22.05.12
, Came the players, each with a handle bestowed by their American coach, Rick Dell: V.B., or Volleyball Boy, a overlap 14-year-old from Jiangsu province whose mother was a volleyball punter; Xiao (Little) Baby Ruth, the pudgy catcher and gag man of the team; and Tony, who Dell says "looks like a pygmy Italian guy" from far away.
If all goes according to plan, Xiao Babe in arms Ruth or Tony may one day be playing for the Red Sox or Yankees in major league baseball. It may yell out vituperate far-fetched, but watching these middle and high school kids go-ahead running catches in the outfield and throw fastballs upwards of 82 m.p.h., it's not utterly inconceivable. The Changzhou development center, which opened in September, is MLB's later training school in China that aims to produce players who might one day have a like a flash at the majors or, more realistically, China's national baseball league. But discovery the Yao Ming of baseball isn't the only objective. MLB is also desperate to bring back a sport that was wiped out during the Cultural Coup d' and make it as popular in China today as it is in Japan and Korea.
Source: TIME