HISTORY OF BASEBALL (part III)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BASEBALL (part III)

Part III: Labor Battles in the Modern Era

Professional baseball players had organized several times in baseball history, but they were never able to make the advances that unions in other industries had won for their members. The Major League Baseball Players Association had been around for more than thirty years, but its sole purpose had been to collect and administer a meager pension. Concerned about getting a piece of growing television revenues, the players sought to strengthen their union in 1965.

They hired Marvin Miller, a veteran labor organizer who had fought for the United Steelworkers union for years. He knew there was more at stake than adding broadcasting money to the pension fund. When Miller came on board and saw what the conditions were, he knew much more was at stake.

For one thing, the minimum salary was $6,000, just a thousand dollars more than it had been in 1947. As he began to collect data, the players were surprised at how poorly they were being paid. This education paved the way for the first collective bargaining agreement in 1968. It provided some modest improvements, but most importantly it gave the players some leverage. For nearly a hundred years, team owners had a “take it or leave it” relationship with players. The union could (and did) file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board when they were treated unfairly. Players also won the right to have their grievances heard before an independent arbitrator.

The owners did not like this. They did not like the union interfering in their business, and they did not like the players standing up to them. Curt Flood, one of the league’s premier centerfielders refused to report to training camp in 1969, demanding that the St. Louis Cardinals offer more than a $5000 raise. They relented, but after an unexceptional season, they traded him to Philadelphia. Flood did not want to go. He had strong ties to the community, and filed a suit against Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Flood argued that the Reserve Clause was illegal, and that he should be allowed to negotiate freely with other teams. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled against him, but it made a lot of players think.
By 1975, two pitchers decided to challenge the reserve clause again. It said that the teams had the right to renew a players contract for one year. They interpreted that to be recurring, that they could renew it every year. Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith refused to sign their contracts. If the reserve clause bound them for the 1975 season, there was no contract that could be renewed for 1976. An arbitrator upheld their case, and free agency was born.

Players were still bound to a team for the first few years of their career, but after that they could sign with any team. The owners couldn’t contain their excitement at this, and spent the next five years outbidding and outspending each other. The players were happy, because everyone’s salary was going up. But many owners were getting upset. When a player left, they got nothing in return. They argued that a team who lost a player should get something in return for compensation. Otherwise, the money they had invested in that player’s development would be lost. The players argued that this would severely limit their freedom. The two sides couldn’t agree, so in the middle of the 1981 season the players walked out.

There had been a brief player’s strike at the start of the 1972 season, which delayed the start of the season by 13 days. This was much more serious, and little negotiation took place. After fifty days, the owners relented and agreed to a modified compensation plan. In return, players not yet eligible for free-agency could have their salaries decided by an arbitrator. The economic issues was growing more complicated, and the adversarial relationship between owners and players grew more intense.

In 1985, the players struck again. The owners had hoped that salary arbitration would help keep salaries down, but it propelled them through the roof. The owners wanted to change it, the players said no way. After two days, the owners relented and the players came back.

Then the free-agent market suddenly and mysteriously dried up. Following the 1986 season, players in search of contracts found no bidders, and many re-signed with their teams for lower salaries. This continued for the next few years, until an arbitrator ruled that the owners had colluded. The collective bargaining prohibited that action, and the players were awarded damages.

This all set the stage for the worst battle of all. In 1992, the owners forced Commissioner to resign. The labor contract was about to expire, and they didn’t want him to interfere in negotiations. Turns out they didn’t want any negotiations either. Their had been a strike or a lockout every time the collective bargaining agreement expired, and the players didn’t want to go through that again. They started the 1994 season without a contract. The owners were insisting that a salary cap was necessary for teams to survive. They claimed free agency and salary arbitration were wrecking them. No progress was being made, so the players went on strike in August.

The World Series was canceled for the first time in 92 years. Fans across the country were disgusted and heartbroken. President Clinton appointed a mediator, but nothing happened. Finally, the owners decided to unilaterally implement their own plan. They assembled teams of replacement players and set out to start the 1995 season without the “real” players. The players asked for and got a restraining order, prohibiting the teams from implementing their plan and forcing them to work under the terms of the old agreement until a new one was reached.

It took almost two more years for a labor deal to be reached, and it finally happened in November of 1996. While it’s too soon to tell if the deal will address the financial problems that face Major League Baseball, it does offer the hope that fans can start thinking about the game on the field once again. Baseball has fallen behind other American sports in popularity, and it will take a lot of work to regain the prominence it once held in American culture. There is a long, proud history to build on, and baseball will enter its third century with reasons for optimism.

(by Sean Lahman)

Danny Grave

Danny Grave, someone we already heard about.


SAN FRANCISCO — It is the bottom of the ninth and final inning at SBC Park. Danny Graves walks to the pitcher’s mound, scraping the dirt with his feet, getting ready to finish the game and secure a win for his Cincinnati Reds against the home team, the San Francisco Giants.

As the “closer” — a specialized pitcher called on to end the game — Graves walks a fine line between love and hate from fans. It’s expected for him to protect the lead for the team, to shut down any hope for the opponents to win.

If he allows runs to score and blows a “save,” he becomes the target for the frustration of the Reds’ spectators.
On this night, his team is leading, 8-7. The first batter he faces hits a fly ball to right field. One out.

Graves walks the second batter, allowing the tying run on base. Then making Reds fan a little uneasy, the third batter, Marquis Grissom gets a base hit. The Wednesday night crowd of 40,095 Giants loyalists smells blood.

Graves, however, doesn’t look fazed. He strikes out the fourth batter. Two outs. All he needs is one more.

The nail biting begins after Graves tosses three straight balls to the fifth batter, Edgardo Alfonzo, inviting the possibility of walking another batter and loading the bases. On the sixth pitch, Alfonzo hits a ground ball to the shortstop, who tosses the batter out at first. Three outs. Game over. Reds win.

It’s just another day at the office for Graves, the first Vietnamese-born man to play major-league baseball. In his entire nine-year career, he’s been baffling batters in a sport that his countrymen have yet to fully embrace.

Daniel Peter Graves was born in the summer of 1973, the youngest son of an Army sergeant and a young Vietnamese woman working at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. He and his family, which includes an older brother, moved to the United States when he was 14 months old.

Graves’ dad, Jim, loved baseball. Danny learned to love it, too, as a child in the Florida city of Tampa, where the neighborhood kids would pitch in the streets. At 5, he asked his parents to register him for Little League.

At first, he wanted to be a catcher but abandoned the idea.
“As a catcher, you have to be able to hit, and I didn’t hit very well, but I always had a strong arm growing up,” he remembered.

That arm propelled him through Brandon High School and earned him a scholarship to the University of Miami, where during his junior season for the Hurricanes, Graves posted a 0.89 earned-run average and led the nation with a school-record 21 saves. In 1994, the Cleveland Indians selected him in the fourth round of the amateur draft.

His mother, Thao, who teaches English to Vietnamese students in Florida, thought he was crazy for wanting to be a professional baseball player. She didn’t understand why he wanted to take up the sport for a living.

“She wanted me to have a normal job,” he said. “She didn’t know you can get paid a lot of money being an athlete and be able to take care of your family that way. Once she figured it’s a good way for people to have a career, she was OK with it.”

It’s been a more than a good career for Graves, who earns a reported $6 million a year. After two years in the minor leagues, he made his major-league debut on July 13, 1996, for the Indians against the Minnesota Twins, becoming the first Vietnamese-born player in a sport with an increasing number of Asians.

The following season, he and three other players were traded to the Cincinnati Reds. On May 20, 2004, he became the Reds’ all-time leader in saves, successfully closing out 149 wins for the team in his career. He’s been a member of the National League All-Star team twice.

At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Japanese fans stand up, signs in their hands and cheer whenever Hideo Nomo runs to the pitcher’s mound or Kazuhisa Ishii stands in the batter’s box. Korean fans do the same for Hee-Seop Choi. It’s not an uncommon sight in any stadium where an Asian player takes the field.

But until Graves came along, the Vietnamese were left out of rooting for one of their own.Still, despite Graves’ success, Vietnamese Americans do not flock to major-league stadiums. Other sports — soccer, tennis, basketball, football and, it seems, even table tennis — generate more fervor among the Vietnamese.

Maybe baseball is just more difficult to grasp. How many strikes constitute an out? How many outs to end an inning? What’s a sacrifice fly? With soccer, it seems easier to follow. Ball in net equals goal. Plus, in baseball, there isn’t the non-stop action other sports offer.

The lack of interest among Vietnamese hasn’t gone unnoticed by Graves. He said he would like to take his skills to the country of his birth and teach baseball.
“Any way I can introduce another sport where I came from would be nice because I know they don’t know much about it,” said Graves, who is emphatic about his love for Vietnamese food, particularly his mother’s cooking.

He also knows not a lot of Vietnamese children play Little League in the United States. A father of four, he recommends it to other parents.

“It’s a fun game,” he said. “It’s a good way for kids to interact with other people and to teach them good sportsmanship. It’s a good way to keep them away from the TV all day long. Baseball, it’s just fun to me.”

Life as a closer in the major leagues is a pressure-cooker situation. It requires being mentally tough. Graves doesn’t necessarily look the part, but he is. Blessed or cursed with the Asian quality of appearing younger than his years, Graves resembles a teen-ager, complete with blond highlights in his hair. Yet his teammates have named him “baby-faced assassin.” His ammunition of choice? A sinker, two-seam fastball, changeup and curveball.

Dr. Bill Harrison, who coaches the visual and mental aspects of the game to professional baseball players such as Greg Maddux and Jason Giambi, shares his experience working with Graves.

“It was obvious he was very much attuned to being mentally stronger than most players. And he’s not very big but he knows it’s not about being big. It’s about throwing quality pitches. Everyone says they do it but he really does it.”

And Graves hasn’t had it easy. Even though he leads the National League in saves with 37, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Friday with lower back spasms. This season, he has pitched nearly 62 innings, recording one win and five losses and striking out 38. His ERA is 4.09.
“I know that if I go out there one day and don’t do well, I have the next day to do better,” Graves said before his trip to the disabled list. “A lot of guys can’t handle not doing well, but I understand that’s part of the game. You can’t be perfect all the time.”

While Graves is best known nationally on the field, people in Cincinnati know him off of it, too. He is the local spokesman for the city’s National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s READaTHON program; honorary board member of Hamilton County’s Special Olympics; and was featured in a poster on behalf of the Ohio Department of Safety’s “Sober Truth” program. He also invites Little League teams serving underprivileged children to Sunday games at the Reds’ Great American Ball Park as his guests.

“He is one of my favorite players to work with,” says Lorrie Platt, community relations manager for the Reds. “I know I can rely on him for our outreach programs. He is a great representative for our team. He gives 110 percent all the time.”

Even without the fanfare, people have noticed Graves’ giving and respectful-of-others nature, an attribute instilled in him by his parents. In 2001 and 2003, he was the Reds’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to the major-league player who combines outstanding skills on the field with devoted work in the community. He also received the 2003 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, presented annually by Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity to the major-league player who best exemplifies Gehrig’s character.

“I’m not out to get publicity for doing certain community service,” he said. “If I go out and make one group happy or one little kid happy, I feel like I did something right. It makes me feel better to help somebody out.”


Photos courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds
(by Denise Nguyen - Nguoi Viet online)

K's note : I am Not his fan. sorry.

My broken webpages :(

Today i suddenly found my forgotten sites hosted years ago... surprisingly, they still exist.
Thank God and thank you all ....
1- http://www.freewebs.com/saigonbaseball/ (just for references, since this one is in Vietnamese)
2- http://www.baseball-teams.com/teams/saigon/ (a free ready-to-use site for all baseball teams)
3- http://www.baseball-teams.com/teams/Saigon/index.cfm?method=photoalbum (photos galleries, inside the No.2 sites)

Photo- May 2007

Sunny weekend, at the game.

with Bob on a bench

Roy was pitching and Jeff at bat.

Mike and ...





the defends



Everybody enjoys.



"the Tavern" ??

Vietnamese-American Sportpersons

Vietnamese American of Sport

This is a list of notable Vietnamese Americans who have made significant contributions to the American culture or society either politically, artistically, or scientifically.

Amy Tran - hockey player.
Catherine Mai Lan Fox - Olympic swimmer with two gold medals.
Chau Giang - professional poker
Cung Le - san shou champion and coach[33]
Danny Graves - MLB baseball player[34]
Dat Nguyen - NFL football player[35], Dallas Cowboys assistant linebackers and defensive quality control coach
David Pham - professional poker player[36]
Howard Bach - badminton player - former world champion (2005)
Jim Parque - In 1996 he was the only left-handed pitcher on the Olympics baseball team that won a bronze medal in Atlanta.
Khoa Nguyen - table tennis player. Member of the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Table Tennis Team
Lee Nguyen - professional soccer player
Men Nguyen - professional poker player[37]
Mimi Tran - professional poker player[38]
Paul Truong - chess coach
Scotty Nguyen - professional poker player[39]


(wikipedia.org)

Yakult Rookie Takai

Thinking of Vietnam

Newly minted Yakult Swallows rookie pitcher Yuhei Takai says that he would like to build a hospital in Vietnam, according to a story in Sports Nippon. Having seen the plight of the average Vietnamese on television and read about it in books, he was so moved that he has made that his goal. Toward that end, he will be journeying to Vietnam next year.
"There's a big difference between the facilities in tourist areas and places that aren't geared to visitors," he noted. Sports Nippon checked into what it would cost to attain his goal. For a three floor, eight bed, two ward hospital, it would cost only about $100,000. But a bigger plan would run into the millions. Takai's teammates, Akinori Iwamura and Tetsuya Iida, are famous for their charitable activities, but they are concentrated on Japan. So this would be a formidable undertaking for a Japanese ballplayer, though Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki has been involved in some international charitable work for many years.

(BASEBALL GURU.COM)

A dull day

when i am too depressed to write anything.

Photo-"Củ Chi at RMIT"

RMIT field with CuChi young players

Junior Baseball team Nhuan Duc school - Cu Chi - Saigon

To whom that might want to join...

We had a pretty good turn out, even with the time change. Actually it is quite nice playing later when the heat has subsided a bit. Landon has been very supportive and is really trying his best to get us a back stop for home plate! Hope to see you all Sunday and bring a friend. We have tables, chairs, and shade for spectators. Ice cold beer (provided by The Tavern) and water (sometimes even soft drinks if the collection plate is more than 750,000 vnd) Per player fee is only 50,000 vnd that helps pay for the field and water: RMIT in district 7. We provide all the equipment, balls, bats, gloves, bases. Please keep the dogs on a leash and the beer off the field. Thanks to all.... -- Bob 090.827.3534

When It Rains, It Pours (news)

Nothing's going right for the Toronto Blue Jays this season. Big free agent acquisition Frank Thomas hasn't adjusted to the Canadian climate and is hitting .238 with four homers and 15 RBI. Injuries have cost them starters Troy Glaus, Gregg Zaun and Reed Johnson for long stretches and will cost B.J. Ryan, their closer, all of this season and some of the next because of Tommy John surgery. And to top it all off their ace Roy Halladay got strafed by the Red Sox yesterday in a 8-0 loss, the ninth in a row for the reeling Jays. Looks like John Gibbons picked the wrong year to stop snorting heroin. The Sox, on the other hand, are so giddy from the sweep that not even their beat writers are making sense. I blame the liberal marijuana laws north of the border.

In about the third inning of the Yankee game yesterday I took a look at the out of town scoreboard and saw that the Marlins and Dodgers were already in the seventh inning of a 0-0 game. Sergio Mitre and Derek Lowe were each tossing gems, ensuring one would end up with a tough luck loss. It turned out to be Lowe. He gave up a three-run homer to Josh Willingham in the bottom of the ninth for all the scoring in a 3-0 Florida win that took less time than a screening of Spiderman 3. Mitre, for his efforts, got a no-decision, leaving after eight for a pinch-hitter.
Jose Contreras got hung with a loss in his last start thanks to three unearned runs. He took matters into his own hands in a 3-0 victory against the Twins by allowing just five hits and a walk and keeping things simple for his defense. None of those hits was by Torii Hunter, ending his hitting streak at 23 games and Ron Gardenhire snapped his string of seeing the ends of games by getting ejected in the fifth.
Ken Griffey tied Rafael Palmeiro for ninth place on the all-time home run list and the Reds held off the Astros for a 9-5 win. Cinci built a 7-0 lead through three innings before the late-starting Astros mounted a brief, ineffective comeback effort. Griffey's bomb, the 569th of his career, was one of three Reds homers and helped them stave off a four-game sweep.
Aaron Cook pitched okay but he bunted like a Hall of Famer to help the Rockies win in the first of four against San Francisco. His first bunt was botched by Giant pitcher Noah Lowry and ignited a three-run second inning rally and his second scored Yorvit Torrealba when Ryan Klesko opted for the safe out at first instead of trying for a play at the plate. He gave up all three runs in the 5-3 win and allowed six hits and walked four without recording a strikeout proving sometimes the bunt is truly mightier than the arm.

(theFeed.blogs.com)

HISTORY OF BASEBALL (part II)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BASEBALL (part II)

PART II: PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL'S FIRST HUNDRED YEARS

Professional baseball was built on the foundation of the amateur leagues that preceded it. Interest in baseball as a spectator sport had been nourished for more than 25 years when the first professional league began operation. The National Association fielded nine teams in 1871, and grew to 13 teams by 1875.

The National Association was short-lived. The presence of gamblers undermined the public confidence in the games, and their presence at the games combined with the sale of liquor quickly drove most of their crowds away. Following the 1875 season, the National Association was replaced with the National League. Previously, players had owned the teams and run the games, but the National League was to be run by businessmen. They established standards and policies for ticket prices, schedules, and player contracts.

The businessmen demonstrated that professional baseball could be successful, and a rival league soon emerged. In 1882, the American Association started to compete with reduced ticket prices and teams in large cities. Rather than fight each other, the two leagues reached an accord, ratifying a National Agreement. It called for teams in both major leagues and all of the minor leagues to honor each other’s player contracts. In addition, the agreement allowed each team to bind a certain number of players with the Reserve Clause. This clause granted teams the rights to unilaterally renew a player’s contract, preventing him from entertaining other offers.

Needless to say, this infuriated the players. In 1884, they tried to form their own league, the Union Association. Many players left their teams for the freedom of the Union Association, but the league lasted only one season. The teams lost too much money to attempt a second season. Another attempt was made in 1890, when the Players League was formed. Most of the best players from the American Association and National League joined, but like its predecessor, the Players League went bankrupt after one season. The competition and loss of players forced the American Association to fold, too, with four of its best teams joining the National League.

The turn of the century brought another challenger, the American League, which started play in 1901. They raided most of the National League’s best players. In their attempt to meet the challenge, the National League owners turned on each other. A court injunction impaneled a three-man commission to run the league, and they found a way for the two-leagues to co-exist peacefully.

Through the first decade of the twentieth century, baseball remained a game of strategy. The so-called “dead ball” provided few homeruns. The game relied on contact-hitters, bunting, and base-stealing for its offense. The adoption of a ball with a cork center in 1911 change the game dramatically. Forty years of batting records began to fall, and the popularity of the game began to explode.

