Snapshot
10:36 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 27, 2003
The internationalization of baseball is so pervasive that different
languages are now accommodated at such events as the All-Star Game.
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AP photo
NO STRANGER TO MICROPHONES: Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui routinely holds press conferences for Japanese media.
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During the press conferences, where each player sat at a table for an
hour, there was an area for Japanese-only media. Hideki Matsui did a
press conference for them. Right next to him, Yankee teammates Alfonso
Soriano and Jorge Posada were doing interviews in Spanish.
Locally, the Red Sox have been broadcasting every game on a Spanish
radio network for the last three years. Previous to that, it was a week
night-only venture. The growth in listenership has been substantial,
says Bill Kulik, president of the Spanish Beisbol Network, Inc.
One night this season, during a rain delay in Texas, the station didn't
have to use any canned features because the phone lines were buzzing
non-stop, with Spanish-speaking callers voicing their thoughts on the
team and the season. Even ex-Sox pitcher Rolando Arrojo, seeing the game
in Miami, called to say hello.
-- STEVEN KRASNER
