Merged: Manchester Yankee / Baseball in Europe?

[Godzilla]

Baseball officials consider Europe for in-season games

Associated Press
Sunday, March 16
http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0316/1524753.html

MEXICO CITY -- Baseball goes with apple pie -- and next year, maybe with pasta or brie.

The commissioner's office has started discussing a plan to move regular-season games to Europe in July 2004.

Italy, France, the Netherlands and England are among the candidates, according to Paul Archey, a senior vice president of Major League Baseball International.

"That's the next big frontier: Europe,'' Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green said Sunday. "It's really an untapped resource.''

Baseball has been aggressively expanding its presence outside the United States and Canada, playing season openers in Monterrey, Mexico (1999), Tokyo (2000 and this year) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (2001). The Montreal Expos will play 22 "home'' games this season in San Juan.

Looking ahead, baseball already is considering having the New York Yankees and Hideki Matsui play their 2004 opener in Japan, with Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore among the possibilities for the opponent.

Planning for Europe is in the early stages. Commissioner Bud Selig has not yet given the go-ahead, although he's excited about the possibilities of taking the game all over the world.

"We need to do more of it and we need to do more of it on a regular basis,'' Selig said in Phoenix. "We're going to step up the internationalization of the game and go a lot of places. We have a lot of clubs anxious to go wherever we're going.''

Archey said a date just before the All-Star break would work best, with just after the break a possibility. Moving games to Europe at the start of the season would be difficult because of concerns about cold weather and rain.

"Italy is probably the front-runner because they have one of the strongest fan bases and they have facilities,'' Archey said.

Ballparks are available in Florence and Palermo, and a soccer stadium in Rome could be converted to baseball, according to Archey. In France, he said a new ballpark is under construction outside Paris, but it might not be ready in time.

A cricket or soccer ground could be converted in England, but the possibility of rainouts is a negative factor. The Netherlands hosts a big baseball tournament each summer in Haarlem.

"I could make the case that we need to play regular-season games in Europe, and there are markets that are sophisticated enough to distinguish between regular-season and spring-training games,'' said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president in the commissioner's office.

Most players seem to like the idea of expanding baseball internationally. Several Mets and Dodgers at this weekend's two-game exhibition series in Mexico said that while the extra travel was a hassle, it was worth the effort just because of the excitement they saw among Mexican fans.

And Italy and France are always popular tourist destinations.

"I'd definitely be in favor of it,'' Yankees slugger Jason Giambi said. "I've never been over to Italy, but my family is from there. I'd like to see it. I'm not sure they're as fanatic about baseball in Europe as they are in Japan and other places, so maybe this would be a way to expand it.''

"This could jump-start it, I guess,'' teammate Derek Jeter said. "It'd be like a West Coast trip for us. It'd be all right.''

Others would view the trip as an unnecessary interruption to a season already filled with many long flights.

"You shouldn't make it mandatory, not in the middle of the season,'' Houston Astros All-Star Lance Berkman said. "It's a long way to go, and it would disrupt the rhythm of the players who did it.

"Look at NFL Europe -- they don't exactly embrace football over there. The fans there have soccer, tennis, other sports, and that's great. I'm not sure that what baseball would get out of it from a public-relations standpoint is worth the harm you'd do to the players who had to make the trip.''

That, however, appears to be a minority view.

"Baseball is becoming an international sport. Anything they do to help the game grow is good,'' Arizona's Steve Finley said. "Part of major league baseball's job is to grow the game, to get baseball more popular around the world. Look at the Japan (All-Star) tour and what that's done for the relationship between the two leagues. Players are crossing over leagues now.''

