International

Ebbets Field and the Beijing game on Flickr

Ebbets Field in the 1950s

I happened to come across Flickr user oldballparks today thanks to a photo of Ebbets Field in the 1950s (above). At the moment, there are not quite 50 photos posted of various teams and ballparks, including a few others from Dodger history: Washington Park (home of the Superbas), the LA Coliseum, and the 1912 Brooklyn Dodgers team photo.

But of especial coolness are a series showing Ebbets Field under construction and brand-spanking new:

Padres versus Dodgers in Beijing, China

Meanwhile, up here in the 21st Century, Flickr user eleveline has a set of pics from yesterday’s historical game versus the Padres in Beijing, China.

The Dodgers sure have come a long way.

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Video: Hiroki Kuroda

Hiroki Kuroda vs Hideki Matsui Carp vs Giants, September 7, 2002.

2007 NPB All Star Game July 20, 2007

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Japan
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“Good Luck” Beijing Tournament

The preparations for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are continuing apace, and while there are pollution worries, China is definitely in a celebratory mood.

Murray Cook, blogger and groundskeeping consultant/expert, has been overseeing some of the preparations at the Olympic baseball complex, including a “test” tournament that started yesterday:

Teams from China, France, Czech and Japan will be playing in the 5 day tournament which is being staged for training volunteers on all of the logistics in operating the venue, transportation hotels etc…

Despite language difficulties and other wrinkles, everything came together at the last minute.

Tournament wise China has started off with 2 wins …and shares the lead with Japan. This sets up a game tonight where china plays japan for the first time in the tournament. Jim Lefebre (Coach of the Nationals Chinese Team) told me that China has never beat Japan in baseball. Not knowing the culture very well I was unaware of china’s dis like of the Japanese. Kind of a Yankee /Red Sox thing…

Well, that’s one way of putting it. ;)

Here’s the official Wukesong Baseball Field webpage, with accompanying news items and photos. One particular story — “Olympic Baseball Field delivered” — from earlier this week has more details on the stadium:

Located in west Beijing and adjacent to the Olympic Basketball Field, the venue has three fields - a practice field in the north, and two competition field in the center and south with 3,000 seats and 12,000 seats respectively.

[...] Major League Ballpark infield and stadium designer assigned to this project by the IBAF, Murray Cook has been working closely with BOCOG on the layout of the new Olympic stadium and is very pleased with the new facility.

[...] Cook and his crew adopted Bermuda grass, commonly used in other competition fields. The grass can be easily planted and needs only a moderate amount of lawn grass care, maintenance and mowing. The workers took the stems of the plant directly from a farm in Shanghai, saving money and time to sow and maintain.

The red soil laid on the skirts of the grass and on the infield is blended with additives that are permeable and do not raise dust.

International

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Ghana: Baseball Dreams

Thanks to Frontline World Outreach for getting in touch with me about a new PBS FRONTLINE video, “Ghana: Baseball Dreams”. From their press release:

Reporter Zach Stauffer brings us the story of baseball dreams in the West African nation of Ghana. The video is up now on the FRONTLINE/World website.

“Coverage of Africa is often limited to famine, war and the latest smiling Hollywood celebrity to make a visit,” said Stauffer. “But as I discovered, not everything that happens on the continent is about unrest - some people in Ghana and other African countries like a good ball game too.”

Ghanaian Baseball Player

“I love being a barber, but it’s not what I want to do,” says Sharrif Mohammed, the captain of Ghana’s national baseball team. “I love playing baseball more than cutting hairs.”

You can’t blame him, really, and after watching Sharrif in action on the diamond, it’s impossible not to share his baseball dreams.

Then again, he’s trying to become a baseball star in West Africa, in a small, poor but politically stable West African country where soccer is the sport of choice. As reporter Zachary Stauffer discovers in this week’s Rough Cut, Ghana’s baseball team plays on a former garbage dump. After they cleaned it up, soccer players began to claim the turf.

Still, adversity has not deterred Sharrif, and all he wants, he says, is a decent field, some proper equipment and a chance to compete. “The players are not demanding for money to play baseball,” he insists. “No! Just put some trophy down — let’s fight over it. That’s all.”

Check out the video, as well as background on Ghana, here, on FRONTLINE/World’s website.

The video is a little over 12 minutes long and is well worth watching.

International

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The Geography of International Baseball

The Geographic Travels with Catholicgauze blog recently posted on The Geography of International Baseball in which they break down the global reach of baseball into “three core and three periphery zones” with notes on each, as well as providing a map.

  • American Core
  • Hispano Core
  • Far East Core
  • Far East Periphery
  • European Periphery
  • Down Under Periphery

Not a lot of detail, but this is an interesting organizational starting point to look at the subject matter.

International

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Baseball in Brazil

Continuing the series of posts about baseball across the globe, I’d like to point to this article in yesterday’s NY Times, America’s Pastime Is Only a Blip in Soccer-Crazed Brazil.

Baseball and Brazil? That combination is evoked about as often as the Yankees and the samba.

But, yes, Brazil does have a national amateur team, and at its training center here, the squad has been preparing for months for the Pan American Games, which open July 13 in Rio de Janeiro. The team’s hope is that a strong performance in the competition, a sort of Olympics of the Americas, can help put baseball on the map in a country where the most popular sports are soccer, soccer and more soccer.

