In a suite behind home plate at Disney’s sports complex for the World Baseball Classic, surrounded by guests from a dozen distributors and retail chains that are vital to his business, the head of sports marketing at Venezuela’s largest brewery uses one word to sum up what it will mean for fans back home to see their favorite players wear the yellow, blue and red of their nation’s flag.
One word, three times.
“Muchisimo. Muchisimo. Muchisimo,” says Carlos Martinez, head of sports marketing for Empresas Polar, which has sponsored MLB in Venezuela for 10 years, practically an eon for an international sponsorship. “In Venezuela, there is passion for baseball. Great passion.”
It also will mean “muchisimo” — or very, very much — to Polar to have every Venezuelan player wear the logo of his company’s malt beverage, Maltin Polar, on their jersey throughout the tournament. Like most companies that sponsor sports, Polar is banking on the great passion of those fans rubbing off on its brand. It’s a premise of sports marketing that carries across borders, across regions, across continents and oceans.
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Insiders say MLB’s international business is closing
in on annual revenue of $120 million from TV rights,
sponsorships and licensing, an increase of about 50
percent over the last five years. |
In nations where baseball is barely pinging on the sporting radar, such as China, Italy and South Africa, MLB hopes the World Baseball Classic will generate interest by offering something familiar that those countries already place a premium on: international play.
In countries where the game is as much culture as it is sport, such as in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the lure of a combination of baseball and flag is irresistible.
“It’s something that’s very valuable,” Martinez said. “You see the pride the players have in wearing the colors of the national team. That passion passes down to the fans.
“The people here today — I got goose bumps walking in. It seemed like I was in Venezuela.”
Ninety minutes before the playing of the anthems of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and the United States to usher in first-round pool play in Orlando, fans filled the lower sections above each team’s dugout to watch batting practice, Venezuelans down the first-base line, Dominicans down the third.
They waved flags. They sang songs. They blew horns. The Dominican fans chanted the names of players as they passed by, one fan grinding the Latin equivalent of a washboard, a guiro, to keep the group in rhythm. The Venezuelans matched with chants of their own.
This went on steadily, without pause, until player introductions — when the hysteria escalated.
After a home run by Venezuelan hero Edgardo Alfonzo, Paul Archey, the head of MLB’s international division, stuck his head out the window of the press box to get a better look at the bedlam.
“You can’t duplicate this,” Archey said. “This is what we thought we would get, what we wanted to get. These fans are getting what they’ve wanted for years: their best players on that field, wearing these uniforms, representing their countries.”
Lessons in international marketing
In building an international business that insiders say is closing in on annual revenue of $120 million from TV rights, sponsorships and licensing, an increase of about 50 percent over the last five years and a giant leap from the $10 million the league took in outside of North America in 1990, MLB has taken advantage of a connection that exists everywhere the game is played.
People care most about the players who come from their country. That’s true everywhere. After that, the dynamics of selling the game and the strategies that are most effective vary not only by continent, but by nation. This is something that MLB first realized about 15 years ago, as it started to develop an international business that reached beyond the basics of pumping out a World Series broadcast.
“The thing we’ve learned doing business around the world is that you can’t just say we’re going to do something across a region,” said Jim Small, vice president of international marketing and development for MLB, who since last year has made Tokyo his base. “Strategies and approaches have to be customized, country by country.”
There is obvious common ground that stretches across regions. In most of Latin America, baseball is wildly popular, but the economics are thin. In much of Eastern Asia, economies are established and consumers are familiar with baseball, but the difference in time from the U.S. makes it hard to make the most of the television product. In Europe, the game is in a fledgling state that makes teaching it to children the priority.
“Putting balls and bats into the hands of kids for the first time is really at the core of what we’re doing,” said Clive Russell, MLB’s director in Europe, where most of baseball’s efforts are built around introducing the game in school physical education programs and helping local baseball proponents build and improve fields. MLB also is closing in on a Pan European television deal that could be announced soon.
Still, it’s not enough to have a plan for Europe, a plan for Latin America and a plan for Asia.
“Japan and Korea are as different as two cultures can get,” said Archey, who has negotiated high-water TV deals in both countries. “They just happen to be in close proximity. But they speak different languages and they have different cultures and food. Certainly, we shouldn’t expect to be able to put the same strategy in Japan and take it to Korea or China and have it work just because it’s Asia.
“It doesn’t work that way.”
