Baseball Up Against Great Wall

Baseball goes to China.

Associated Press

Los Angeles Dodgers players Wilken Ruan, left, and Juan Gonzalez climb the Great Wall of China, Friday.

While the National Basketball Association has done regular business with the Chinese for two decades, the first MLB office opened in Beijing in 2006. MLB has supported the fledgling China Baseball League and the national team, while also opening an academy for young players and making other efforts to seed the sport throughout China, which still has less than 100 baseball diamonds. "The first step in a long journey" is a phrase you hear often talking to MLB officials.