Ｂａｓｅｂａｌｌ Ｓａｎｓ Ｂｏｒｄｅｒｓ

Ａｄａｍ　Ｆｅｅｎｅｙ

If anyone needs a reminder that the word “fan” is merely the short form of “fanatic,” they need only observe me watching baseball on the Internet. No, Im not talking about a webcast with images of the game actually being played. My falsely advertised “DSL” Internet connection isnt fast enough for that. Instead, on balmy summer evenings while the sound of men in outdoor restaurants merrily eating barbeque, drinking beer and watching European league soccer wafts through my window, I hunch over my laptop and watch blue and red dots representing Major League Baseballs finest running the bases. This fanaticism is an inherited sickness. After several calls home interrupted by yells and cheers at the TV, I have learned to avoid calling my family while the Chicago Cubs are on.

I was thrilled to discover that China will be taking part in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. The 16-team tournament, which includes teams from every continent, will be played in Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States from March 3 through 20. CCTV 5 will almost certainly broadcast Chinas games, ending for me a two-and-a-half year drought of not being able to see my favorite sport being played. But aside from my personal gratitude to the Chinese team for putting baseball on TV in China, this team ought to be commended for their courage in participating. To say that China is not a baseball country is an understatement. The sport was banned during the Cultural Revolution. The players who will be participating in this tournament are essentially the first generation of Chinese mainland players in recent history. While the Chinese Baseball League, founded in 2003, is growing in popularity, game attendance still lingers in the hundreds. The league plays only a 30-game season, compared with 162 games in the United States and 133 games in Japan. I am told the Chinese leagues games are sporadically broadcast on TV, however I have yet to see one. Outside of the six cities with teams, the league seems to be little known. When asked, none of my Chinese friends here in Dalian knew China even had a baseball league. Basketball, table tennis and football still dwarf baseball, a complex and bewildering game to many locals.

However, the teams China will be playing are quite familiar with the sport. In the preliminary round China will play Japan, Chinese Taipei and South Korea. These nations and regions all have decades-old talent development programs and leagues. Their three teams all boast players who also play in the U.S. Major Leagues. Starting in right field for Japan is Ichiro Suzuki, a Seattle Mariner who in 2004 broke the Major League record for hits in a single season. Chinese Taipei has New York Yankees rising star pitcher Chien-ming Wang on the mound. South Korea can count on slugging L.A. Dodgers first-baseman Hee-seop Choi. China is one of only two tournament participants with no Major League talent on its roster. There is no Yao Ming of baseball for China to rely on. On the World Baseball Classic website, Jim Lefebvre, a former Major League manager who will be managing the Chinese team in the tournament, said the team, while fundamentally sound, lacks both power hitting and dominant pitching. For this young and inexperienced team, competing against top-level players will be a grueling learning experience.

One doesnt have to reach for the encyclopedia to know why more than a little bit of pride might be on the line when China plays Japan and Chinese Taipei. For a nation to forgo politics and compete against teams representing nations or regions with which there exists historical tension and rivalry is admirable. For a nation to do so in an unfamiliar sport is even more so. According to the Chinese teams profile on the World Baseball Classic website, the goal of the team is to improve in preparation for the teams automatic bid in the 2008 Olympic baseball tournament. Instead of complacently focusing on sports that China traditionally excels in, such as table tennis, volleyball and gymnastics, China has chosen to seize its Olympics as an opportunity to expand the range of sports it can compete in globally. In doing so, it is also embracing the power of sport to cross geopolitical boundaries. No matter what the outcome at the World Baseball Classic, the Chinese baseball team should be honored for its heart and determination to compete. This time, I will be the one drinking beer and eating barbeque as I join my neighbors in proudly watching their countrymen run the bases.