[seahorse]

Can the Middle East be far behind?

http://my.netscape.com/corewidgets/n...70153000136986


Baseball
Monday, March 17, 2003
Baseball Considering Playing in Europe


MEXICO CITY (AP) - Baseball goes with beer and brats - and next
year, maybe with pasta or brie.
The commissioner's office has started discussing a plan to move
regular-season games to Europe in July 2004.
Italy, France, the Netherlands and England are among the
candidates, according to Paul Archey, a senior vice president of
Major League Baseball International.
``That's the next big frontier: Europe,'' Los Angeles Dodgers
outfielder Shawn Green said Sunday. ``It's really an untapped
resource.''
Baseball has been aggressively expanding its presence outside
the United States and Canada, playing season openers in Monterrey,
Mexico (1999), Tokyo (2000 and this year) and San Juan, Puerto Rico
(2001). The Montreal Expos will play 22 ``home'' games this season
in San Juan.
Looking ahead, baseball already is considering having the New
York Yankees and Hideki Matsui play their 2004 opener in Japan,
with Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore among the possibilities for
the opponent.
Planning for Europe is in the early stages. Commissioner Bud
Selig has not yet given the go-ahead, although he's excited about
the possibilities of taking the game all over the world.
``We need to do more of it and we need to do more of it on a
regular basis,'' Selig said in Phoenix. ``We're going to step up
the internationalization of the game and go a lot of places. We
have a lot of clubs anxious to go wherever we're going.''
Archey said a date just before the All-Star break would work
best, with just after the break a possibility. Moving games to
Europe at the start of the season would be difficult because of
concerns about cold weather and rain.
``Italy is probably the front-runner because they have one of
the strongest fan bases and they have facilities,'' Archey said.
Ballparks are available in Florence and Palermo, and a soccer
stadium in Rome could be converted to baseball, according to
Archey. In France, he said a new ballpark is under construction
outside Paris, but it might not be ready in time.
A cricket or soccer ground could be converted in England, but
the possibility of rainouts is a negative factor. The Netherlands
hosts a big baseball tournament each summer in Haarlem.
``I could make the case that we need to play regular-season
games in Europe, and there are markets that are sophisticated
enough to distinguish between regular-season and spring-training
games,'' said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president for business in
the commissioner's office.
Mets general manager Steve Phillips and Dodgers GM Dan Evans
both said Sunday their teams would be interested in playing in
Europe. Baseball hasn't started to consider teams.
``There's always some hesitation because of the distance,''
Archey said. ``But remember the Mets went to the World Series the
last time they went to Japan, so it obviously didn't affect their
season.''
Most players seem to like the idea of expanding baseball
internationally. Several Mets and Dodgers at this weekend's
two-game exhibition series in Mexico said that while the extra
travel was a hassle, it was worth the effort just because of the
excitement they saw among Mexican fans.
And Italy and France are always popular tourist destinations.
``I'd definitely be in favor of it,'' Yankees slugger Jason
Giambi said. ``I've never been over to Italy, but my family is from
there. I'd like to see it. I'm not sure they're as fanatic about
baseball in Europe as they are in Japan and other places, so maybe
this would be a way to expand it.''
``This could jump-start it, I guess,'' teammate Derek Jeter
said. ``It'd be like a West Coast trip for us. It'd be all right.''
Others would view the trip as an unnecessary interruption to a
season already filled with many long flights.
``You shouldn't make it mandatory, not in the middle of the
season,'' Houston Astros All-Star Lance Berkman said. ``It's a long
way to go, and it would disrupt the rhythm of the players who did
it.
``Look at NFL Europe - they don't exactly embrace football over
there. The fans there have soccer, tennis, other sports, and that's
great. I'm not sure that what baseball would get out of it from a
public-relations standpoint is worth the harm you'd do to the
players who had to make the trip.''
That, however, appears to be a minority view.
``Baseball is becoming an international sport. Anything they do
to help the game grow is good,'' Arizona's Steve Finley said.
``Part of major league baseball's job is to grow the game, to get
baseball more popular around the world. Look at the Japan
(All-Star) tour and what that's done for the relationship between
the two leagues. Players are crossing over leagues now.''

[SorianoFanHFW]

Have it in Afghanistan, if a fly-ball kills an al qaeda leader, its a ground rule double, kills bin laden, a grand slam.

Or how about iraq. in '04, it will be totally flattened and perfect for a baseball game. Who ever is left can be the crowd...

[Bozidar]

I REALLY hope they rethink the possibility of playing in France..

[Spiker]

Originally posted by Bozidar
I REALLY hope they rethink the possibility of playing in France..

I think I'd agree with that. I mean REALLY agree with that.