In 1914, yet another rival league tried to gain a foothold. The Federal League sought to establish its presence both on the field and in the courtroom. They sued, contending that the American and National Leagues constituted a monopoly. While the case languished in the legal system, the Federal League folded after just two seasons. In 1922, the Supreme Court settled the matter by ruling that baseball was exempt from anti-trust legislation. The Court unanimously acknowledged and confirmed baseball’s monopoly.

The Roaring Twenties were a great time for the United States and for baseball. A huge gambling scandal in 1919 brought sweeping reforms, and in the nation’s largest city, a legend was born. George “Babe” Ruth had been a successful pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, but the New York Yankees bought his contract and made him an outfielder. He was the most tremendous hitter the league had ever seen. Ruth revolutionized the game with his prowess as a homerun hitter. He ushered in an era of economic prosperity for baseball, and became one of the most popular individuals in American history.

Like other American men, a large percentage of ballplayers entered the armed forces during World War two. The forties were a difficult time for baseball, but a new era beckoned. Although it was not a written rule, baseball had always been racially segregated. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. But integration was a very slow process. Other teams were slow to adopt African-American and other minority players. It was another ten years before all of the teams had integrated , and it wasn’t until the early sixties that professional baseball could truly call itself integrated.

In 1960, yet another rival league appeared. Although a handful of teams had moved, most of them were concentrated in the northeast. Large cities in the south and west wanted teams of their own. The Continental League sought to win in court before they had a chance to go bankrupt on the field. Faced with the possibility of losing their monopoly, major league owners reached a compromise. They would agree to expand, growing from 16 teams to 24 by the end of the decade.
The players loved this, because expansion meant more jobs. Baseball prospered economically, as attendance continued to grow and national television and radio contracts brought in huge amounts of money. Soon, the players began to see that the owners were not sharing the wealth. Salaries had remained stagnant for many years, and the players were still bound by the reserve clause. Although they had a union, its only real function was to administer the meager pension former players received. Seeing the success of organized labor in the auto industry and the steel industry, the players decided to put some teeth into their union. After nearly a hundred years, the players wanted to regain some control of the game. And they would get it .

(by Sean Lahman)

OTHER BASEBALL GAMES (part II)

VINTAGE

Vintage Base Ball is base ball (yes, it was two words originally) played by the rules and customs of any earlier period. Ballists don period uniforms and recreate the game 'as it was meant to be played.'
Most vintage base ball clubs in the VBBA play the game of base ball as it was played in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Many clubs use the rules recorded in the first Beadle's Dime Base Ball Player, published in 1860, which recounted the third meeting of the National Association of Base Ball Players. Increasingly though, there are vintage base ball games played from other eras like the 1880s and 1920s.
The mid-nineteenth century game was considerably different than today's game. Ballists played with bare hands until the 1880s and balls caught on one bound were outs until the mid-1860s. Balls are considered fair by where the ball first touches the ground. That is, a ball hit in front of home plate that then spins into foul territory is still a fair ball. There are numerous other differences, but modern spectators would still recognize our game as base ball.

A Brief History of the Game
In 1845, Alexander Joy Cartwright, Doc Adams and others were early members of a group of young professionals who made up the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club. The Knickerbockers began the process of formalizing the rules (e.g. bases set at 30 paces or 90 feet apart, establishing foul territory, etc.) in the late 1840s and early 1850s. Establishing clear foul territory was a major improvement as it allows spectators to get up close enough to the action to become interested in the game.
By the mid to late-1850s, more than a dozen teams with names like the Eagles, Empires, Excelsiors, Putnams, Unions and Atlantics had formed in New York City and Brooklyn to play the Knickerbocker or New York game of base ball. In 1858, the National Association of Base-Ball Players was formed. By 1860, the number of teams playing skyrocketed as teams formed in other cities like Philadelphia and Washington. Gradually other variants of the game, most notably the Massachusetts game, died out in favor of the New York game.
The Knickerbockers modeled their club after the gentlemen's clubs that had been organized in cricket. The Knickerbockers seemingly had more team rules and regulations about gentlemanly behavior than the game itself. But the popularity of the game, and the prospect of charging admission (first done in 1858) lured some working-class clubs into the game like the powerful Brooklyn Atlantics whose main interest was to win.
After a brief lull during the Civil War, interest in the game of base ball was rekindled in the post-war years. As the popularity (and prospects for getting paying spectators) grew, still more professionalism crept into the game. Eventually, Harry Wright's Cincinnati Red Stockings fielded the first, openly all-professional team in 1869 and the rest is history.
(From: www.vbba.org)

Photo-Danny Graves at Saigon

Danny Graves in Vietnam, my photos

Danny Graves, the Major League Baseball pitcher who was born in Vietnam, made the trip to the country to introduce baseball to local people.

He also came back to Saigon to visit his family's apartment. There he met some of Vietnamese baseball players and coaches. And here are the photos.

To all Friends

Dear all, if you have photos about baseball developments in Vietnam, please share with me.
Thanks and best regards.

