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March 12 Another Month
With all these rices around us, we won't be able to play here til another month. I wish we have our own baseball field to play all the times without having to wait for so long.
Baribo rice field - folks around here begain to grow their rice season from early May. At first they have to breakdown the solid in-order to spread the crops. This would take around 2 weeks, depend on how your waterbuffaloes or cows could keepup with blazing Cambodian summer heat. In June, most of people had already placed the rice seeds into the ground. This time of year, rains begaining to continuely pure down upto 3-6 times a week. By late June to July, folks begin to remove the young growing rice into a new field which already filled with water and soft solid. This will help the young rice to grow much faster and more productive. During end of November and December, in most area, rice is ready to harvest. I loves to see folks harvest the rice, I sometime join them for works. I never last long, because my skins are very sensitive and I got cuts all over myself from the sharp rice leaves. By middle of December, most of rice fields are wide-open for children to run free or play baseball. Thanks for reading this article. March 10 Spreading the WordsSince baseball established in Cambodia during the late of 2002, it's still a new sport to the people of Cambodia. But baseball is increasely a popular sport, especially in the KompongChnang, Phnom Penh, KompongCham and BantymeanChey area.
The program is a huge hit, millions had heard that baseball is in Cambodia. They known that. People loves to help spreading the words of baseball in Cambodia.
Funding and equipment are needed to help surstain and impliment the program and foundation. MLB players or it organzation should be able to understand the need of the baseball operation in Cambodia. Businessess and companies should be able step to the plate for a homerun.
I appreciate those who help spreading the word of baseball in Cambodia. We will continue to work hard to search for a homerun hitters.
Concord Monitor (Cambodia - Swinging for the fences / His mission: Spread baseball in homeland)
Asianweek.com >> Briefs
These are just a few websites that had mentioned about baseball in Cambodia, there are more that I haven't have a chance to listed. Please help spread the word of baseball in Cambodia, to ensure the children will able to play the game.
Thank you and I hope to hear to from you. Send an email to Joe Cook: joecook_@hotmail.com or call and talk to me (334) 790-5002.
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KI Media2 Comments: Bringing baseball to Cambodia
Talkin about Joe CookTo founder, Cambodian baseball a diamond in the roughAt great sacrifice, a former refugee fosters the American game that gave him hope. By KEVIN BAXTER, Los Angeles Times Last update: February 23, 2008 - 7:14 PM More from NationDOTHAN, ALA. - Baseball's ground rules are different in Cambodia. A ball hit off the water buffaloes grazing in the outfield is in play, but a ball lost in the adjoining rice paddy is not. And timeout must be called whenever a motorcycle approaches on the dirt road that cuts through the outfield. "You can't put it in perspective with words," said Jim Small, managing director for Major League Baseball's operations in Asia. "You just need to see it." Even then, you can't always believe what you're seeing. Shirtless children in plastic flip-flops batting cross-handed. Adults pitching with both hands wrapped tightly around the ball. And slides that are more like baserunners falling, then rolling. "Teaching baseball in Cambodia," Joe Cook said, "it's not easy." Cook, a Cambodian refugee who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide to escape to the United States, has spent the past five years trying to turn the former killing fields of his homeland into fields of dreams for a generation that has known little more than war, poverty and despair. Along the way he has lost his life savings, his car and nearly his marriage. "I want to walk away from this. I do. But these kids," he said, pointing to a photo of three shoeless children in torn clothes toting bats and gloves through a rice paddy, "baseball brings smiles to their faces." In December, thanks to Cook, Cambodia fielded a national baseball team for the first time in the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. It was a milestone as inauspicious as it was historic: Cambodia's first four hitters struck out without touching the ball, and it took four games for the team to get its first hit. By then Cambodia had been outscored 67 to 1. "The biggest deal is we showed up. We had the guts to be there," Cook said. Whether they show up again, however, is anybody's guess. Although the other five teams in the Southeast Asian Games are supported by relatively well-financed national organizations, the Cambodian team is supported largely by Cook and whatever donations he can scrape together. Lately that hasn't been much. Two months before the games, Cook was far short of the $50,000 he needed to get Cambodia to the competition. He also was half a world away, in southeast Alabama town of Dothan, working as a chef at a Japanese steakhouse. Mark Dennis, a Dothan businessman, helped Cook obtain more than $41,000 in loans, wiring the final $4,500 himself less than an hour before the registration deadline. Said Dennis, "I just had a hard time seeing him fail that close." But despite the victory of showing up in Thailand, Cook hardly