When Japan exports a defining star such as Hideo Nomo or Ichiro Suzuki, or Korea sends over a breakthrough pitcher such as Chan Ho Park, the same principles apply in both nations. Increased interest leads to larger audiences and more money for MLB rights in those countries.
But getting to that point can differ by country. When Park popped in the mid-‘90s, MLB figured the value of TV rights in Korea would soar exponentially, as they did in Japan post-Nomo. That’s how it looked at first, when the league started negotiations with three Korean broadcast companies.
“I felt like a day trader,” Archey said. “My phone is ringing. The numbers just keep going up. Life is good.”
Then, one morning, Archey received a letter from all three companies informing him that they would negotiate as a pool and share the rights. Their offer was less than half what they had bid when they were opposing each other.
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MLB’s DuPuy noted that fans take in the game
differently; their countries approach the business
of baseball in different ways, too. |
He dug in and declined their joint offer. Eventually, they split and paid a competitive rate. But, each time the rights have come up for renewal — three times in the last nine years — the Korean broadcasters have started off by negotiating as a pool, hoping they’ll pay a cheaper price that way. MLB holds its position and, eventually, one breaks off.
A different approach from Japan, where Archey said the broadcasters are more like those in the U.S. — deeply competitive and not particularly interested in working together.
The licensing programs also differ greatly in the two countries. To get MLB goods on shelves in Korea, the league opened its own small stores, similar to team shops in U.S. cities. This year, there are 50 of them. There are no MLB stores in Japan. Licensees get Ichiro and Hideki Matsui jerseys to retailers in Tokyo, same as they get them to stores in Tacoma.
For MLB, Japan and Korea are as different as a fast ball and a curve.
China is a knuckleball.
Like all the other sports properties, MLB wants to stake its claim to a nation of 1.3 billion with the world’s hottest emerging economy. But baseball in China is not ingrained in the culture, as it is in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It was wiped out when Mao Zedong rose to power and obliterated China’s connection to anything not inherently Chinese. Children in China don’t grow up playing baseball.
In China, many of baseball’s efforts are developmental. But there is a distinction here that makes China different from other countries. Baseball desperately wants to develop a Chinese star, or at least a Chinese major leaguer, and to do it on a fast track. It wants its own Yao Ming. The size of the Chinese market makes it a priority.
So, while MLB works to introduce the game to young children, it also has pumped resources into the Chinese national program, providing a steady stream of coaching from former big leaguers and allowing the team to train in Arizona for at least one month each year.
“Yao didn’t happen overnight,” Small said. “The NBA has spent a lot of time and money in China, knowing what a player like Yao would mean. They’ve done good TV deals and adapted to the market. We’re in a different place because basketball has been played much longer than baseball in China. But you look at what (the NBA) has done and you try to learn from it.”
Small points to MLB’s opening of a Tokyo office a year ago as a major reason that the league has been able to better translate the popularity of stars such as Ichiro and Hideki Matsui into sponsorship dollars from Japanese companies.
“What we’ve done so far is just from having full-time representation and exploiting the opportunities we were missing because we weren’t here,” Small said.
Before opening the office, about 20 percent of the sponsorship deals MLB had in place in Asia were for more than one year. Now, about 60 percent of its contracts are multiyear. Having regular contact with executives from Japan Airlines helped MLB keep a deal in place even when the company ran into a cash crunch.
Small said he sells companies on the idea that they can get more out of the relationship if they keep it in place from year to year. Typically, companies in Japan and Korea viewed their deals with MLB as short-term advertising plays.
“They want to pay you for the marks and run an ad and that’s it,” Small said. “If they decide they want to run another ad next year, they do another deal. What we’re trying to do is get them to realize that it’s not just an advertising vehicle, but also a sales tool. We’re trying to change the way sports marketing is conducted here. It’s difficult, but we’re making progress.” They’re also making progress in Latin America, where they must deal with the unfortunate reality that large swaths of the region live in poverty. Sponsorship revenue increased 140 percent in the last two years, placing it at about $3 million annually, according to sources. While the numbers pale in size compared to Asia, that’s a considerable stride for a region of seven established, baseball-watching countries, few of which are high on the priority list for multinational companies that sponsor sports.
Battling soccer south of the border
There also are significant differences from country to country when you go south of the United States.
