The first National Women's Baseball Championship in 2022 will soon be held on the baseball field in Guali Town, Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou. Taking this opportunity, the Chinese Baseball Association officially announced that the National Women's Baseball Team will be formed here, which is the first open call of the National Women's Baseball Team to the public.

Why should Hangzhou become the "cradle" of China's Women’s Baseball Team? Could baseball ever become a national fitness program? How can this sports translate to a baseball economy? We interviewed Xie Bin, Secretary-General of the Chinese Baseball Association, who has witnessed the growth of Guali Baseball Town.

Reasons for choosing Guali, Hangzhou

Q: Why do we choose Guali Baseball Field in Hangzhou to prepare for the formation of the National Women's Baseball Team?

A: In fact, the climate is a very important factor in choosing the location of a baseball stadium. Conventionally, baseball starts with a minimum temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, otherwise, players are more likely to get hurt. Therefore, some cities in the north are not suitable to play baseball in winter. While Hangzhou's climate just meets climatic conditions.

We noted that Hangzhou attaches great importance to the development of sports and has made outstanding achievements in the construction of Asian Games venues, the development of competitive sports and the promotion of national fitness. Last June, we placed the training base of the Chinese Women's Baseball Team in Guali, where the seeded players have been training for more than a year. We call Guali Baseball Field an "up-rising star". It started late, but developed fast and caught up with a staggering speed.

“It is entirely possible to promote baseball as a national sport.”

Q: There is a general public perception that baseball is a "niche sport". Could you please tell the Chinese history of baseball to the general audience?

A: A lot of people say baseball is a “niche sport”. In fact, that is not the case.

There is a picture of Jeme Tien Yow in the China Railway Museum in Beijing. Most people are familiar with the fact that he is the chief engineer of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, but they don't know that he was also a baseball player.

Jeme once formed a baseball team called the Zhonghua Baseball Team, which is the earliest record of a Chinese baseball team that I know of, and it was this group of students that introduced baseball to the Qing Dynasty.

From the perspective of global sports output value, baseball is recognized as the third largest sport in the world, and it has been included in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. We also expect that Chinese baseball players can show their talents in the next year.

Q: Next, is it possible to promote baseball as a national sport, moving from "niche" to "mass"?

A: I think this is very possible. Baseball is “beautiful”. Walking on the street, we can find that many people wear baseball uniforms and caps. Young people think baseball uniforms are fashionable, which indicates that there is a certain audience base for the promotion of baseball.

Some time ago, statistics conducted by a leading short video platform showed that baseball ranks high in the views of sports videos, with more than two billion views. That's a good number, and it means lots of people care about baseball.

Our research has found that Chinese people have a very good constitution for playing baseball. For example, Japan and South Korea have produced many famous baseball players, and there are many Asian faces in Major League Baseball (MLB). With basketball player Yao Ming reaching out to the world, national attention to basketball has also increased accordingly. Therefore, we hope that Chinese baseball players can also emerge in the world arena so as to ignite the domestic “baseball fever”.

Baseball is an easy sport for green hands. Actually, baseball is a game involving intelligence, with physical strength in second place. We believe that college baseball teams can be formed because college students can understand the rules of baseball. Today’s kids are smart, so it's not hard for them to understand.

Team spirit is greatly valued in baseball, requiring team members to play together on the field. And I think baseball is an opportunity for young kids to build up their spiritual qualities and hone their wills.

“Baseball should have its own industry, and we place great hopes on Guali.”

Q: Since its completion, Guali Baseball Field has hosted some professional events. What do you think it can develop into? Can it translate to a baseball economy in the future?

A: We hope that baseball can attract more people. To promote a sport, it is far from enough to rely only on competitive events. The general public must participate in the promotion. I want everybody to walk into the baseball field, learn about it and love it.

We place great hopes on Guali Baseball Town. Baseball can translate to an industrial chain, just like the baseball uniforms and caps I mentioned before. It is feasible to produce derivative products and build an industrial chain.

One year when I visited South Korea, I was impressed by the fact that at their baseball games, people voluntarily bought peripheral products and waved flags for baseball players. When I came back, I thought that we need industries to support the substantial development of baseball.

Statistics once showed that the baseball industry accounted for 12% of the world sports industry market share. But in China, there is a big gap in this market. We have been thinking about how to develop China's own baseball industry. And now with Guali Baseball Field as a foothold, we hope our baseball industry can go on wheels.

Translator: Yu Fei(Intern)

Editor: Ye Ke, Yu Fei(Intern)