Los Angeles Dodgers Peter O'Malley began reaching out in 1980 by starting clinics in China and South Korea, building baseball fields in two Chinese cities, and in 1998 becoming the first major league team to open an office in Asia. The Dodgers were the second team to start a Japanese player in recent history, pitcher Hideo Nomo, the first team to start a South Korean player, pitcher Chan Ho Park, and the first Taiwanese player, Chin-Feng Chen. In addition, they were the first team to send out three Asian pitchers, from different Asian countries, in one game: Park, Hong-Chih Kuo of Taiwan, and
First division (baseball) First division (baseball) First division is a term that has had various meanings, at various times, in the sport of baseball, but originally referred to the rankings within a league. Teams which ranked in the top half of the league standings table (e.g. the top five teams in a ten-team league) were said to have finished in the "first division", while teams in the bottom half of the standings were said to be in the "second division". In the major leagues before 1969, players on teams finishing in the first division received monetary shares from the Players' Pool, which was