When the U.S. started providing Spanish-speaking announcer crews for the games it fed to Latin America, it actually was met with disappointment. Most of the broadcast companies didn’t like the feed because the announcers spoke in the dialect of another country. They preferred to take the video and dub in their own announcers. MLB now provides the feed in English and lets Dominicans hear Dominicans, Venezuelans hear Venezuelans and Mexicans hear Mexicans.
While baseball is popular in much of the Caribbean and Venezuela, it’s far behind soccer in the most populated areas of Mexico, particularly Mexico City. Soccer also dominates in South America, other than in Venezuela.
When MLB negotiates television deals in Mexico, it always hears the same refrain: “If you could ever give us another Fernando…” It has been almost 30 years since the Fernando-mania of quirky Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela stormed the countryside. Nothing close has come along since.
“They still tell me about the 45 rating they did with Fernando pitching when I go to negotiate with Televisa,” Archey said. “Well, we’re not going to do a 45 this year. But our business partners in Mexico are excited about the World Baseball Classic. They think this may be the biggest thing to happen for baseball down there since Fernando.”
In Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, barely a month after the two teams met in the finals of the rabidly followed Caribbean World Series, it might be the biggest thing to happen for baseball, ever.
Just back from a trip for first-round games in Japan, MLB’s president, Bob DuPuy — who is writing a WBC blog on MLB.com (see story, page 7) — noted the differences in the way fans take in baseball in different spots on the globe. Choreographed cheers in Japan. Unbridled, joyous chanting, singing and bouncing by Venezuelans and Dominicans at Disney.
When a man in a ballcap bearing an interlocking DR spotted a local news cameraman roaming the concourse, he grabbed him by the shoulder to turn him, paused to get his breath, and spoke into the camera.
“I’m from the Dominican Republic, born and raised,” he said. “And I am proud. Proud of the Dominican Republic.”
One game, lots of cultures.
“Our world has become increasingly smaller,” DuPuy said, interpreting business implications amid the mayhem. “As a result, entertainment product — our product — is going to be worldwide. You can’t be parochial any more. It can’t just be about the United States.
“This sort of event helps us to have a foothold in this smaller world.”
2006 WBC Team Countries
Japan• Population: 127.4 million
• GDP (rank): $4.7 trillion (2)
• Leading exports: Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Tadahito Iguchi, Hideo Nomo
• In the pipeline: Kenji Johjima, catcher, Mariners; signed three-year, $16.5 million deal in November
• Heritage: Baseball was introduced in the 1870s, but the first pro league didn’t form until 1936.
• Local knowledge: The 12-team Japanese Professional League is the most established of any pro baseball league outside MLB. Average attendance last year was 26,650 in the Central League and 29,226 in the Pacific League. Viewership for the Japan Series approaches 20 million.
• On the air: MLB enters the second year of a six-year, $275 million deal with Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, which subleases the rights. About three games a week aired on networks Fuji, NHK and TBS last season, with more than 250 games available on satellite TV.
• Ball backers: Since opening an office in Tokyo a year ago, MLB International has added five sponsors, giving it 17 and increasing gross sponsor revenue — estimated at $10 million to $15 million annually — by 42 percent.
• World view: Japan provides the financial engine for MLB International, delivering more than half of the estimated $120 million a year the league takes in abroad.
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Netherlands• Population: 16.4 million (Netherlands Antilles: 219,958; Aruba: 71,566).
• GDP (rank): $607.5 billion (14)
• Leading exports: Andruw Jones
• In the pipeline: Wladimir Balentien, outfielder, Mariners.
• Heritage: The Dutch got their first taste of baseball in 1905, when J.C. Grase brought word of the game back after a vacation in the United States.
• Local knowledge: Teams in the Dutch Major League play 40-game seasons leading up to the playoffs and championship. Clubs are limited to two foreign players.
• On the air: One MLB game a week on terrestrial TV, plus two games a week on Canal Plus cable and up to 10 a week on a pay channel, the North American Sports Network.
• Ball backers: In Curacao, part of the southern Netherlands Antilles, three companies sponsored All-Star balloting for the first time last year. MLB International executives joke that per capita, they do more business in Curacao than anywhere in the world.
• World view: We’re talking about two different places. In Curacao, where Jones is a local hero, baseball is the leading sport. It’s a tiny island nation, but the economy is strong enough to produce sponsors. The Netherlands has the most established national team program in Europe, but for MLB the story is about getting mitts on hands.
