have siblings.”

A Baseball field in Beijing?

After the Play Ball clinic, I headed back to the stadium to watch the Dodgers and Padres work out and take batting practice. I told my cab driver to go to Wukesong, also the name of the area where the ballpark is.

“Where exactly?” he asked. I told him to take me to the baseball field. He stared at me blankly and asked, “There's a baseball field here?”

Though he was a very nice guy, Sun Chun Sheng, the cab driver, was not very well informed about the goings on of this weekend.

I told him that two American baseball teams were in town to play a couple games, and that the Chinese national team was there too, and then I asked if he liked baseball.

“I don't get it,” he said. “Some of us like it, and some of us don't really.”

Profound.

Back at Wukesong, the Dodgers were taking batting practice with a hip-hop soundtrack on the loudspeakers, while the Chinese National Team watched patiently in seats along the first base line. After telling me that they weren't allowed to do interviews with reporters, I got one of the Chinese Olympians to give me a bit of insight into baseball in China.

Though he wouldn't give me his full name, Guo is a pitcher who has played baseball since he was “young.” According to Guo, baseball is much bigger than it was when he grew up, and he sees a bright future for the kids who are learning the sport in China now.

I asked him about Wang Wei, the star catcher drafted by the Mariners, who also hit the first ever World Baseball Classic home run.

“Oh, you mean the Yao Ming of our sport?” I think he was tired of hearing about the search for baseball's Yao. “He is on our team, but he is in America now.”

There are no Asians on your team

At the Padres press conference, we were graced with the presences of Trevor Hoffman, Bud Black, and CEO Sandy Alderson.

Though grateful for the Chinese Baseball Association’s welcome, Hoffman was unable to tell us what it was like for the Chinese National Team to meet the Padres, since they hadn't yet been introduced. He did, however, seem confident that the country will be able to produce MLB talent down the road.

“The opportunity for us to play ball here is a big first step,” he said. “For the kids to start at a young age would really help.”

One Chinese reporter noted the fact that the Dodgers brought Chan Ho Park from South Korea and Kuo Hong-Chih from Taiwan to China for this event, but that the Padres didn't bring any Asians.

“Do you think the Beijing audience will support the Dodgers more this weekend since they have Asians and you do not?” he asked bluntly.

Bud Black explained that there are no guys from “the Far East” in the Padres system, then conceded that Beijing probably would, indeed, cheer for the Dodgers.

On a more serious note, Alderson made a good point about the development of baseball in China. He explained that both the Dodgers and the Padres have guys from all over the world on their rosters—and many of those foreign players come from countries in which baseball is less widespread than it is in China. So, by his account, it might not be long before we start seeing Chinese players show up on MLB rosters.

Maybe it will be a while before someone like Yao makes a splash in the big leagues, but Alderson is probably right.

After the press conference, I kicked back in the bleachers and watched the Padres take batting practice. Of all the things I thought I’d see in China, this wasn’t one of them.

I relished the moment—and I'll be back tomorrow for game one of the China Series.

Check out Part I of Jeff's Baseball in China series

The Emergence of Baseball in China: Part I

Jeff Swiryn — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:55:33 -0500

A sport-loving nation

Open almost any magazine or newspaper today, and China is sure to be mentioned, if not featured. Since reopening to the rest of the world in the late 1970s, China has developed at a rate unmatched by the history of any other nation.

I live in Shenzhen, a city in the south of China, just an hour north of Hong Kong. Twenty-five years ago, this city was a small fishing village. Fast-forward to 2008, and it has become China’s richest city, not to mention a production hub for many of China’s countless mass-produced goods, from fashion bags to digital cameras and LCD TVs.

In the world of sports, the race to catch the West is becoming more evident. It is hard to flip through the Chinese TV channels these days and not catch a glimpse of a Rockets or Bucks game, or at least some NBA highlights.

And the Olympics…well, people can debate all day about whether Beijing deserves the honor of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. The facts are, Chinese love the Olympics, and Beijing is the perfect place to host the Games.

When I first came to China in the summer of 2004, the first thing I did was walk into a restaurant in Beijing, only to be ignored by the waiters who were all gathered around the restaurant’s 20-inch TV with the rest of the patrons intently watching an Olympic game of badminton like it was the Super Bowl.

When was the last time any patriotic group of Americans gathered around to watch an Olympic competition all night? Unfortunately, the excitement of the Olympics has passed many of us by. But in China, the Games are hotter than Yao Ming himself.

So we know that basketball and the Olympics are huge in China. Even the World Cup was a big deal in China two years ago—and they didn't even have a team.

But what about baseball?

China is not exactly known for its up-and-coming MLB prospects. Will baseball get picked up in the whirlwind of adopting foreign pastimes as China’s own? The fact that the first ever MLB game in China is just around the corner is an indication that China is ready for baseball. And with the new Wukesong Stadium built for the Olympics, Beijing is gearing up for America’s favorite pastime.

