About the Program

"There are three languages that have to be spoken. There’s Chinese. There’s English. And there’s baseball."
Bruce Hurst, Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher

In the heat of the Arizona sun, at a field normally used by Major League Baseball prospects, a group of players who speak not a word of English do their best to comprehend the basics of the most American of games.

They are Chinese – gifted natural athletes who know more about gymnastics and table tennis than double plays and sacrifice flies. Their coaches are American – retired from the Majors, looking to help bring together two of the world’s most disconnected through cultures the international language of baseball.

Welcome to Out of Left Field – a remarkable glimpse into this world – a first-of-its-kind opportunity to see the emergence of a sport in a nation that once considered baseball “cultural pollution.” Jim Lefebvre, former player and coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is in charge of turning Chinese players with limited skills into Olympic-caliber athletes. Along with a handful of other retired pros – and with the cooperation of Major League Baseball – they are helping to bring America’s game to a nation with one-fifth of the world’s population. Out of Left Field: The Making of the Chinese Olympic Baseball Team airs Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 10 p.m. on PBS. (Please check local listings.) Shot in HD by Tom Jennings Productions, in association with Eight/KAET-TV.

Out of Left Field follows the team from the practice fields of Arizona to the storied cities of Europe and to the villages of the athletes back home — even to China’s shopping malls, where players hand out booklets explaining the rules of the game to anyone willing to listen. This is part culture clash and part sports drama, combined with an inspiring follow-your-dreams quest.

"Our goal is to make baseball in China part of the culture. We're talking about a country of more than one billion people,” said Lefebvre. “We know there are some stars out there just waiting to be discovered. What we need is to find that Yao Ming, a dominating player that the country can relate to. Once we start finding players like that, it's only a matter of time. China will become a superpower in baseball, there's no doubt about it."

Here is America’s favorite pastime set against the backdrop of a majestic and mysterious 5,000-year-old culture — Out of Left Field is the kind of story people will be talking about long after the Olympic Flame is extinguished.

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About Tom Jennings Productions
Tom Jennings Productions is a full-service entertainment company based in Los Angeles, California. The staff at TJP specializes in making some of the best documentary and television shows for the major cable networks. The production staff at TJP has been involved with the creation of more than 500 hours of television during the past ten years. TJP staffers have produced shows for networks including Discovery Channel, History Channel, A&apm;E, TLC, Travel channel, VH1, National Geographic, HGTV, Court TV, PBS, CBS, and Animal Planet.

About Eight/KAET-TV
Eight, Arizona PBS specializes in the education of children, in-depth news and public affairs, lifelong learning, and the celebration of arts and culture — utilizing the power of noncommercial television, the Internet, educational outreach services, and community-based initiatives. The PBS station began broadcasting from the campus of Arizona State University on January 30, 1961. Now more than 80 percent of Arizonans receive the signal through a network of translators, cable and satellite systems. With more than 1.3 million viewers each week, Eight consistently ranks among the most-viewed public television stations per capita in the country. Arizonans provide more than 60 percent of the station’s annual budget. For more information, visit www.azpbs.org.

Eight is a member-supported service of Arizona State University.