Indians win US baseball contract

Source: BBC

Two Indians have signed to play with a US Major League baseball team after winning a talent contest for pitching.

The professional contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates is the first for any Indian nationals.

Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, both 20, had thrown the javelin but had not picked up a baseball - a game not played in India - until this year.

They won a TV show that sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 134km/h (85mph) or faster.

Hailing from small towns in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the pair topped the pitching talent show sponsored by a California-based sports management company.

The Pirates signed them up on Monday.

The team's general manager, Neal Huntington, told the Associated Press news agency that by signing up the two Indians the team hoped to "open a pathway to an untapped market".

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7747553.stm

---

Why's EVERYTHING about fucking MARKETS?!

Other players in the future? Maybe. There are a lot of Indians in this country, and you just don't see them playing baseball.

Or better still, a toe-crushing yorker!

More outsourcing just means a quicker death for baseball (no longer) "America's game".

Yeah, they've ruined the game

:sarcasm:

the NFL (if we can find anyone else who plays football).

Come to think of it, I believe that those foreigners stole my job in MLB. I could've been a star (with about a billion times more talent on my part, but it's easier to blame the foreigners than my own lack of ability). :)

The ratings for the 2008 World Series were awful, for example.

The success of a sport championship's TV numbers depends in large part on the marquee value of the teams playing.

Using football as an example, a Super Bowl teaming up New England against the Giants or Cowboys would pull higher sustained ratings numbers than a game featuring Atlanta and Miami.

One could also apply the declining numbers for award shows on the fact that people aren't familiar with the nominees. People will watch to see if something like Lord of the Rings cleans up. They won't be so inclined if all the big nominees are independent artsy films that drew small box office.

Whether or not it's waning is a matter for debate. Attendance was only down in 2008 after four straight record seasons:

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball's attendance dropped by 1.1 percent this year, ending a streak of four straight record seasons.
Baseball finished with 78.6 million total fans and an average of 32,539, the commissioner's office said Wednesday. That was down from 79.5 million and a 32,785 average in 2007.

Commissioner Bud Selig had said that breaking 80 million for the first time was in reach, and attendance was at or slightly ahead of last year's pace for the first half of the season before sliding.

Attendance could be hurt next year when the New York Yankees and Mets move into smaller ballparks. They were 1-2 in attendance this year, with the Yankees drawing 4.29 million fans to Yankee Stadium and the Mets drawing 4.04 million at Shea.

In addition to the Mets and Yankees, Boston, the Chicago Cubs, Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia also set home attendance records.

LINK: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2008-10-01-1446476444_x.htm
----------

As mentioned, there are other factors that influence attendance. Different team match-ups create different results. Add weather, scheduling, the economy...

As for the WS, there wasn't much drama and the TV scheduling was controversial.

But outsourcing? I find that absurd.

And baseball is marketed heavily to young kids. Maybe not where you live, but it's been heavy every place I've been.

Oh, wait...

Baseball is played by roughly 50% of the kids (including girls) in my community.

So, you're wrong. Deal with it.

pitching talent in a place like India where they play a lot of cricket?

That just seems wrong.

Of course, I'm a Nationals fan so I don't have much room to talk.

the team hoped to "open a pathway to an untapped market".

Maybe they'd be doing better in their own market if they didn't field an AAA team every year. Small market, yes, but then Tampa Bay isn't exactly a major metropolis, either.

fields a AAA team. Have you ever seen the Rangers?

Look at who used to own them. :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:

Hopefully it won't take the country quite as long to recover. :eyes:

but when he was part owner the team was making the playoffs (not that he had anything to do with it). This team has never, with the exception of Nolan Ryan, been able to get pitching. In fact, the teams one big highlight is when Robin Ventura got stupid and charged Nolan. Old Nolan just got him in a headlock and pummeled him 4 or 5 times in the head.

What an incentive to win.

if you ever had Premonti Brothers :)

I was born and raised in the 'burgh-Oakland, to be specific. I've been to Primanti Bros., the Dirty O, and all the rest. I don't miss those nasty winters, though.

I love that place! It set the standard for me by which I judge hot dogs and french fries. Went back a couple of years ago and it was exactly as I remember it.

but had an uncle in Greentree. Used to love getting pizza from Beto's. Pittsburgh winters are nothing compared to Cleveland.

And I am being totally serious, I love Pittsburgh, wouldn't trade it for anyplace else.

I'm sure the owners will drop the price of a ticket accordingly. </sarcasm>

Most Indian-Americans I know are mostly Yankee fans, but then again I'm not in a position to speak.

The downside is that the owners would have to pay people to watch me play, not just reduce ticket prices. ;)

No shortage of pirates in Somalia.