11/21/24
January 25, 2007
Yankees sending delegation to China: Yankees president Randy Levine and general manager Brian Cashman will head a delegation that travels to Beijing next week for meetings that could lead to Major League Baseball establishing an academy in China. Levine said they hope to see the Great Wall during the trip.
posted by irunfromclones to baseball at 03:55 PM - 5 comments
What is almost certainly a capitalistic enterprise on the part of the Yankees, who are looking at the potential for an enormous expansion of their consumer market yeah, but this will also benefit the entire league. any merchandise sold in another country goes to a central fund and is divvied up amongst all 30 teams.
posted by goddam at 09:42 AM on January 26, 2007
Actually, there are over two billion people. More business for Wal-Mart. More jobs lost because more MLB merchandise will be made there. If Steinbrenner is involved, a safe assumption can be made that there is some alterior motive to make money. We probably are not talking about merchandise being SOLD over there, where the average worker makes less than $1 per hour. If there are pure motives, to expand baseball's market globally, then fine, but I doubt it. Why does it always have to be about the Yankees, anyway? Why isn't there a delegation from Major League Baseball and not just them?
posted by quaybon at 01:16 PM on January 26, 2007
If Steinbrenner is involved, a safe assumption can be made that there is some alterior motive to make money. yeah, god forbid a business should try to make money. Why isn't there a delegation from Major League Baseball and not just them? mlb sent an envoy 2 years ago.
posted by goddam at 02:31 PM on January 26, 2007
Why does it always have to be about the Yankees, anyway? Yeah, why do stories about the Yankees always have to be about the Yankees? According to the article, the Yankees specifically were invited, not MLB. Note: Levine said baseball in China is in the "infancy stages," and that the Yankees had been talking with the CBA for six months and were invited to make the trip. And what difference does it make whether the motives to be there are financial or not? The outcome is still more likely to benefit the greater good than not. An awful lot of the wonderful things came about as the result of somebody pursuing a buck. Like the internet, for example.
posted by BullpenPro at 03:38 PM on January 26, 2007
What is almost certainly a capitalistic enterprise on the part of the Yankees, who are looking at the potential for an enormous expansion of their consumer market -- there's, like, a billion people in China -- this relationship would certainly grow the international talent pool, and moreover it may provide some needed improvement in US/China diplomatic relations (however small in its weight). Baseball has a pretty strong history in breaking political tensions, from the Civil War to the regrettable internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, to the Cuba embargo, right up to the current war in Iraq. The game certainly doesn't solve international problems -- see the handling of Cuba during the WBC last year -- but it can establish a base of commonality (just as soccer or any other sport might -- just look at what the Olympics have accomplished in the face of political conflict).* *Noting that the success rate in that area is certainly not 100%.