Yankees Visit China to Spread Major League Goodwill

The Yankees want the best players, regardless of where they live, so it’s easy to understand why the team has expanded its search for Major League Baseball’s version of Yao Ming.

According to The New York Times, the Yankees have taken the World Series trophy to China in the second leg of an Asian tour.  

The overseas trip – which includes stops in Japan and Hong Kong — is part of MLB’s continuing effort to globalize the game .

"I was impressed by how much the native Chinese people knew about the Yankees and baseball," team president Randy Levine told the Times. "It was really great and impressive. It was all the same questions that we get in New York."

Managing director of MLB China Leon Xie believes baseball’s version of Yao is in China.

“Baseball’s Yao Ming is 11, 12 years old,” Xie told the Times. “He exists somewhere in this country. Our mission is to spend the next 10, 15 years finding that kid.”