World Class Talent on Display in 2009
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THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2009 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC EDITION •w 2009 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC BY THE NUMBERS: ............. 800,000,000+ Media impressions* 801,408 (Left) Ichiro Suzuki hoists the 2009 Cham- Fans in attendance pionship Trophy after Team Japan won its second World Baseball Classic. (Above) Team Netherlands celebrates after their 6,296 11-inning win over Team D.R., guaranteeing Media credentials issued their advancement to Round Two. 455 Suzuki’s two-run single against Participating players Team Korea's right-handed reliever Chang Yong Lim snapped a 3-3 tie 342 in the top of the 10th to lift Japan to Innings played their second-straight World Baseball Classic Championship. 124 The World Baseball Classic dem- Hours of games onstrated the tournament’s mission to grow the game at every level – the broadcasted calibre of play exhibited by devel- oping baseball countries was on par 60 with those considered among the Broadcast partners strongest in the world. Team China World Class Talent celebrated its first win in tournament 57 history, defeating Chinese Taipei 4-1. Sponsors worldwide Not to be outdone, the Netherlands on Display in 2009 shocked the world by eliminating 39 traditional powerhouse Dominican Games HERE IS NO QUESTION THAT THE 2006 Republic, beating them not once, but twice in Round World Baseball Classic made baseball history, One. In Australia’s opening game in Pool B, the team 30 but the 2009 event truly exemplified baseball’s from Down Under secured its first-ever World Baseball MLB Academy alums T current global appeal. From the first game in Classic victory with an eight inning-mercy rule win over Tokyo, where a sell-out crowd gathered to watch Team highly-favored Team Mexico. And Team Italy proved 18 Japan begin its World Baseball Classic title defense, the to be a threat as their 6-2 win booted Canada out of the Official licensees 2009 tournament captivated a worldwide audience. Over tournament. the course of the 39 games, more than 800,000 fans came With invigorating match-ups, fervent fans and star- out to support their National Teams, and everyone in- studded teams, the 2009 World Baseball Classic was a 7 volved displayed an unparalleled passion for the game. true celebration of baseball's advancement. The third Venues The 2009 World Baseball Classic concluded with edition of the World Baseball Classic is scheduled for an exhilarating extra-inning championship game be- March 2013, and it is certain that players and fans from 1 tween fierce rivals Korea and Japan, in front of a raucous all over the world are already gearing up to bring the Tournament Champion GETTY IMAGES crowd that spent nearly all 10 innings on its feet. Ichiro Championship home. *Only reflects data from 9/1/2008-3/27/2009 in Canada, the D.R., Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. 2009 World Baseball Classic MLB Academy Grads Shine on Classic Stage HE 2009 WORLD BASE- Rod Delmonico, manager of ball Classic exhibited the the 2009 Netherlands Team and impact Major League instructor at the European Acad- T Baseball International’s emy in 2005 and at the China game development initiatives have Academy in 2007, has seen the made across the globe. And no Academies progress over the last MLB program has had a more decade: “At the end of the road, direct impact on elite talent at you look back and you had a part the international level than the in the Academies when they first MLB International Academy started up…The opportunity Program, an initiative created to to see them grow to this level is fast-track talented players to the phenomenal.” Major Leagues. Currently there In all, 30 former Academy are three MLB Academies around players participated in the 2009 the world: Queensland, Australia; tournament, representing the Tirrenia, Italy; and Wuxi, China. Alex Liddi teams from Australia, China, Players from the Academies are Italy, the Netherlands and South selected through a series of try-outs in their re- Africa. Academy standouts included Italy’s third gion. Entry has provided world-class instruction baseman Alex Liddi (Seattle Mariners); starting Second baseman Gift Ngoepe smacks from such notable coaches as Rod Carew, Barry pitcher for the Netherlands, Tom Stuifbergen a triple against Cuba on March 8, 2009 Larkin, Bruce Hurst, Jim Lefebvre, Lee Smith (Minnesota Twins); and South Africa’s second at Estadio Foro Sol in Mexico City. and David Nilsson. baseman, Gift Ngoepe (Pittsburgh Pirates). P.R. TOURISM AND RUMS MAKE NOISE Anyone who watched the second round and Semi-Finals and Final of the 2009 World Base- ball Classic saw thousands of fans waving bright orange thunder sticks (right), giveaways from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, at every game. And anyone who was on-hand for the event had the opportunity to win a giveaway basket from