In what countries is professional baseball played. I need a definative
list. Of course the U.S. and Japan have professional baseball teams,
but what other countries have professional (not amateur teams). Do not
include Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 19 May 2003 14:12 PDT

You will probably have to qualify the term PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL, or
at least it's definition as it relates to this question. Australia for
example has professional baseball but the players are only compensated
a nominal fee and one could never expect to make a career out of it
and survive on that income alone. Their teams play for the love of the
sport and not much more.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by researchondemand-ga on 19 May 2003 15:15 PDT

Okay, Australia has professional teams because they are compensated.
Compensation of any kind is considered professional, but please just
make that comment, that the compensation is nomimal.

Dear researchondemand-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.


Excluding the ones you mentioned, the Global Scouting Bureau (formerly
known as the ISB), which is the world's largest player development
service, says that players of Major League Teams, Independent Teams,
International Leagues and other “professional teams” are scouted in
the following countries:

Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, Holland, Australia,
Japan, (South) Korea, Taiwan, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Africa,
Columbia, and Panama.

GLOBAL SCOUTING BUREAU (Formerly called the Independent Scouting
Bureau)
http://inscouting.net/



Bill Clark, Director of International Scouting for the Atlanta Braves
and writer for THE ADAMS REPORT also mentions the countries listed
above, but goes on to mention these countries as well in his recent
article “Major US Export: International Baseball”:

Holland, Brazil, Curacao, Aruba, and Guatemala

MAJOR US EXPORT: INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL
http://www.globalassignment.com/baseball.htm



The Baseballlist, a web site that has been following world baseball
since 1998, lists these additional countries, excluding the ones
mentioned already:

Netherlands, Cuba and Russia

THE BASEBALLLIST
http://www.baseballist.com/international/


So, having done that research, here is the answer to your question in
its entirety:

Italy
France
Spain
Belgium
Czech Republic
Holland
Australia
Japan
(South) Korea
Taiwan
Dominican Republic 
Venezuela
Africa
Columbia
Panama
Holland
Brazil
Curacao
Aruba
Guatemala 
Netherlands
Cuba 
Russia

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


INFORMATION SOURCES

GLOBAL SCOUTING BUREAU (Formerly called the Independent Scouting
Bureau)
http://inscouting.net/


MAJOR US EXPORT: INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL
http://www.globalassignment.com/baseball.htm


THE BASEBALLLIST
http://www.baseballist.com/international/


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Baseball teams of the world

International baseball

International baseball scouting

Foreign professional baseball teams

List baseball teams by country

Very good job. Thanks.

Hi, nice list of countries, there is only one fault in the list.

The country of The Nethelands is beeing mentioned 4 times in the final
list. The Islands of Aruba and Curacao are colonies of Kingdom of The
Netherlands, and Holland is a province in the Netherlands...

But still, about everyone in the world makes this fault, this is just
an idealistic attempt to let teh world know how it really is over
here....

 (yes I'm dutch...)