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Australia• Population: 20.1 million
• GDP (rank): $618 billion (13)
• Leading exports: Dave Nilsson, Craig Shipley
• In the pipeline: Justin Huber, first baseman, Royals
• Heritage:American gold miners started the first club in Melbourne in 1879 and an Australian team first traveled to the United States to play in 1897.
• Local knowledge: The Australian Baseball League formed in 1989, but collapsed after years of financial instability in 1999. Nilsson bought the league but couldn’t revive it. Club teams now compete in a league known as the Claxton Shield. Interest is up since the national team won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics.
• On the air: A full menu of regular-season and postseason games come courtesy of Fox Sports, ESPN and SBS.
• Ball backers: My First Glove, an initiative sponsored by leading sporting goods store chain Rebel Sports, provided 15,000 Wilson gloves to newly registered players last year. Qantas Airways also supports MLB’s developmental programs.
• World view: MLB has put lots of grassroots muscle behind the game in Australia, and that has paid off handsomely on the development side if only marginally on the business side. Australia has provided a steady stream of players into MLB farm systems.
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Korea• Population: 48.4 million
• GDP (rank): $680 billion (10)
• Leading exports: Hee Seop Choi, Chan Ho Park, Byung-Hyun Kim
• In the pipeline: Shin-Soo Choo, outfielder, Mariners
• Heritage: Baseball was introduced by American missionaries in 1905. In 1922, the country saw its first team of big-league barnstormers visit.
• Local knowledge: The eight-team pro league, the Korea Baseball Organization, began play in 1982 and began accepting foreign players in 1997. Baseball remains mostly an amateur endeavor.
• On the air: MLB regular-season and postseason games air on MBC, ESPN Star and Xsports.
• Ball backers: Woori Bank, one of Korea’s larger commercial banks, featured Park in TV and print ads and promotional materials last season.
• World view: Interest in MLB in Korea took off 10 years ago with the emergence of Park. While baseball remains popular, the appetite for MLB receded some when Park struggled. Still, Korea delivers more revenue than any country other than Japan.
Dominican Republic• Population: 9 million
• GDP: $19.5 billion (78)
• Leading exports: Where to start? We’ll go with Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols and David Ortiz.
• In the pipeline: Usual parade of elite prospects is led by Francisco Liriano, RHP, Twins; Andy Marte, 3b, Indians; and Hanley Ramirez, SS, Marlins.
• Heritage: Cubans who migrated to the Dominican during war in the 1870s brought the game with them.
• Local knowledge: The Winter League attracts top prospects and Dominican veterans, with six teams playing a 50-game schedule that feeds into the centerpiece of Latino baseball, the Caribbean World Series. The Summer League gives 16- and 17-year-old prospects a place to develop before joining their U.S. teams.
• On the air: CDN airs an MLB game most nights throughout the season, with MLB tailoring the schedule to feature Dominican stars. MLB also feeds highlights featuring Latino players to news outlets throughout Latin America.
• Ball backers: Leading beer brand Presidente has exclusive promotional rights in its category and runs promotions around the All-Star Game and World Series. It has put logos for all 30 teams on its bottles. It hosted MLB festivals twice last season and plans to do so again this year.
• World view: There’s no question that Dominicans are beisbol crazy and follow MLB passionately. The challenge for the league is finding ways to connect with those fans in ways that make business sense in an impoverished nation. It has done so by connecting with a few select, larger brands, such as Presidente. Local companies are key, since few global brands are interested in spending sponsorship dollars in the Dominican, although Verizon will run an MLB promotion there this year.
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China• Population: 1.3 billion
• GDP (rank): $1.7 trillion (7)
• Leading exports: None — yet
• In the pipeline: Only the Mariners have signed a player from China: pitcher Wang Chao
• Heritage: Baseball was introduced in China by missionaries and students more than 100 years ago, but interest collapsed after Mao Zedong took power and deemed the game to be a bourgeois influence. When China landed the 2008 Olympics, the government began putting resources behind a national team.
• Local knowledge: The China Baseball League formed with four teams in 2002 and expanded to six last season. Quality of play is improving, but the teams are virtually invisible, drawing fewer than 1,000 spectators a game.
• On the air: MLB broke through with a deal with CCTV last year.