the Rums of Puerto Rico – as long as they could answer some tough trivia ques- tions on international baseball. Both P.R. Tourism and the Rums of P.R. activated heavily throughout the Puerto Rico and U.S. portions of the 2009 tournament, with outfield wall signs, LED signage, giveaways and scoreboard commercials in all four Teammates Ramon Hernandez and Gregor Blanco venues. In addition, P.R. Tourism was the presenting sponsor of “World Baseball of Team Venezuela join Rick VandenHurk and Alexander Smit of Team Netherlands to sign autographs for fans at Classic Moments,” commercials that highlighted special moments from the inaugu- Dolphin Stadium in Miami on March 14, 2009. ral tournament and aired on official U.S. broadcasters ESPN and the MLB Network EZ) N in the months leading up to the tournament and throughout game action. JIME BALDO , U GOEPE Representing your country means every- N FT GI ( thing. The Major Leagues have the World Series, TOS LB PHO but besides that this is the best thing.” M IMAGES, – Ubaldo Jimenez, Team Dominican Republic “ GETTY 2 Broadcasting MILLIONS OF FANS WORLDWIDE Record 40.1 in Japan CATCH THE 2009 CLASSIC ACTION Highlights Classic Ratings ith 60 different rightsholders broadcasting the games CANADA: Team Canada’s two first round games on Rogers Spots- around the globe, the 2009 World Baseball Classic net averaged a 76% increase over the average number of viewers reached hundreds of millions of fans worldwide through that tuned in for their three first round games in the 2006 Classic. W broadcasts on television, radio and the internet. JAPAN: The 2009 World Baseball Classic delivered monstrous Within the United States, ESPN and MLB Network (MLBN) shared ratings in Japan – three of the games between Japan and Korea rights to broadcast all 39 games. ESPN televised 23 games of the Clas- produced ratings over 36; ranking as the most watched sporting sic, including the Semi-Final and Final games, across ESPN and ESPN2, events since the 2006 World Baseball Classic Final, even topping and 39 games on its Spanish-language platform, ESPN Deportes. the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Newly-launched MLBN televised 16 World Baseball Classic games, KOREA: Team Korea’s nine World Baseball Classic games in 2009 along with a nightly studio show dedicated to the tournament. averaged a 19.3 HH rating across the terrestrial and cable carriers ESPN International broadcasted games around the world, while that aired coverage of the 2009 tournament games. local partners in over 150 countries worldwide gave fans the chance UNITED STATES (ENG): ESPN's nine live Classic telecasts delivered to catch the action live. For a full list of broadcast partners for the 2009 an average audience of 1.62 million viewers per game, up 13% from World Baseball Classic, please see the chart below. the 2006 tournament average. UNITED STATES (SP): ESPN Deportes live telecasts average a 2.0 TERRITORY BROADCASTER Hispanic household rating with 84,000 households and 120,000 Worldwide American Forces Network, American viewers tuning per game. Forces Network Radio, MLB.com VENEZUELA: Team Venezuela's eight games averaged a combined Pan-Africa ESPN 7.1 rating and 31.2% share among Men 12+ on Meridiano Televi- sion and TVES. Pan-Asia ESPN Star Pan-Europe ESPN America Pan-Latin America ESPN Latin America/ESPN Dos, ESPN Brazil, ESPN Caribbean Pan-Middle East ESPN Australia (Pac. Rim) ESPN Canada Rogers Sportsnet, The FAN, Sportsnet.ca China CCTV, Guangdong TV, Beijing TV, Greatsports Chinese Taipei VL Sports/VL Max, PTS Cuba ICRT, ICRT Radio Curacao UTS VIRTUAL ADS HIT REGIONAL Dominican Republic CDN/CDN 2, CDN Radio TARGETS ON TOURNEY BROADCASTS Guatemala Canal 3 Japan JSports, TBS, TV Asahi, More than 200 unique virtual signs were distributed worldwide dur- Jolf Radio, TBS Radio, Yahoo.co.jp ing broadcasts of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Over the course of Korea SBS, MBC, KBS, X Sports, mgoon.com 39 tournament games, dozens of networks televised more than 657 Mexico Televisa, Acir, Cadena Rasa, hours of coverage in more than 200 countries across the globe. Up to ABC Radio, ESPN360.com six different feeds were used simultaneously for games played during all three rounds; in addition to a global feed, customized feeds were Netherlands NOS developed for Asia, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua Canal 4 the United States. These simultaneous feeds allowed advertisers to Panama TV Max, RPC, RPC Radio target their message to specific markets, and allowed a greater number Puerto Rico Univision, Teleisla, Noti Uno of partners to align with the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Overall, 64 advertisers, including Asahi, AT&T, Budweiser, Coors, DirecTV, Dodge, United States ESPN/ESPN2 , MLB Network, ESPN, Gatorade, Konami, Maltin-Polar, Playstation and Rogers Tele- ESPNDeportes, ESPN Radio, communication, advertised their corporate brand behind home plate ESPNDeportes Radio, to audiences around the world.