Big Stein was a big supporter of Richard Nixon. Such a big supporter, in fact, that he got himself in trouble with Major League Baseball because of illegal contributions to Tricky Dick's 1972 reelection campaign. There were bigger problems for the rest of the country with the way the President handled that campaign, of course, but the unpleasantness isn't keeping the Boss from following a Nixonian blueprint for his baseball team. The Yankees are going to China reports Murray Chass of the New York Times.
Well, the Yankee executives are going to China and at least one Yankee player, the Taiwanese pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, is probably not so popular on the mainland. And they aren't going to scout or sign any players to bolster the organization, there are no baseball Yao's just yet.
So why are they going? They will explore opportunities, both baseball and business. They will establish contacts. They will determine the most likely source of future talent and very likely initiate conversations about future working agreements, like the one they have with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan.
Interestingly, though, any inroads the Yankees make will benefit the Red Sox as much as themselves. Any merchandising done behind the Great Wall goes into a central fund, not directly to the team responsible, but that doesn't mean there won't be tangible benefits for the Yanks down the road.
The Yankees have singled out China because it could be the next plush source of talent.
Players from Latin American countries, who are collectively the most talented players outside the United States, have dominated the major leagues with increasing frequency. But everyone knows about those countries, and the competition for players has become fiercer.
Give the Chinese time and teaching, and their country could become the next baseball outpost. The country certainly has enough people from whom the majors can develop players.
That’s the Yankees’ thinking, and they could be the first major league team to open an academy in China, the kind of academies that have proliferated in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Somewhere in China there may be a town that some day will turn out shortstops the way San Pedro de Macorís has in the Dominican.
The kids in the Dominican play baseball and ride motorbikes. It can happen in China, too, and the Yankees want to be the first to oversee the project. Marco Polo might have beaten them to China, but he didn’t go home with a shortstop to replace Jeter.
The idea that the Yankees could spend their way to world championships has been disproven in each of the last five seasons. Where the Yankees money really matters is in the access it can bring the team around the globe. China's a sleeping giant in many industries and the Yankees are betting that baseball's one of them. The concept of branding is not a new one and the Yankees are well aware of their brand's power to sway people on the open market.
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