The man who killed baseball

With a history about 20 times longer than that of the U.S., it is not surprising that many worldly phenomena are deeply rooted in China. On numerous occasions, China has claimed, often with reason, to be the inventor of things like the toilet and even soccer. Baseball is not one of these things. But surprisingly, the beginnings of baseball in China trace back farther than most would think.

Its roots are in Shanghai, where in 1863, the Shanghai Baseball Club was formed. National interest in the sport picked up quickly, and in 1915, China placed second to the Philippines in a Greater Asia baseball tournament held in Shanghai.

Forty years later, baseball was as big as it would ever be.

In 1959, teams from 30 regions came together in a national competition. The same year, under Chairman Mao’s leadership, a “Baseball in the New China” seminar took place for the benefit of military and civilian teams. Unfortunately, this was on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. So, like most other foreign creations, baseball was labeled an evil Western influence and banned by Mao. (Side note: One reason basketball has developed so much in China is because Mao loved the sport and encouraged talented young athletes to pursue this one Western game.)

Mao's Cultural Revolution all but killed baseball in China, and it wasn’t until his death in 1976 that it began to slowly resurface.

In 1986, the west began to take up an official interest in baseball in China. That year, L.A. Dodgers’ Peter O’Malley helped to construct the first modern baseball stadium in China. It was built in Tianjin, about an hour from Beijing, and named “Dodger Stadium.” Two years later, the first Little League championship took place. Baseball finally had a future in China.

To the Chinese people, baseball remained a bizarre, complicated sport for a couple of decades. It still is to most. But with the turn of the century came a second—or perhaps third—wind for baseball in China.

In 2002, the first official professional baseball league was formed, aptly named the China Baseball League. The first season lasted about a month, and consisted of four teams—the Beijing Tigers, the Tianjin Lions, the Shanghai Eagles, and the Guangzhou Leopards.

Once again, interest sparked rapidly, and in 2005, the CBL—not to be confused with the Chinese Basketball League, a minor league basketball association—experienced its first expansion.

The two new teams were the Sichuan Dragons and the China Hope Stars, a team of under-21 prospects. In 2007, the CBL partnered with Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, with both parties agreeing to allow Japanese clubs to send coaches and players to China and Chinese players to train at Japanese facilities.

The CBL continues to add games to each season's schedule, and despite the fact that most ball players make about $300 USD per month (about double the average person’s salary), China has a full-blown professional baseball league.

The bat-drain

No matter how you look at it, baseball in mainland China is still in its infant stage.

China is not Japan. No Sadaharu Oh, no Matusi, and definitely no Tom Selleck. But, thanks to the MLB’s desire to help baseball develop in China, and the country's self-induced pressure to succeed in the Olympics, baseball is growing.

Frankly, this massive country of more than one billion people lacks baseball talent. China’s performance in the 2006 World Baseball Classic could have been a little worse, to be fair. The team was outscored 30-6, and lost all three of its games—including a 12-3 blowout against its rival, Chinese Taipei.

There is also the short-term problem with developing baseball in China—the bat-drain, if you will, or the Yao Ming syndrome.

Talented athletes will be pursued by major league teams in the U.S., leaving the developing Chinese league with its own leftovers. The Yankees have already signed an agreement with the CBL to help develop baseball in China, which includes setting up baseball academies across China and sending trainers and coaches to work with the Chinese athletes.

Sixth months after signing this deal, the Yankees inked two 19-year-old Chinese prospects to minor league contracts. It's pretty clear, especially with a Taiwanese star already on their mound, that the Yankees want to be the first to develop and scoop up Chinese talent. They have also paved the way for other MLB teams to explore the Chinese market.

The next possible Chinese star, Wang Wei, has already been drafted by the Seattle Mariners. Wei is a catcher who drove in four of China’s six runs in the WBC. A Chinese baseball league without the likes of Wang Wei is a less impressive league, to say the least.

Too many men on the field

I remember vividly a cab ride I took in Nanjing during the 2006 World Cup. The driver was listening to a game on the radio, and I asked him if he was disappointed that China didn’t have a soccer team in ’06. He laughed at me and said, “We Chinese are terrible at team sports.”

“What about basketball?” I replied.

“Well,” he laughed again, “there are only five guys on the court in a basketball game—and we can barely handle that.”

I started to get his drift.

“We are great at ping-pong and badminton because there are two on a team at most. But soccer,” he exclaimed, “Forget it! With that many people on the field at once, we’ll never be able to compete with the other countries.”

Maybe baseball, with its poetic combination of individual attention and strategic teamwork and communication, will be the perfect sport for China to excel in.

We can at least be excited now for the MLB’s debut in China and for the CBL to continue to grow and produce talented young ball players. Only time will tell if the Yao syndrome takes root in the world of baseball. The first thing we can do is see how Beijing takes to a NL West rivalry. I'm heading north in two weeks to find out.

Stay tuned March 15 for the next installment, after game one of the China Series between the Padres and Dodgers.

Check out Part II of Jeff's Baseball in China series