feels like a winner these days. He's $41,500 in debt, and Cambodia Baseball has just $1,585 in the bank. "I'm so frustrated. I've had enough of this," Cook said, fighting back tears while sitting in his cramped apartment. His sofa, which sits next to a broken coffee table, is both an office and a bed for Cook, who leaves the bedroom to his wife and daughter. During his last trip to Cambodia in December, his Hyundai was repossessed and the gas and electricity were turned off. He wasn't thrown out of the apartment because his boss pays the $450 monthly rent. "I'm the grandfather of baseball in Cambodia," he said. "Yeah, that's great. But I live in a poor way." Major League Baseball has sent coaches to Cambodia, donated equipment and paid for Cook to fly back and forth from Alabama -- contributions worth more than $50,000 over the past two years alone. Local companies and schools in south Alabama also have helped collect, store and ship equipment to Cambodia, but few have donated cash. Cook said he had spent about $300,000 on Cambodian baseball since the fall of 2002 -- huge chunks of it coming out of his pockets or those of family members. But he can't go on that way. "I'm burning out. I can't do this alone," he said. "I don't want to do anything with baseball in Cambodia anymore. Period." The Rev. Frank Cancro, a Catholic priest in North Carolina who visited the first baseball field in Cambodia, chuckled when he heard that. "He's said that at least three times since I've known him," he said. As a result, from a misshapen diamond carved out of the jungle near the village of Baribor five years ago, Cambodian baseball has spread to more than 50 teams in four age divisions in three provinces. Game changed life Cook's love affair with baseball began shortly after a Christian aid organization rescued him and what was left of his family from a Philippine refugee camp in 1983, relocating them to Chattanooga, Tenn. Cook, whose legal name is Joeurt Puk (he began using Cook after taking his first restaurant job), said he spent nearly half his childhood in Cambodia living off tree bark, insects and grass in Khmer Rouge labor camps. Along the way he lost his father and two sisters and was nearly killed twice before escaping to Thailand. "I was starving and I just wanted to end my life," he said. Arriving in Chattanooga as a 12-year-old, he was introduced to marvelous things he had never seen before -- a flush toilet, television, radio, a mirror. And baseball. "Seeing kids running around without having to worry about booby traps or gunshots, explosions. America was like heaven," Cook said. He eventually wed a political refugee from Cambodia seven years his senior, in an arranged marriage that produced two children. And he never forgot the transformative power the game had on his life. That turned his life around again nearly six years ago, when he returned to the Thailand border to reunite with a sister long believed dead. There, in the children of the poverty stricken town of Baribor, he said, "I saw the happiness in their faces. And my heart just opened. ... That's what changed my life. So I told the kids, 'When I come back, I'm going to bring baseball. I'm going to bring the American gift.'" A few months later he returned with enough secondhand bats, balls and gloves to field two teams. It was enough to give the sport the locals called "throwball" a foothold. Small said the poor, shy children of Baribor seemed different after putting on donated, sparkling white jerseys with their homeland written across their chests. "How cool for them to have a chance to represent their country," he said. Which might be why Cook, at least so far, has been unable to quit.
Comment on this storyC'monThere isn't one play in MLB baseball that can't help this guy?! posted by BPDOGS on Feb 25, 08 at 9:56 am |
3 of 3 people liked this comment. Do you? Great opportunity for MLB to do image repair.As mentioned over and over again by Bud Selig, baseball's revenue is increasing. How about using some of that money to help finance this organization? That, to me, would be far more useful than putting the money back in the owners' pockets so that they can continue to overpay for players. posted by jjunker on Feb 25, 08 at 3:30 pm |
Do you like this comment? MLB Help?!?! Are you kidding me?It won't surprise me if this guy gets no help from MLB. I remember the Twins trying to come up with so THEY could build little league parks in the Metro area. They needed $125k...and they wre asking the fans to donate!!! LOL posted by Harry_Potter on Feb 25, 08 at 5:04 pm |
Do you like this comment? Combodia BaseballCan't get money for baseball? Have any oil? Our professionals would be there in a minute with cash! Start digging......... posted by deancc on Feb 25, 08 at 5:18 pm |
1 of 1 people liked this comment. Do you? Baseball in Cambodia - Twins supportI wrote a letter to the Twins to see if there was anything they could do to help. Within 2 days, they responded to my e mail and are graciously donating various baseball equipment for me to send over there. It was a shot in the dark but I am very grateful for the Twins caring and support. I know this will bring great joy to the people of Cambodia. Talking about Joe CookThere’s been a lot of media coverage on the Internet focusing on Cambodian baseball team lately. Finally i found a video today on news.newamericamedia, i think all Cambodians should watch. Cambodian-American Joe Cook, the team coach, called his baseball team “a diamond in the rough,” StarTribune.com wrote in one of its Feb 23 headlines.
