Former UIC baseball star to represent MLB in China
Oct. 22, 2008
Story courtesy of Nick Zaccardi / MLB.com
DETROIT -- Curtis Granderson is breaking a barrier in his latest business trip.
The Tigers center fielder will become the first active Major Leaguer to promote baseball in China when he visits Shanghai and Beijing this week. Granderson ventured to England and the Netherlands in 2006 and South Africa in 2007 as a Major League Baseball Ambassador. He recently finished his second October as a TBS studio postseason analyst.
He's booked solid in the Far East. On Wednesday, Granderson will make an appearance in China's most populous city with the Shanghai Eagles of the China Baseball Association, the country's six-team professional league. He's also scheduled to lead child baseball clinics for the MLB International Play Ball Program.
Granderson will join the Shanghai Media Group broadcast team for an interview during Game 2 of the World Series followed by a clinic he'll be conducting with the Fudan University baseball team Thursday.
On Friday, he travels to the capital of Beijing for two more Play Ball clinics and a World Series reception put on by the American Chamber, where Granderson will be the featured guest. The itinerary has him flying home Sunday.
China hosted its first Major League games in March, when the Padres and Dodgers played two exhibitions in Beijing, where baseball is called "bangqui" but is not yet as popular as basketball or badminton.
MLB is trying to grow the game with a pool of 1.3 billion potential fans, specifically through youth development. MLB's Beijing office holds a yearly China Baseball Academy for elite young players and conducts the Play Ball program in 200-plus primary schools throughout the nation. The Yankees and Mariners signed two Chinese players to Minor League contracts in 2007.
Beijing hosted what may have been the final Olympic baseball tournament in August, as both softball and baseball have been voted out of the Olympic program. China is one of 16 teams that will play in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The Chinese went 0-3 in the 2006 Classic, getting outscored 40-6.