Interestingly, what baseball presence there is in the country didn’t come directly from the US:

Brazil has the largest population of Japanese descent of any country outside Japan, about two million people, and baseball has traditionally been played primarily, if not exclusively, in the three states where the bulk of the Japanese community has settled.

As a result, 16 of the 20 players on the team that will compete in Rio de Janeiro are of Japanese ancestry. But even those with no Japanese blood have learned the game with the names used in Japanese for positions and plays, and whenever Manager Mitsuyoshi Sato talks to the team, his players address him as sensei and bow respectfully when he finishes his remarks.

So, something of a double international bent to the story, which makes it even more remarkable…triple if you count the Cuban coaches they’ve been hiring.

Searching baseball-reference.com, there haven’t been any big leaguers born in Brazil. The Times article confirms this, mentioning about 30 are playing in Japan and Taiwan, although a few Brazilians have been signed by US teams.

By the way, one of the links on the Trolley Dodger International Baseball Links page is to the Confederação Brasileira de Beisebol e Softbol. You’ll need to read Portuguese, naturally.

Poking around for more info for this post, I came across a blog called, appropriately, Global Baseball, subtitled “One man’s year-long journey through the world of baseball”. Here’s his description:

I’m currently working on a year-long research project on the globalization of baseball, courtesy of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Over the next 12 months, my project will take me to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Australia, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, and Venezuela, and I decided to set up this blog to share some of the things I pick up along the way.

A new entry for the blogroll. :)

International

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“Understated Dodger Legends”

Cormac over at the Baseball in Ireland blog posted “Understated Dodger Legends” earlier this week, in which he both explains why the Dodgers have been his “second team” (he’s an unabashed Red Sox fan) and shares more about the story of the O’Malleys and baseball in his country. Not to mention a message he’s just received from Peter O’Malley.

This morning I was delighted to find a really interesting looking book on the history of the Dodgers in my mail, sent on by Peter O’Malley via Brent Shyer of the Walter O’Malley website. No longer do I have to use Brad Penny or Nomar as my excuse for enjoying watching the Dodgers play. I am going to delve into the book and get up to speed on the rich history of the Dodgers.

Inside was a short, friendly letter from Peter himself. Just an amiable hello, which ended with a typically modest, understated line that reads as such;

‘I am glad the fields are being used’.

I actually laughed to myself a little, and I thought, ‘Really, Peter, if only you knew.’ The fields have certainly been in use. They have been the scene of the majority of Irish league baseball games since their opening in 1998. Merely saying ‘the fields are in use’ though is like saying ‘The Red Sox winning the World series in 2004 was a reasonably big deal to the people of Boston’.

Continued…

Dodgers
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International Baseball Links

I am fascinated by baseball’s spread across the globe. Here is a big list of baseball leagues and federations around the world for you to explore. If there’s a link you think should be added, leave a comment! And check out the “International” category here on Trolley Dodger for links to more.

International

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Playing4Shekels: Baseball in Israel

A new baseball blog has hit the Net, written by Jesse Michel — Playing4Shekels. The tagline:

Want to know what it’s like to be a local celebrity in Ra’anana, Israel? Don’t ask me…I’m just playing baseball there. But I am going to chronicle my journey through this blog, so enjoy.

As a boy, Jesse dreamed of being a major leaguer; like many of us with a similar dream, he had to adjust his expectations:

Growing up, I envisioned myself being the starting catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Yankees. As I got older though, I came to the realization that most major league clubs aren’t looking to invest millions of dollars in a 5′8″ catcher with an average arm, speed like a Santa Cruz banana slug, and less power than it takes to light up Jerusalem on Shabbat.

However, he is doing something about his dream: going halfway around the world to play for the Ra’anana Express of the Israel Baseball League. (You can read more about it at this Wikipedia article.)

There will be six teams playing beginning this summer, and MLB.com is reported to be carrying games.

Dodger fans might remember hearing earlier this year about the IBL from the lovely moment of Sandy Koufax honored by being drafted by the Modi’in Miracle.

“His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league,” said former big leaguer Aret Shamsky, who will manage the Miracle. “It’s been 41 years between starts for him. If he’s rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team.”

I’m always fascinated by baseball’s reach across the world, particularly in places that aren’t already famous for it (e.g. Japan, Latin America), like Israel, Ireland, or Lithuania. That in mind, I’ve decided to assemble a page of international baseball links, which I’ll post later.

Dodgers
International

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Manually Calibrated Pesticide Application System

Yeah, I wouldn’t lay bets on this particular device being precisely environmentally friendly, but there is a certain coolness factor to a bicycle-powered “Manually Calibrated Pesticide Application System”.

Manually Calibrated Pesticide Application System

After touring some of the local athletic venues choosing products and equipment to build the new baseball fields for the Olympics, we stopped by the Fentai Softball complex because our Chinese contractor Chai Yong, told me they had a boom spray rig for applying fungicides and liquid products. Lets just say I was not ready for this beauty when they literally rolled it out for our inspection!

The post linked above is actually from the first of March, but it’s one of several covering baseball field preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The blog is Murray Cook’s Field Blog, the latest being from a couple of days ago:

“Slow Road to China’s Baseball Fields”

To the trained eye, the Baseball Fields are beginning to take shape in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Slowly but surely wheel barrow by wheel barrow material is being placed on the fields. Proving to many that moving 1500 tons of pea gravel over the sub base of the field without a bulldozer or grader can be done.

Here’s more about Murray, who has a very cool job.

International
MLB

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