The editor is right that the real victory was in the journey. No matter how far the journey is, we did step our first step. Can’t wait to see the team’s growth! I’ve been curious about the rules of baseball. Will learn them for sure!!! I like baseball so much. This is good new for me. Thanx! you are very resourceful. i love that. i am emotionally happy with the creation of the team and sad with the word of the coach “you don’t love khmer” and he seeds the tears and i can’t help holding mine. let me give this like to my friends na. our team lost this time, hope they will do better next time. Nagoya team just win in 53 years. so, Cambodia team need more time to be better himself. Anyways, you are important buddy. @Ricky>>> Just another compliment, buddy! And again, i take it! Haa… Why not? Well, ya’re so emotional! Anyway, you’re right. Nagoya team took 53 years to become the champ in Japan, where baseball is Wiregrass Man, "The Father of Baseball in Cambodia"Wiregrass Man, "The Father of Baseball in Cambodia" Posted: March 4, 2008 06:08 PM CST Updated: March 4, 2008 06:47 PM CST
Dothan, Al. (WSFA) -- It's America's favorite pastime and many in the Wiregrass have grown up playing it: baseball. However, for one man, it's much more than a game. For Joe Cook it's an escape from a violent past. Now Cook is using that game to teach kids about the country that took him in. He's your average joe, but he doesn't look like it. He and his family were forced from their native Cambodia to escape the genocide of the Khmer Rouge in early 1980's. "Everything was just overwhelming at the time," says Cook. Baseball opened up so much for Joe. It makes him feel American. He's married with two children, and working as a chef in Dothan. His first trip back to Cambodia was in 2002. It was on that trip that he made the decision to take the game that gave him so much back to the kids of Cambodia. "I'll bring gloves, balls and I'm going to teach you how to play baseball," says Cook. With his promise, Joe and the people of Baribo built their own field. Joe's dream hasn't been easy to accomplish, though. He doesn't make much money and what he does earn goes to paying bills and his family. It's the passion for baseball in Cambodia that keeps him going. Cook says, "I throw balls to the kid, they throw back to me, there's so much joy in that kids eye." In December of 2007 Cambodia's first national baseball team competed in the Southeast Asian games. Cook was able to be a part of that experience, because to many, he's the father of baseball in Cambodia. "They always come up to me, ask me questions to learn about new things," says Cook. Reporter: Daniel Curtis AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Joe CookAMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Joe Cook
 Joe Cook (center) with the Cambodian national baseball teamName: Joe Cook Occupation: Founder of the non-profit Cambodia Baseball Known for: Surviving the killing fields, immigrating to America, going into personal debt to bring America's national pastime to Cambodia, building the country's first baseball diamond in a jungle, fielding a Cambodian national team for the first time in December. Read the LA Times profile of Cook here. If you build it, he will come...find out how you can help Cambodia Baseball here. Source BASEBALL 2007 SEA GAMES
In the second game of the day, the Philippines won only 1-0 against Indonesia to remain unbeaten, meaning the latter finished in third place and won the bronze medal. The game was a pitching-duel between Darwin De La Calzada (Philippines) and Ahmad Effendy (Indonesia), who not only kept each other in balance, but didn't gave up a run in the first seven innings of the game. The lone run was then scored by the Philippines in the eighth inning and that proved to be enough. Standings after Day 7
On Day 6 of the event, Philippines eliminated Myanmar by winning 6-1. The team broke an 1-1 tie by scoring two runs in the third inning, then added two more in the next two at bats. Standings after Day 6
Thailand remained unbeaten and won its third game, but it took until the sixth inning to decide the match-up against Myanmar. The Thai squad opened the score with a run in the first inning off starter Oo Yan Paing, then added a run in the fourth at bat. In the home of the fourth, Myanmar reacted with a run off Thai starter Kanjanavisut Kamon. Leading only 2-1, Thailand then decided the game with a 4-run rally in the sixth inning. In the afternoon, Malaysia and Cambodja, who were both winless, played an interesting and attractive game, which lasted three hours. The two young baseball-nations were up to each other and that showed as the score was tied after four innings. Cambodian starter Phea Miech gave up two runs in the first inning, but then Cambodia answered with three runs off Malaysian pitcher Hussin Sazali in its first at bat to take the lead for the first time in the tournament. That was briefly, as Malaysia came alongside in the second inning, then decided the game by scoring seven runs in the fifth at bat. Cambodia came back with a run in the seventh, which Malaysia got back in the next at bat, but then the young Cambodian squad scored three runs in the home of the eighth to make it 11-7, which eventually also was the final score. After being hitless in its three previous games, Cambodia today registered ten basehits, their first in an international tournament. Standings after Day 5
Indonesia defeated Malaysia, 24-0, in a 5-inning game. Indonesia already struck in the first inning with seven runs, then added five in the next and eight in the third at bat. Two runs were scored in the fourth and fifth inning to make it 24-0. Opponent Malaysia, for whom it was its third consecutive loss, had only one basehit off pitcher Lukman Ramdhoni, while Indonesia registered 17 basehits and became the first team to win three games.
