Baseball in China first appeared in 1863 with the establishment of the Shanghai Baseball Club by American medical
missionary Henry William Boone.. Organized baseball games were established with a game between the St. John's University and
the Shanghai MCA baseball club in 1905. However, in 1959 Mao Zedong disbanded all teams and outlawed baseball. After
the Cultural Revolution ended, baseball activities restarted, and the China Baseball Association formed in 1974. In 2002,
the China Baseball League was formed, and China participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. However, it is not a popular
sport and it is often seen by Chinese as a mere American curiosity due to its slow pace. Defeats of the national team
to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization
