ESPN - Yankees sign Chinese pitcher, catcher to deals - MLB

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Chinese People Play Baseball?
Published 6/18/2007 by Simon at SimonOnSports
... Well apparently the Yankees, not surprisingly, are the first team to really scout in China and are the first to sign a single Chinese player. And while they're at it, why not make it two, as they signed two 19 year olds, a catcher Zhenwang Zhang who plays for the Tianjing Fierce Lions and Kai Liu, the Chinese Kei Igawa as in Lefty pitcher who's probably not any good. Basically this is just another effort for the Yankees to begin expanding their marketing and start dominating the Asian market. Nothing says profit more than getting a portion of that 1+ billion people to begin buying Yankee merchandising. ...

Yankees dig for prospects, end up in China
Published 6/19/2007 by edwzipper at Sports Frog
... The New York Yankees signed a pair of Chinese players, saying Monday they were the first players from China signed by major league teams with the approval of the country's baseball association.The Mariners signed Chinese pitcher Wang Chao in 2002 without the blessing of the Chinese baseball association. ...

Yankees and Mariners now outsourcing to China, too. Sign 4 pitchers
Published 6/21/2007 at FanIQ Blog
... The Yankees, whose interest in developing the game in China has been well documented, signed two Chinese teenagers this week, the first players ever signed out of China with the consent of the Government. The new minor leaguers are 19 year old left-handed pitcher Kai Liu, and 19 year old catcher Zhenwang Zheng. ...

With All Apologies
Published 6/27/2007 by Metstradamus at The Musings and Prophecies of Metstradamus
... Anybody else find it weird that the Yankees sign the first players from China, and then just days later they sign an ...