Baseball Latin America – Baseball Brazil

It’s that time of year again, when the best teams from the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, and Dominican Winter leagues battle it out for the Caribbean Series Championship. This series brings so much more nationalism than the World Series, because though each team in the finals represent a city, they also represent their respective league and country.  Plus, it’s a bunch of Latin Americans banging drums and blowing whistles in packed little stadiums; the emotion level is off the charts. You can’t get much better than that. Wish I could make a game, but we’ll have to follow it on ESPN Deportes and other mediums.  http://seriedelcaribe2010.com.ve/scripts/home/index.php

Not sure if this list is complete. I am working to update it for the 2010 season. Of course, missing from here is Pedro Okuda, who signed with the Mariners this offseason:

Vai Pedro, vai – 奥田ペドロ You Tube

PEDRO OKUDA – koshien – sayonara home run – 奥田ペドロ You Tube

Bom Dia!

This Blog was set up to focus attention on the world of baseball in Brazil, the next great baseball frontier.  Some things you probably didn’t know about baseball in Brazil:

Baseball was brought to Brazil at the beginning of the twentieth century by Japanese immigrants, who had learned the game from American visitors to Japan over a half century before.

There are currently more than 30,000 youth and adults playing on over 120 baseball and softball teams in Brazil. These teams participate in over 55 national and international tournaments every year (reference CBBS).

Though Brazil is not considered a traditional baseball or softball playing nation, in recent times it has played very competitively in international tournaments at all age levels, and its national teams have beaten teams from more predominately baseball/softball playing countries like Venezuela and Cuba.

Baseball and softball equipment is very hard to source in Brazil, and thus very expensive. Most equipment is imported from the USA and Japan. There is some limited locally produced equipment, but it is also very expensive.

There are currently two known internationally-sponsored baseball academies in Brazil, including the Academia Yakult/CBBS in Ibiuna, São Paulo, and the Tampa Bay Rays academy in Marilia, São Paulo. Additionally, IMG has established a division of their baseball academy in Florida to help develop Brazilian baseball talent.

The Seattle Mariners recently signed a Brazilian born shortstop, Pedro Okuda (aka, the Brazilian Ichiro), to a minor league contract (reference: Seattle Times 12/16/2009). A number of other Brazilian born baseball players have been signed to minor league contracts by MLB teams over the last few years. In 2009, 8 MLB teams had minor leaguers from Brazil (reference: Wall Street Journal 8/15/2009) Many Brazilian-born players currently play in the Japanese baseball leagues.

I will continue to post any updated information I can gather about what is going on in the Confederação Brasileira de Beisebol e Softbol (CBBS), and anything else that hits on baseball in Brazil in particular, and in Latin America in general. In the meantime, please send along any comments, questions or suggestions!

Seja Bem-Vindo!

Andy Loretta