Saigonbaseball-intro

SaigonBaseball
The Team
part 1

On 15 June 1997, a Japanese businessman, Mr. Fuchiwaki, gathered a group of students and introduced them the sport game of baseball. He taught them, students from former Foreign Trading University, very first lessons about baseball. All the equipments were brought from Japan with the help of Mr.Aso Daisaku-the wonderful coach and Mr. Nakamura-a big friend.

After that they invited students from other university in HoChiMinh city, Polytechnic, Architechture, Natural Sciences... to join them.

At first, we played at a corner in Gia Dinh park, GoVap district. Then we hired a soccer field in district 12, it was called Cay Sop. Warm up started at 5:30 in the morning.

In 1998, we made the uniform, it was Saigon Baseball the name of the team since then.


In 1999, we arranged a public performance at Youth Culture House to introduce the game to Ho Chi Minh young people.


All our equipments in the period was donated by Japanese great friends. The running fee was partly shared by players.

Mr. Fuchiwaki passed away in 2001.

An U.S. teacher started to help us as the next coach. His name is Tommy Charles.

OTHER BASEBALL GAMES (part I)

OTHER BASEBALL GAMES

ROUNDERS : Description and Rules

(by Chris Monser)

Rounders is the sixteenth century version of a bat and ball game that dates back to "the dawn of time". In theory, it is a descendant of the bat and ball games played by our "cavemen" ancestors. This theory is a result of the observation that there is no culture in the world that does not have some form of a bat and ball game.

Played in England as long ago as the 16th C., Rounders was a popular pastime. A version of Rounders is still played by children in Ireland. By the 19th C. in America, the game had undergone many changes, and was commonly called Townball. Today we play still another variant called Baseball.

At the Northern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Rounders is played daily by the actors and workers. This year (1995) you may need to ask around about it because we have lost the use of the field where we played in past years.

The Layout

The Object

Each time a Defender successfully completes a foray and returns to the Castle with his gleanings (more food, more weapons, etc.), he scores for his team. Tally is kept by marking a stroke for each score (). In other words, each Runner who makes it back into the Castle scores a "Tally". At the end of the game, the team with the highest tally (the most runs scored) wins. The game ends after each team has been In the same number of times -- there is no limit but exhaustion or darkness to the number of "In"ings.

The Rules

1. Infinite Swings. The Striker (the person hitting or "striking" the ball) has no limit on the number of tries to hit the ball. He keeps trying until the ball comes in contact with the stick.
2. Ball Must be Fed Where Striker Wishes. The Feeder (the person throwing or "feeding" the ball to the Striker) must throw the ball where the Striker wants it. If the Striker is unhappy with a Feeder, the Striker may request a new Feeder.
3. Any Hit - RUN! Any time the ball contacts the stick, even a "tip", it is a valid hit and the Striker must run. The ball may be struck anywhere! -- however, see Convention #2 for modifications to this rule. The Runners at the Sanctuaries may begin running as soon as the ball is struck -- whether it is a good hit or an Out doesn't matter, once the Runner begins to run, KEEP GOING!
4. Run Clockwise! Upon hitting the ball, the Striker then must run clockwise around the Sanctuaries. The runner does not need to touch any of the Sanctuaries and may run anywhere as long as he passes outside of each Sanctuary.
5. Striker is Out. The Striker is out if the hit is caught in the air or on one bounce.
6. Runner is Out. The Runner is out if he is plugged (hit with a thrown ball) while running. He is not out if he grasps a Sanctuary (that he hasn't used before - see Rule 7) before he is plugged. Note: the Striker becomes a Runner as soon as he begins running.
7. Sanctuarys Work Once. Once a Runner has touched a Sanctuary, he may not let go of it and then grasp it again - it has been used up for that Runner. (The idea here is that you are hiding -- if you suddenly pop out of hiding, everybody sees where you were hiding and it doesn't do you much good to try to hide there again.)
8. In until Out. A player is "In" until he has been gotten out. This also applies to the Castle - all players who are "In" must remain in the Castle (they are "Defenders"), if they step out they are "Out".
9. Undefended Castle is Vulnerable. If there are no Defenders in the Castle (for instance, the last Defender just struck the ball and is now a Runner) the Attacking team (the team in the outfield) may capture the Castle by plugging the Castle Stone.
10. Everybody Out. The teams change sides when the entire Defending team is Out, or when the Castle has been captured.
11. Two Rounders. If the last Defender hits the ball and makes it all the way back into the Castle in one run (a "Rounder") twice in a row then everyone on his team is back In again.
12. No Blockades. No Attacking team member may get in the way of a Runner in an attempt to prevent him from grasping a Sanctuary or proceeding around the Sanctuaries.

The Conventions

These are not official rules, but have been decided upon by the players to keep the game civilized and manageable.

