Japan Baseball Execs Meet To Discuss Participation In 2013 World Baseball Classic

Execs from the 12 teams of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league will meet on Aug. 20 to discuss a strategy regarding how to persuade NPB's players union to participate in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters exec Toshimasa Shimada, who chairs NPB's committee on int'l relations, returned from N.Y. two days after meeting with tournament organizers "in an effort to gain concessions that will bring Japan's reluctant players on board." Tournament organizers, however, rejected Japan's latest demands, saying that "the issue needs to be resolved" between NPB and the union. Shimada said, "There is no change to the current severe conditions" (KYODO, 8/16).