Kalyn Kisiah Prof.

Presnell English 1102 26 March 2014

Baseball and Globalization: Is Baseball a Global Sport? Baseball: Americas Favorite Pastime Most everyone has either seen, heard, or played in a baseball game if you live in the United States of America. After all, it is such an admired sport here that it has earned the name of Americas favorite pastime. As a child I was introduced to the sport at a very early age, as I have an extremely sports-oriented family. I enjoyed watching baseball and decided that I would like to play what I consider to be the girls version of that, softball. Growing up, I have always known that baseball has been around and only recently has it crossed my mind that it would be interesting to know if the sport that I love is also available and even loved by others in other countries.

AND ITS OUTTA HERE! Im not just talking about a homerun here. Baseball itself has gone global, and has done so with great welcome. Baseball has and is actually being used as a governmental instrument in South Korea as Younghan Cho says in an article in his Journal of Sport & Social Issues. Korea uses broadcasting as a governing tool to better their economy where the MLB happened to be the center of it all as far as broadcasting was concerned. The USAs MLB became extremely popular in Korea when on of their own, Chan-Ho Park

became a starting pitcher for MLBs Los Angeles Dodgers. Koreas network KBS broadcasted every game he played as well as displaying his successes as top news and using him as a political figure.

Chan - Ho Park The over all idea of the MLB, and the enjoyment it provides through being able to watch your favorite team and players for leisure ultimately lead way to the launching of the Korean Baseball League (KBO). The launching of the KBO was used to divert attention from political issues and to create more nationalsim. KBO had the potential to become very popular because it addressed the publics growing desire for leisure activities in their country. With more income and time, people could enjoy KBO by either attending games in person or watching the games on their own TVs. However, MLB raised their sharing prices tenfold so Korean network KBS was unable to renew their contract with MLB until years later when MBC signed a $28 million contract with MLB for 4 years Koreas approach to expanding and bettering its government/economy also helped MLB in the U.S. to expand globally and to broaden its fan base thus, bringing in more money for MLB as well.

Who Plays? In William Kellys journal Is Baseball a Global Sport I found that young boys both Japanese and Dominican were using makeshift materials to play the game. Cardboard being used as home plate and pieces of plywood for bats were popular choices for both in the early 1950s.

Young Japanese boy using makeshift materials to play baseball in the 1950s.

Cuban President Fidel Castro also made an appearance at the plate in the 1960s. When you think of baseball you may also think of your favorite professional player in the MLB. Do you ever wonder how they got there? Maybe this Japanese boy has dreams of playing in the big leagues one day, as Japan is very influential competition wise in the

Major leagues. For some, getting to play baseball professionally is a must. In Ian Gordans Journal article Inside Major League Baseballs Dominican Sweatshop System Gordon takes us through the journey of 15-year-old Yewri Guillns tragic journey to almost becoming a player in the MLB. For this young man, and for many others boys in the Dominican, making it into the pros was a way out of poverty and American pro scouts were around because they could pay them less to play. Yewri was good enough to be noticed and even started the process of being drafted when he was sent back to the Dominican because he was accused of identity fraud for forging his date of birth on paperwork to boost his individual value. It was during this time that Yewri came down with bacterial meningitis and was sent back to the Dominican without health insurance. Unable to receive prompt, proper care, this almost baseball star passed away. Teams are not eager to talk about the disparity between MLB's domestic and foreign rookie leagues, as I would learn firsthand when looking into Guilln's death in his native country. Nor is it much of a concern to locals: The sport is ubiquitous and beloved, and given the Dominican Republic's 40 percent poverty rate, the allure of the big leagues is powerful. Ortiz said Americans don't understand the pressure on Dominican teenagers, including in some cases to lie about their age. "The thing that made me mad about the whole situation is that people want to look at us like we are criminals," he said. "I would like to get in their face and ask them, if that was their only way out, what would they do?" Of course, you dont always have to be a professional to play baseball. But, it doesnt hurt to be trained by one in an exchange program, does it? In Howard Cincottas Journal article Japanese Baseball Players US Visit Is in Full Swing it talks about the

baseball exchange program between Japan and the US where young athletes get the opportunity to come and find new talents and to learn new skills from the best. The program is also about much more than becoming great at the game. It is also about giving children who have experienced a crisis in their country a chance to come and focus on something that they love to do. This helps them keep their mind off of hard times and also allows them to spread their wings and find new talents in a very innovative and active way.

Young athlete in the Japan US baseball exchange program

You cant sit with us: Baseball and Popularity on a Global Scale Also found in William Kellys journal Is Baseball a Global Sport? I found that while our beloved American pastime is indeed played in other countries, it is however, not the most popular in all of them. Take soccer in Mexico for example. That is their most renowned sport. Why? The article says, in part, that resources play a role in which sport is played. Much is made, too, of the simplicity of soccer as responsible for its global reachits minimal rules, basic equipment, and

fundamental skills necessary to play and to watch knowledgably. What is more immediately approachable than a round ball propelled gracefully about an open flat rectangle by a balanced number of players? In this part of the article Kelly is hinting that baseball, in contrast, seems complicated in comparison with the set up of the game; the oddly shaped entirety of it, the field with a diamond infield and nonconverging foul lines and base paths and pitchers mound, the positions and plethora of skills that come along with them, the equipment that goes along with the ball and also the statistics of the game. It can be viewed as an expert sport and one that another country may not want to mess with when they have simpler alternatives. All in all, it isnt as much about which sport is necessarily cooler, it is more about which is more practical for what you have early on, therefor what sticks. It is neat to know, however, that baseball is played on a global scale! Whether or not it is the most popular everywhere really does not change my opinion of baseball or how big a fan I am of it. It is also really cool to know that it is popular in other places besides the US, like mentioned earlier, its popularity in Japan and Korea. I still love the sport, possibly even more now and have many reasons to attend games and continue learning even more about Americas Favorite Pastime!

Works Cited

Cho, Younghan. "Broadcasting Major League Baseball as a Governmental Instrument in South Korea." Journal of Sport & Social Issues 32.3 (2008): 240-54. Web. 23 Mar. 2014

"Ichiro Sparks Mariners Win in Japan for MLB Opener VOA Breaking News." Ichiro Sparks Mariners Win in Japan for MLB Opener VOA Breaking News. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

"IIP Digital | U.S. Department of State." Japanese Baseball Players' U.S. Visit Is in Full Swing. N.p., 19 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

KELLY, WILLIAM W. "Is Baseball a Global Sport? America's national Pastime as Global Field and International Sport." Global Networks 7.2 (2007): 187-201. Web. 23 Mar. 2014

Vorducci, Tom. "BASEBALL - Global Warming - At Least Abroad, Interest in Die World Baseball Classic Is Heating up." Sports Illustrated. 104.10 (2006): 56. Web. 23 Mar. 2014