• Ball backers: Not available
• World view: It’s all about finding and developing baseball’s equivalent of Yao Ming and parlaying that into increased interest in a nation of 1.3 billion with the world’s most tempting emerging economy. That’s probably years away, but MLB is plugging away, supplying instruction for the national team managed by former big leaguer Jim Lefebvre. It spends about a month a year training in Arizona.
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Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)• Population: 22.8 million
• GDP (rank): $305.2 billion (20)
• Leading export: Chien-Ming Wang
• In the pipeline: Ching-Lung Hu, shortstop, Dodgers.
• Heritage: The Japanese brought the game to Taiwan soon after China ceded control of the island in 1895. Taiwan won the Little League World Series 13 times between 1969 and 1982 and captured a silver medal in the Olympics in 1992.
• Local knowledge: The Chinese Professional Baseball League formed in 1989 and a television company launched a competing league in 1997. Both still are in business, but a gambling scandal tarnished baseball badly in 1999, and the pro game has not recovered.
• On the air: Last season marked MLB’s first deal with Public Television Service, the only noncommercial over-the-air network in Taiwan. PTS aired one or two games per week.
• Ball backers: MLB licensee Pegasus ran a retail promotion through 15 of its GO GO Sports Center stores, offering customers the chance to win merchandise by picking a favorite MLB player. Included on the ballot: Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang.
• World view: Because of its size, Taiwan has not been the priority for MLB that Japan and China have been, but baseball is popular there. The emergence of Wang with the Yankees could pay dividends.
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Puerto Rico• Population: 3.9 million
• GDP: Not available
• Leading exports: Roberto Clemente, Carlos Beltran, Ivan Rodriguez
• In the pipeline: Fernando Cabrera, pitcher, Indians
• Heritage: Believed to have come by way of Cuba early in the 1900s.
• Local knowledge: Puerto Rico’s winter league annually attracts top prospects. Unlike their counterparts from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, players in Puerto Rico are subject to MLB draft rules because the island is a U.S. territory.
• On the air: Deportes 13 airs a steady offering of regular-season games, often featuring teams with Puerto Rican stars, as well as the full postseason menu.
• Ball backers: MLB sponsors such as Gillette, MasterCard and Pepsi all have activated heavily with consumer promotions in Puerto Rico, capitalizing on the popularity of the game and of Puerto Rican stars.
• World view: Puerto Rico is a hotbed of baseball and an easy place for global companies that do business with MLB to take advantage of that popularity. San Juan landed the Expos for parts of two seasons before the former Montreal club relocated to Washington, D.C., but small crowds for many games made it clear the city isn’t ready for its own team. Just as well: The wonders of baseball in Puerto Rico are best enjoyed in the winter.
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Mexico• Population: 106.2 million
• GDP (rank): $675 billion (11)
• Leading exports: Fernando Valenzuela, Vinny Castilla, Jorge Cantu
• In the pipeline: Agustin Murillo, outfielder, Diamondbacks.
• Heritage: American troops brought baseball with them in the 1840s, but the natives have a history of playing similar stick-and-ball games that tracks back for centuries.
• Local knowledge: The Mexican Professional Baseball League formed in 1925 and still produces the occasional sleeper who ends up in the big leagues. Officially classified as Class AAA, it’s an established place for Mexican players to make a living and for fringe MLB players to squeeze a few extra years out of pro ball.
• On the air: Telemex and Televisa air regular-season and postseason games.
• Ball backers: Big brewery Grupo Modelo sponsors MLB’s touring festival and candy company Betamex backs grassroots programs for children.
• World view: Though Mexico hasn’t produced the talent of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela — soccer remains king in Mexico — it is a viable export market for MLB, particularly for the clubs in Southern California and Texas. With a growing economy, Monterrey, Mexico, was considered as a temporary host for the wandering Montreal Expos a few years ago and could eventually end up hosting a relocated franchise.
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Venezuela• Population: 25.3 million
• GDP: $108 billion (38)
• Leading exports: Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera, Omar Vizquel.
• In the pipeline: Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Diamondbacks.
• Heritage: As the story goes, a student named Amenodoro Franklin was taken by the game while in school in the U.S. and, in 1895, placed an ad in a regional newspaper inviting others to play. Unsure of what he was talking about, the paper described it as a “new kind of chess game.” Baseball flourished in spite of the mistake.
• Local knowledge: The eight clubs in the Venezuelan Winter League play a 62-game schedule, with the winner advancing to the Caribbean Series. Like its counterparts in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, the Venezuelan League attracts top young players and local veterans. Venezuelan teens under contract to MLB teams typically start off in the Venezuelan Summer League.
