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November 02, 2006
No Thanks, 2004 Was Enough
From the Times -
As Commissioner Bud Selig stood on the field at Japan’s Tokyo Dome in 2004, he spoke excitedly about the importance of continuing to expand Major League Baseball internationally. Selig was not specific, but geographically speaking, he was peeking even farther west.
Eventually, Selig hopes to announce that baseball will hold its season opener in China, perhaps as early as 2008. If baseball officials arrange that, they would be staging the first major league games there a few months before Beijing plays host to the 2008 Olympics.
Please, Bud, don't ask the Yankees to make this trip. The last time they opened outside of North America, their season ended in the worst possible way. Pick someone else this time, OK?
Posted by Steve Lombardi at November 2, 2006 11:57 PM
Comments
I have to believe that unless we have a player from mainland China on our team, Cashman will have the stones to say no. In 2004 it was going to be hard to say no after the Yanks poached Japan's most popular slugger.
Posted by: MJ ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 3, 2006 12:26 AM
It would be tricky what with Wang on the team. Yes he's Chinese, but he's from Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. Would the mainland government want to hype the one Chinese player to be someone from Taiwan?
Posted by: rbj at November 3, 2006 11:44 AM
What a freaking disaster that was. Quantril practically blowing out his knee; Mussina hiding in his hotel room, using p,b, & j sandwiches as his life raft; and the rest of the team suffering from a prolonged bout of jetlag that lasted until, oh, about June. Pass.
Posted by: brockdc at November 3, 2006 12:54 PM
brock, Quantrill is the forgotten casualty from Japan. People forget that A-Rod banged into him and twisted his knee. Q never did take any time off because of it, and pitched on it all year. The sickest thing I've ever seen -- I mean, it truly horrified me -- was when Quantrill's knee was still obviously a mess and he couldn't throw properly and Torre kept running him out there every night to get bombed, saying, "He has to 'work it out.'" It was like watching a slaying. You almost felt like Rocky's wife hiding your eyes from the fight, screaming, "Make him stop!"
Torre gets taken to task for his abuse of pitchers, but Quantrill withered body should be atop that list of wounded. He literally ended his career. The year before Quantrill came to this team, he had been unhittable. Before his knee gave out, he was awesome for us, too. And then Torre rode him until his leg broke and then didn't even have the decency to shoot him behind the shed -- instead, he let him continue to ride.
Why Q was never given time off is still a mystery. It would have been great if he could have been the hero in the '04 ALCS. Instead, he'll have to see the walk-off he gave up for the rest of his life.
Posted by: baileywalk at November 3, 2006 01:08 PM
Hey, go for it. Anything that makes MLB available to a wider audience, go for it.
Posted by: Raf at November 5, 2006 10:57 AM
If anyone has to go, let it be the WS Champions from the previous season.
Posted by: Pete at November 8, 2006 12:16 PM