Yankees Take Baseball To Asia http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703427704575051851121605296.html Global appeal of basketball soars, with NBA leading way http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-globalnba_14met.ART0.Central.Edition1.4bd750d.html International Baseball Federation [Flash Player] http://www.ibaf.org/ Baseball notes for coaches and players http://books.google.com/books?id=uuFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=rules%20of%20baseball&as_brr=1&client=firefox-a&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q=rules%20of%20baseball&f=false Spring Training Online http://www.springtrainingonline.com/ Professional and semiprofessional baseball teams have been making trips to Asia off and on for well over a century. With the tremendous successes of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in China, professional baseball representatives have stepped up their marketing and promotional efforts as of late. Recently, the New York Yankees took the Word Series trophy on a jaunt through Tokyo, Hong Kong, and other major cities in the Pacific Rim. As this part of the world is considered the next "growth frontier" in building out the sport's popularity, it seems quite natural that many baseball ambassadors will be spending more time there. Baseball may face a difficult climb in China, as the NBA has made significant inroads over the past decade via product licensing, television rights, and the formidable presence of Yao Ming, a native of Shanghai, who is currently playing for the Houston Rockets. There are other more tangible problems with rolling out a new generation of baseball fans and players in China as well. Baseball is arguably more difficult to learn than basketball, and it also requires additional equipment (batting helmets, gloves, bats, and so on) and a great deal more physical space. Enthusiasm remains high in some quarters, and New York Yankees team president Randy Levine was recently quoted as saying "We want to have kids wake up all over China dreaming of playing in Yankee Stadium." The first link will take visitors to a piece from last week's Economist about the attempts to expand baseball's presence in China. The second link leads to a news article from the Wall Street Journal which talks about the New York Yankees' trip through Asia. Moving on, the third link is to a news article from this Sunday's Dallas Morning News which talks about the substantial presence of the NBA throughout the world. The fourth link leads to the homepage of the International Baseball Federation (IBF). Here visitors can learn about baseball teams all over the world, read the IBF newsletter, and also check out video clips from international contests. The fifth link leads to the 1916 favorite, "Baseball Notes for Coaches and Players", authored by Professor Elmer Berry. The final link will take die-hard fans (and everyone else) to the Spring Training 2010 Online site. It's not too late to plan a trip to Florida or Arizona to catch some spring baseball, and this site has all the details, schedules, and information about tickets.