1. Hanging Out by the Sanctuary. If the runners have all stopped running and are hovering near a Sanctuary, and if the Feeder has the ball in his control back by his stone, the play shall be deemed ended and the Runners shall grasp the Sancuaries and the next Defender is up.
2. If either the Runner has not stopped running or the Feeder is not in control by his rock, the ball is still in play.
3. Hitting into the Castle. The ball may be struck anywhere out of the Castle (local field rules or number of players may limit the shape and size of the Castle). If it is hit into the Castle, the Striker comes back, the Runners go back and it is played over.
4. Pulling Up the Sanctuarys. If a Runner, in his or her exuberance, pulls out the Sanctuary stake, that Runner is automatically Out! Notify someone of a loose stake before this happens to you.
5. Letting Go of the Sanctuary Between Plays. If a Runner mistakenly lets go of a Sanctuary after the play has ended but before the Striker has hit the ball, that Runner is automatically Out!
6. Obnoxious and Argumentative Players. Certain players tend to get very upset when thing don't go the way they want them to; TOUGH! Feel free to ridicule them.
7. Little Children. Give them as much help and encouragement as you can. Help them have fun. If they hit the ball, Cheer! Don't plug them out just because you can -- "miss" them, fall down, drop the ball, help them run, whatever. Because, always remember the real reason we are playing this game...
8. Having Fun. The real point of this game is to play it and have fun. I take the attitude (except in Team Competition play) that it doesn't really matter which side wins or loses as long as everybody has a blast doing it!

HISTORY OF BASEBALL (part I)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BASEBALL (part 1)

Part I: Origins of the Game

Unlike professional basketball and American football, interest in baseball has not been sweeping the globe . Declining participation at the amateur level and protracted labor problems at the professional level have thrust "America's Pastime" into an era of uncertainty. Despite this current adversity, baseball will always occupy an important place in American culture. This column starts a three part look at the history of baseball.

Most cultures have some sort of stick and ball game, cric

ket being the most well-known. While the exact origins of baseball are unknown, most historians agree that it is based on the English game of rounders. It began to become quote popular in this country in the early 19th century, and many sources report the growing popularity of a game called "townball", "base", or "baseball".

Throughout the early part of that century, small towns formed teams, and baseball clubs were formed in larger cities. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright wanted to formalize a list of rules by which all team could play. Much of that original code is still in place today. Although popular legend says that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday, baseball's true father was Cartwright.

The first recorded baseball contest took place a year later, in 1846. Cartwright's Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club in a game at the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. These amateur games became more frequent and more popular. In 1857, a convention of amateur teams was called to discuss rules and other issues. Twenty five teams from the northeast sent delegates. The following year, they formed the National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organized baseball league. In its first year of operation, the league supported itself by occasionally charging fans for admission. The future looked very bright.

(G.W.Bush throwing first pitch at home town .2005)

The early 1860s, however were a time of great turmoil in the United States. In those years of the Civil War, the number of baseball clubs dropped dramatically. But interest in baseball was carried to other parts of the country by Union soldiers, and when the war ended there were more people playing baseball than ever before. The league’s annual convention in 1868 drew delegates from over 100 clubs.

As the league grew, so did the expenses of playing. Charging admission to games started to become more common, and teams often had to seek out donations or sponsors to make trips. In order for teams to get the financial support they needed, winning became very important. Although the league was supposed to be comprised of amateurs, many players were secretly paid. Some were given jobs by sponsors, and some were secretly paid a salary just for playing.

In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings decided to become a completely professional team. Brothers Harry and George Wright recruited the best players from around the country, and beat all comers. The Cincinnati team won sixty-five games and lost none. The idea of paid players quickly caught on.

Some wanted baseball to remain an amateur endeavor, but there was no way they could compete with the professional teams. The amateur teams began to fade away as the best players became professionals. In 1871, the National Association became the first professional baseball league.

(by Sean Lahman )

Photo-Danny Graves-North VN

http://www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionID=446

Baseball field comes up in Vietnam

US non-profit organization Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) inaugurated Friday Vietnam’s first ever baseball field in the central Quang Tri province.
The field, at Le Loi high school in Dong Ha town, is part of a program “Bringing baseball to Vietnam”, initiated by VVMF and major league baseball pitcher Danny Graves.
The major league refers to one of the two American leagues in baseball, the US’ favorite sport but unknown in many countries around the world. The league contributed US$40,000 towards building the Quang Tri field.

For Vietnamese-American Graves, the visit is the first time ever to his native country since his family moved to the US when he was only 14 months old.
Before building the field, the project staff had to remove one artillery shell, two mortars, and 11 other types of ordnance from the site.