• On the air: Last year, MLB signed new agreements with three terrestrial television networks: Televen, Meridiano TV and Radio Caracas TV. The three combined to air nine live games a week, plus the All-Star Game and postseason.
• Ball backers: Leading beverage company Empresas Polar has been an MLB sponsor for a decade, using the league and Venezuelan stars to promote its Polar and Maltin Polar brands. Gatorade signed an official status deal last year, joining Pepsi as a global MLB sponsor activating in Venezuela.
• World view: Venezuela was the strongest of the Latin American markets for MLB until the economy crashed a few years ago. Last year, the deals started coming back. The interest always has been there, fueled by a plethora of stars. It helps that Venezuela has established local companies, such as Polar, to help stabilize the business.
South Africa• Population: 44.3 million
• GDP (rank): $213 billion (28)
• Leading exports: None
• In the pipeline: Only three South Africans are under contract and playing in the minor leagues. None is considered a prospect.
• Heritage: American miners brought baseball with them in 1898, and the first baseball federation was formed in 1934, but the game never caught on.
• Local knowledge: Baseball isn’t a job in South Africa. All play is club level.
• On the air: The national television channel, SABC, airs a magazine show that focuses on MLB.
• Ball backers: None
• World view: The formation of a national team in 1995 raised the profile a bit. Since 1998, MLB has introduced baseball in more than 1,100 primary schools and 140 secondary schools and now estimates that more than 360,000 children have picked up balls and bats in school. Still, games typically are played on cricket pitches and rugby fields. Baseball isn’t on the national sporting radar.
Panama• Population: 3 million
• GDP (rank): $13.7 billion (86)
• Leading exports: Mariano Rivera, Carlos Lee, Rod Carew
• In the pipeline: Manuel Corpas, pitcher, Rockies.
• Heritage: An offshoot of a U.S. presence that began with the construction of the Panama Canal.
• Local knowledge: While Panama has been a consistent producer of talent, it lacks the economy to support a professional league of its own, despite repeated attempts. Carew supported the last such effort in 2001. It shut down after one season.
• On the air: Televisora Nacional airs regular-season and postseason games.
• Ball backers: Global baseball sponsors MasterCard and Pepsi both have run promotions in Panama in recent years.
• World view: Like the Dominican Republic, Panama is a small, impoverished nation rich in baseball talent. Demand for MLB is strong, but the economics are tight. MLB made strides last year, bringing All-Star balloting to the country for the first time.
Italy• Population: 58.1 million
• GDP (rank): $1.6 trillion (6)
• Leading exports: Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mike Piazza, Tommy Lasorda — wait, they don’t really count, do they?
• In the pipeline: None of note
• Heritage: The first official exhibition came to Rome in 1920. The national team began play in ’52.
• Local knowledge: The first pro league formed in 1948 in Milan. It’s a semipro league where most players make enough to cover their living expenses for a few months. Games typically are played on Wednesday nights and on weekends.
• On the air: Sky Italia shows a couple of games a week, the All-Star Game and the postseason.
• World view: Like all of Europe, Italy still is learning the game, and the emphasis there is on getting children playing. Last year, MLB launched a pitch, hit and run school-based initiative along with the Italian federation, providing uniforms and equipment to 30 clubs and 45 schools in 20 cities. MLB says the program reached 4,000 students. Next up: an academy to help develop the more promising players.
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Cuba• Population: 11.3 million
• GDP (rank): $15 billion (not available)
• Leading exports: Livan Hernandez, Orlando Hernandez, Jose Contreras
• In the pipeline: Alay Soler, pitcher, Mets
• Heritage: Traces to the 1860s, when American sailors taught the game to Cuban dock workers.
• Local knowledge: The Cuban National League features 16 teams playing a 90-game season that runs December-April. Players work day jobs and play ball at night and on weekends. Elite players continue in a 30-game all-star schedule. The talent level is high. The national team won Olympic gold in 1992, ’96 and 2004.
• On the air: Major league games air on TV Marti, which is beamed into Cuba from Florida by the U.S. government. Many hotels carry ESPN.
• World view: Baseball is a core element of Cuban culture, drawing rabid crowds and inspiring everyday conversation. Most Americans know Cuban baseball by its defectors, though. Heading into this season, there are 22 such players under contract to MLB clubs.
