THE SEARCH FOR THE BABE RUTH OF CHINA
THE GREAT CHINA BASEBALL HUNT takes viewers on MLB’s improbable, ongoing hunt for China baseball talent. It’s a search for one in a billion—the first player who can make the American big leagues.
Ray Chang is the viewers’ amiable guide. Chang is at once a scout, coach and mentor for the young players. He tells his own compelling story of the freak accident that ended his own baseball career just shy of the major leagues.
Eight years later, Chang is asking prospects to buy into his renewed baseball dream. At MLB’s China-based Development Centers we see kids adjusting to this cross-cultural experiment -- to living away from home and learning about baseball and hot dogs as well as about their own country.
While China represents the entertaining big picture, Chang is the character in whom audiences are likely to become emotionally engaged. It’s hard to imagine coming so close to your lifetime ambition only to see it end in a flash as Chang did when he broke his leg in 2011 just before he could enter the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins.
Change is genuine, sincere – and a little broken-hearted. He says his pain will be eased when he sees one of his students achieve the goal that he could not.
Portions of the story are told by Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, one of the baseball’s best-known international ambassadors, and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley.
Among the top China prospects is Xu “Itchy Shoe” Guiyuan, the first player from the developmental system to sign with an American club and play in the minor leagues.
We follow his progress as he navigates the Baltimore Orioles’ minor-league system, documenting the inevitable ups and downs and cultural adjustments to life in American baseball. His journey is the personification of MLB’s experiment.
Dramatic tension comes from Itchy's big moments. How will he fare at these pivotal times-- his first at-bats in the American minor leagues, and representing China in the World Baseball Classic? The latter tournament was held at the Tokyo Dome in front of the largest crowd Itchy had ever played before. A big moment comes in Maryland when Ripken meets Itchy, who is wearing a wireless mic so that their surprising conversation is captured.
The film cuts between the China hunt (the film’s backbone) and Chang and his Chinese prospects vying to make the big leagues. Because of the long odds they face, these players are underdogs akin to the lead character in “Don’t Stop Believin,’” the 2013 documentary about Journey’s lead singer directed by Ramona Diaz, a consultant to the film.
Cuts between China and the United States reinforce differences but underscore the power of sport to bring people of different nations together. Included are scenes of a 2018 tour of the US by the Blue Sox Academy, one of a rising number of private youth baseball clubs in China, whose eight- and nine-year-old ballplayers traveled to the United States to learn about baseball and American life.
The film began production in March 2016 with Itchy’s first US spring in Sarasota, Florida. We have filmed in China (including the remote Tibetan Autonomous Region) and Tokyo as well as in Florida, California and Maryland.