Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was professional baseball introduced in France?
The history of the French team began in 1929 with their first official game against Spain in Barcelona with a 10–6 victory.[1] The team made its debut in competition in 1955 when it played in the finals of the second European Baseball Championship, finishing fifth out of five teams.[2]
Baseball is most popular sport in Japan, where it was introduced in the 1870s and became professional in the 1920s. The Japanese Baseball League was operated from 1936 to 1949, and reorganized into the Nippon Professional Baseball in 1950. Teams have been historically identified with their corporate owners, not where the team is based, and have often relocated to other cities.
The first high point for Venezuela in international baseball came in 1941, when its national team captured the 1941 Amateur World Series tournament against host country Cuba, which gripped the attention of the nation. After that, baseball's position as the national sport in Venezuela was consolidated, and it has never been seriously challenged since then. The professional game in Venezuela was established in 1945, when a group of four club owners created the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and joined organized baseball.
While working as a backup dancer for the singer Prince, Hayes met the baseball player Ron Gant, who introduced her to his friend, professional wrestler Raven. Raven in turn introduced her to Paul Heyman, the owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The rosters of national teams that participated in the tournament included professional players from clubs affiliated to the Australian Baseball League, Chinese Professional Baseball League, Korean Baseball Organization, Major League Baseball, Mexican Baseball League, Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, and Nippon Professional Baseball.
He graduated from the university in 1935, and a friend introduced him to the Columbia Music Entertainment company, where he split time between working, and playing on the company's baseball team. In July, 1935, the Tokyo Kyojin Gun baseball team returned from their tour in the United States, and numerous companies, including the Hanshin Electric Railway company, joined to form the first professional baseball league in Japan. Several companies made offers for Wakabayashi to join their professional team, and he signed with the Osaka Tigers (current Hanshin Tigers) in January 1936.
William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. It was there where he is credited with introducing innovations such as backing up infield plays from the outfield and shifting defensive alignments based on hitters' tendencies. For his contributions as a manager and developer of the game, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1952 by the Veterans Committee. Wright was also the first to make baseball into a business by paying his players up to seven times the pay of the average working man.
The league went through a series of name changes during its history. It was founded as the All-American Girls Softball League.,[1] but midway through its first season of 1943, the name was changed to the All-American Girls Baseball League (AAGBBL).[11] After the 1943 season, the official League name was again changed, to the All-American Girls Professional Ball League (AAGPBL), reflecting that players were paid from the start and further separate it from existing amateur leagues.[2] This name was used until the end of the 1945 season, when the league reverted to All-American Girls Baseball League (AAGBBL), which it would use through 1950. When teams were sold to independent owners at the end of the 1950 season, the official League name was changed to the American Girls Baseball League (AGBL), although it continued to be popularly identified as the All-American League or the All-American Girls Baseball League (AAGBBL). When the Players' Association organized in 1986, and gained recognition by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988, the name All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was chosen to represent the league, and that is the name commonly used to refer to it to this day.[11]
Parr played for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He became a free agent after the 2015 season. In 2016, Parr founded Pro4mer, a business that sought to introduce young athletes to professionals.
A list of all French National team players who have played professional baseball
Climax Series was firstly introduced in this season. It was inspired by the playoff system introduced by Pacific League between 2004 and 2006, in which the top three teams of the league will play in a stepladder knockout to decide the team to play in the Japan Series. The system was a success when Pacific League's teams won all the Japan Series since the introduction of such system. This is also the Central League's first participation in playoff system since 1949.
Engaged in any sport activities as a teenager, Aparicio Sr. was introduced to the soccer environment in the late 1920s, playing as a forward for several First Division clubs of Caracas and Maracaibo, but ended devoted himself to baseball when he was hired to play in the National Baseball Series tournament, where he performed for seven different teams in eleven seasons spanning 1931–1945. A few years before, in 1928, he had founded with his brother Ernesto the baseball team "Los Muchachos" (The Boys), which was later renamed Gavilanes de Maracaibo. Over time, the Gavilanes (Sparrowhawks) would become the most successful team in Zulian Professional Baseball annals, winning 15 of 20 summer tournaments held between 1932 and 1957.
Baseball was first introduced to Taiwan during Japanese rule, and gained popularity when the national little league baseball teams won numerous Little League World Series championships in the 1970s and 1980s. The national baseball team also performed exceptionally well in many international competitions. However, the development of baseball in Taiwan was limited due to the lack of a professional league, and therefore many players were reluctant to commit to the sport.
Baseball was first introduced to Japan in 1872 and is currently among the country's most popular participatory and spectator sports. The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The current organized sports circuit is the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), consists of two leagues, with the Central and the Pacific Leagues of six teams each. High school baseball also enjoys a particularly strong public profile and fan base (much like college football in America); the Japanese High School Baseball Championship ("Summer Kōshien") each August is nationally televised and includes regional champions from all of Japan's 47 constituent prefectures.
The Rouen Baseball 76 is a French professional baseball team. Founded in 1986, the team competes in the top league in France. The Huskies home stadium is Terrain Pierre Rolland, located in the capital city of Normandy, Rouen. Rouen has won 14 French Championships in the last 16 years, establishing itself as one of the best teams in France and Europe. The Huskies won their 14th French title in October 2018, and trail only Paris as the most titled team in French history. Rouen is currently ranked as the number 9 team in Europe (as of January 2018). The Huskies will open the 2019 season March 23 when they host Toulouse.
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. When the Dodgers signed Robinson, they heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
He also helped form the first professional baseball league in France, the French Baseball Union, in 1912.
Baseball in the Netherlands started in , having been introduced to the country by English teacher J.C.G Grasé of Amsterdam, following a holiday to America. The first professional baseball league (now the Honkbal Hoofdklasse) began in . The national governing body for baseball is the Koninklijke Nederlandse Baseball en Softball Bond (Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation).
Baseball was introduced in 1905 by American missionaries and carries a strong following today. Professional teams owned by large conglomerates (chaebols) compete in the KBO League. Korea won the Gold Medal in baseball at the 2008 Olympic Games. Korea is also a regular participant in the World Baseball Classic, and is considered one of the best baseball countries in international competition. Several Korean players have gone on to play in Major League Baseball. The domestic KBO League consistently draws 8 million total fans per year, averaging approximately 11,500 spectators per game, both highest among professional spectator sports in South Korea. There is also an active baseball cheering culture in South Korea, with each team having its own method of cheering.
On May 28, 1916, British Columbian Jimmy Claxton temporarily broke the professional baseball color barrier when he played two games for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. Claxton was introduced to the team owner by a part-Native American friend as a fellow member of an Oklahoma tribe. The Zee-Nut candy company rushed out a baseball card for Claxton. However, within a week, a friend of Claxton revealed that he had both Negro and Indigenous Canadian ancestors, and Claxton was promptly fired. It would be nearly thirty more years before another black man, at least one known to be black, played organized white baseball.
The Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) is a World Baseball Softball Confederation-sanctioned international baseball competition jointly launched with the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Korea Baseball Organization and Nippon Professional Baseball leagues. The three-nation tournament is contested by the U-24 national teams of Japan, South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
Reid Ryan (born April 21, 1971) is an American baseball executive, former college baseball and professional baseball player, and son of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. He was a pitcher in minor league baseball, and currently serves as the CEO of Ryan-Sanders Baseball Inc., which owns the Round Rock Express and Corpus Christi Hooks. He was introduced as the president of the Houston Astros on May 17, 2013.
The book's style mixes fact and fiction - introducing fictional players into well-known actual teams such as the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs and lets them interact with actual people such as Yogi Berra, and letting dramatic fictional Baseball matches take place in actual stadiums. Author Grisham once dreamed of a career as a professional baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. This, his first baseball novel, is about a beanball that ends the career of a promising player . The novel is inspired by the real-life story of Ray Chapman, the only professional baseball player killed by a pitch.. The book was also inspired by some of Grisham's personal baseball experience; as noted in the forward, when a teenager Grisham played baseball, and developed a dislike of aggressive, bad-mannered pitchers; at the age of 19, Grisham saw a ball flying very near to his face, at the speed of about ninety miles per hour - and quit the game, promptly and permanently. 
The Royse City Griffins are a planned professional baseball team based in Royse City, Texas. They are slated to be inaugural members of the independent Southwest League of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball when the league launches in 2019.
Baseball was first introduced to Korea in 1905 and has since become increasingly popular, with some sources claiming it has surpassed football as the most popular sport in the country. Recent years have been characterized by increasing attendance and ticket prices for professional baseball games. The Korea Professional Baseball league, a 10-team circuit, was established in 1982. The South Korea national team finished third in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and second in the 2009 tournament. The team's 2009 final game against Japan was widely watched in Korea, with a large screen at Gwanghwamun crossing in Seoul broadcasting the game live. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, South Korea won the gold medal in baseball. Also in 1982, at the Baseball Worldcup, Korea won the gold medal. At the 2010 Asian Games, the Korean National Baseball team won the gold medal. Several Korean players have gone on to play in Major League Baseball.