(Source: Thanh Nien, VVMF – Compiled by Hoang Bao)

A VVMF Baseball Delegation

A VVMF Baseball Delegation to tour Vietnam in January to build bridges between the U.S. and Vietnam
A 20-member Baseball Delegation sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) will visit Vietnam from January 17-25, 2006. This "Bringing Baseball to Vietnam" program is intended to build bridges between the United States and Vietnam and to foster friendship.
Among the members of the delegation is famous baseball player Danny Graves, who was born in Vietnam, the son of an American soldier and Vietnamese woman.
The Delegation’s activities will begin on Tuesday, January 18, in Hanoi with a briefing by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command-Detachment 2 and a meeting with officials of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations. In the afternoon that day, the delegation will have a baseball demonstration at the National University for Sports and Physical Culture in Tu Son, Bac Ninh province.
From January 19-21, the Delegation will tour Hue and Quang Tri. In Quang Tri, they will be briefed about VVMF’s mine action program in the province and visit Project RENEW™, which is a cooperative effort between VVMF and the Quang Tri Province People’s Committee, designed for Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of War. On January 20, they will attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Le Loi High School in Dong Ha town to dedicate Vietnam’s first-ever baseball field. Following the field dedication, Danny Graves will lead students in an instructional clinic. On January 21, they will visit VVMF’s Community Library in Quang Tri’s Dak Rong district.
From January 22-24, the Delegation will tour Ho Chi Minh City and Mekong Delta. They will conclude their activities and depart from Ho Chi Minh City on January 25.

(from vvmf.org)

MLB Returns to Vietnam

MLB Follows Up Memorial Fund Delegation to VietnamWith Two Baseball Clinics in AugustAug. 8-11 in Hanoi and Aug. 14-18 in Dong Ha
Washington, D.C.—Nearly seven months after its first trip to Vietnam with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Major League Baseball (MLB) is returning from Aug. 6-19 to conduct a pair of baseball clinics in Hanoi and Dong Ha. Once again, the Memorial Fund will be a partner in the project, providing in-country support for both baseball clinics.
MLB established a foothold for baseball in Vietnam earlier this year, when the Memorial Fund introduced MLB and the sport of baseball to Vietnam with its “Bringing Baseball to Vietnam” delegation on Jan. 17-25.
“When the Memorial Fund and MLB brought baseball to Vietnam last January, we said we were turning battlefields into ballfields,” said Memorial Fund Founder and President Jan C. Scruggs. “And we did that, literally. But just as important is the cultural exchange that continues to take place between our two countries. I am delighted that Major League Baseball is continuing this work.”
MLB representatives will conduct the first of two August baseball clinics on Aug. 8-11 at the National University for Sports and Physical Culture (NUSPC) near Hanoi. Classes will be held for both players and coaches, teaching them the rules of the game and the skills they need to play and teach it.
The next stop is Le Loi High School in Dong Ha, Quang Tri Province, which will be the site of another clinic, offering training for both coaches and players, on Aug. 14-18.
The coaches leading both clinics are William Thomas and David Palese. Thomas, a college baseball coach in California, was voted MLB’s Envoy Coach of the Year for 2005. Palese is the assistant baseball coach for Rochester University in New York.
The August clinics retrace the path of January’s “Bringing Baseball to Vietnam” delegation, when the Memorial Fund, MLB and pitcher Danny Graves traveled to Vietnam to introduce the Vietnamese to a new sport. Graves and MLB representatives staged a baseball exhibition at NUSPC in Hanoi and conducted a day-long clinic at Le Loi High School in Dong Ha, where the Memorial Fund, with a grant from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, built the country’s first baseball field.
The Memorial Fund conceived of the idea of introducing baseball to Vietnam as another way to open doors of friendship and understanding with the Vietnamese people. The delegation was also focused on bringing attention and support to Project RENEW™, the Memorial Fund’s five-year-old mine-action program, Project RENEW™. Launched in 2000, it is a cooperative effort between the Memorial Fund and the Quang Tri Province People’s Committee, designed for Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of War. Project RENEW™ is the first comprehensive management approach undertaken in Vietnam to address the problem of landmines and unexploded ordnance.
Major League Baseball has publicized its commitment to internationalize the sport, and it hosted the inaugural World Baseball Classic, a 16-nation tournament, last March. The January trip with the Memorial Fund allowed MLB to get a foothold in a country where, before then, baseball was virtually unknown.
Rick Dell, MLB’s coordinator of game development for Asia and the Pacific, said that MLB pledged to return after the January trip and work with the Vietnamese people to nurture the growth of baseball in that country. The August clinics, he said, were MLB keeping that promise.
“We hope to expand on our initial trip to Vietnam in January and focus on the development of players and coaches through a more intimate approach,” Dell explained. “Our envoy coaches will conduct training sessions for players and coaches in moderate-sized groups. It is our goal this time to leave behind individuals who can instruct and promote the game after the Major League Baseball coaches complete the two-week tour of Hanoi and Dong Ha.”
Vietnam has welcomed this new pastime. Vu Xuan Hong, president of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), called the January delegation “a cultural exchange of historical significance.”
He added, “VUFO, in partnership with the Committee of Sports and Physical Education, is committed to developing baseball in Vietnam—a country with a tradition of creating strong sports programs, and baseball will be a welcome addition to the country.”
Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, through a series of outreach programs, it is dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Wall, promoting healing, educating about the impact of the Vietnam War and is building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center, an underground educational facility, near The Wall.

(from www.vvmf.org)