Indian baseball players chase American dream
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two Indian youngsters chasing the American baseball dream have taken an important first step when the Pittsburgh Pirates signed them up as non-draft free agents.
Left-hander Rinku Singh and Dinesh Kumar Patel pitched in front of scouts from the Pirates and other Major League organizations on November 12 before being chosen, a statement on the club website said.
The players, with shoulder strength gained through their initial training to become javelin throwers, earned a U.S. training stint in May after topping a pitching contest in India, "The Million-Dollar Arm," which offered the winner $100,000.
Singh, 20, who won that contest and Patel, 19, will now take part in the Pirates' Minor League spring training next year.
Their promoters hope they can make it as professionals, saying such success would boost baseball in cricket-mad India in the same way that Yao Ming's move to the NBA created a fan base for basketball in China. . .
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2 comments:
I meant to post this last week.
Well, India has over a billion people so there were bound to be some who didn't like cricket. And javelin is a dead end career anyway - Smiff will tell you it's all about shot putt. Fung was all over discus in high school and look where it got him. So yeah, they'll go ahead and play baseball. And then MLB can get annudder buncha athletes that couldn't make it in the most important sport in their respective countries. Not to mention that it wasn't even their individual first choice in sports. Yeah, that's the talent you want.
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