[Saxmania]

Sammy Sosa visited the U.K. while I was in London - he hit a few out of The Oval, which is a major cricket ground, and appeared on a BBC sports quiz show (he got the one question on baseball wrong, ironically). He was very popular, but no-one knew who he was.

Baseball is a long way from taking off in Europe, but a few games over there can't hurt, and can only encourage the Italians and the Dutch (who each have semi-pro leagues) to try out in the States, a la Jason Simontacchi. A couple of cricketers have already trained with minor league teams, and one was told that he'd make a good AAA pitcher. Softball, interestingly, is on the rise as a social sport over in the U.K.

You may laugh at the idea, but how else will the game grow, evolve, and develop?

Be seeing you,

Saxmania

[Timmer]

A fwe years ago, some gyuy in Scotland tried to form a European League. He couldn't find the financial backers. Maybe he will after this trip.

I'd say have a couple of series over there -- have someone in Rome (maybe the Cardinals), have another series going on in London, and perhaps another in Amsterdam simultaneously. But not France. Why build up their economy, even a little?

And what about Latin America?

[FutureYankee]

it could be a financial hell though, if no one came to the games...

[Godzilla]

Originally posted by Saxmania
Sammy Sosa visited the U.K. while I was in London - he hit a few out of The Oval, which is a major cricket ground, and appeared on a BBC sports quiz show (he got the one question on baseball wrong, ironically). He was very popular, but no-one knew who he was.

Baseball is a long way from taking off in Europe, but a few games over there can't hurt, and can only encourage the Italians and the Dutch (who each have semi-pro leagues) to try out in the States, a la Jason Simontacchi. A couple of cricketers have already trained with minor league teams, and one was told that he'd make a good AAA pitcher. Softball, interestingly, is on the rise as a social sport over in the U.K.

You may laugh at the idea, but how else will the game grow, evolve, and develop?

Be seeing you,

Saxmania

Actually Jason Simontacchi did not come to try out in the States, he has always been here. He is an American from Mountain View, CA. He was drafted by the Royals in the 21st round in 1996. He got released and went to pitch in the independent Frontier league in 98. Signed with the Pirates in 99, and got released again. A manager from an Italian baseball team offered him a contract only because of his Italian last name. He went to Italy and pitched great and got offered a spot on the 2000 Italian Olympic team despite the fact he couldn’t even speak the language. Most of Italy’s top players in the Olympics were Americans of Italian descent anyway. I remember him saying how weird he felt pitching against America in the Olympics. He left Italy to sign with the Twins and eventually signed with the Cardinals in 2001. He lives in Santa Clara now and is my brother's next door neighbor. A really cool guy.

[Luvtino]

Originally posted by Bozidar
I REALLY hope they rethink the possibility of playing in France..

You and me both.

[TinoBambino]

I think it's a great idea.

My brother lived in London for a year and when I went out to see him, I was shocked how there were Yankee hats everywhere. It seems that right now in England it's kind of a grassroots campaign, but baseball is certianly taking off. They show every Wednesday and Sunday night ESPN game live (granted it comes on at 2am their time), but none the less, it could take off. It's great for the sport. I think it's even more popular in France and Italy than England.

It could seriously help the struggling baseball market in the States to have some international recognition.

[ctyanksfan1]

Originally posted by Timmer
I'd say have a couple of series over there -- have someone in Rome (maybe the Cardinals), have another series going on in London, and perhaps another in Amsterdam simultaneously. But not France. Why build up their economy, even a little?

And what about Latin America?

How about Padres vs Cardinals!

[CelticMo]

Originally posted by TinoBambino
I think it's a great idea.

My brother lived in London for a year and when I went out to see him, I was shocked how there were Yankee hats everywhere. It seems that right now in England it's kind of a grassroots campaign, but baseball is certianly taking off. They show every Wednesday and Sunday night ESPN game live (granted it comes on at 2am their time), but none the less, it could take off. It's great for the sport. I think it's even more popular in France and Italy than England.

It could seriously help the struggling baseball market in the States to have some international recognition.

I think if they got the Yankees over here to Britain those games would definitely draw a crowd. I would say they're definitely the most well-known team, you see Yankees hats, clothing, anywhere you go here.

That reminds me, I need to get my vcr working before the season starts. As you said, the games are on in the middle of the night here.
Mo