Standings after Day 4
Myanmar won its first game of the event, beating Malaysia, 17-2. Myanmar had started the event on Saturday with an 8-2 loss vs. Indonesia, while Malaysia now has lost both games it played, after also losing the opener on Friday against the Philippines, which had the day off on Sunday. In the second game of the day, Indonesia handed Cambodia another big loss, winning 37-1 to win its second game after also winning on Saturday vs. Myanmar. Indonesia opened the event on Friday with a loss against Thailand, which had no game scheduled on Sunday. Cambodia made its international debut on Saturday and then lost vs. Thailand.
  Cambodia makes international debutNederlands  BANGKOK (Thailand) - The national baseball team of Cambodia made its debut on an international tournament on Saturday when it played its first game during the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. The young Cambodian squad lost 16-0 to host Thailand. Earlier in the day, Indonesia defeated Myanmar, 8-2.
Baseball is being played for only five years in Cambodia. The sport was set up by Joe Cook, who was born in Cambodia, but came to the USA in 1983. There, he started to love the sport and used it for learning better English. In 2002, Cook, who currently works in a restaurant in Alabama, returned to Cambodia to visit his sister and started teaching baseball to local children in the city of Baribo, 68 miles west of capital Phnom Penh. The sport became very popular and in November 2002, the first baseball-field was opened, which meant the start of baseball in Cambodia. In 2005, Major League Baseball International sends coaches of its Envoy Program to the country to instruct players and coaches. Last year, for the first time a youth baseball tournament was played in Phnom Penh and this year a national team was created for participation in the Southeast Asian Games. Cambodia isn't a member yet of the International BAseball Federation. After three scoreless innings, Indonesia scored four runs in the fourth inning, then added three in the next at bat en route to the 8-2 victory against Myanmar, which scored its runs in the eighth and ninth inning of this game, which last three hours and ten minutes. Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is another young baseball-country in Asia and became a member of the IBAF in 2005. Cambodia’s National Baseball Team Arrives on the SceneCambodia’s National Baseball Team Arrives on the Scene (New America Media) In December of 2007, the brand-new national Cambodian baseball team competed in the Southeast Asian games in Thailand. They didn’t win any games, but the victory was their arrival on the international sports scene. Sport in CambodiaCulture and society
Khmer culture, as developed and spread by the Khmer empire, has distinctive styles of dance, architecture and sculpture, which have strongly influenced neighbouring Laos and Thailand. Angkor Wat (Angkor means "city" and Wat "temple") is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture from the Angkorian era and hundreds of other temples have been discovered in and around the region. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the infamous prison of the Khmer Rouge, and Choeung Ek, one of the main Killing Fields are other important historic sites. Bonn Om Teuk (Festival of Boat Racing), the annual boat rowing contest, is the most attended Cambodian national festival. Held at the end of the rainy season when the Mekong river begins to sink back to its normal levels allowing the Tonle Sap River to reverse flow, approximately 10% of Cambodia's population attends this event each year to play games, give thanks to the moon, watch fireworks, and attend the boat race in a carnival-type atmosphere.[36] Popular games include cockfighting, soccer, and kicking a sey, which is similar to a footbag. Recent artistic figures include singers Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea (and later Meng Keo Pichenda), who introduced new musical styles to the country. Rice, as in other Southeast Asian countries, is the staple grain, while fish from the Mekong and Tonle Sap also form an important part of the diet. The Cambodian per capita supply of fish and fish products for food and trade in 2000 was 20 kilograms of fish per year or 2 ounces per day per person.[37] Some of the fish can be made into prahok for longer storage. Overall, the cuisine of Cambodia is similar to that of its Southeast Asian neighbours. The cuisine is relatively unknown to the world compared to that of its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam. Football (soccer) is one of the more popular sports, although professional organized sports are not as prevalent in Cambodia as in western countries due to the economic conditions. The Cambodia national football team managed fourth in the 1972 Asian Cup but development has slowed since the civil war. Western sports such as volleyball, bodybuilding, field hockey, rugby union, and baseball are gaining popularity while traditional boat racing maintains its appeal as a national sport. Martial arts are also practiced in Cambodia which include the native art of Pradal Serey and Bokator. Baseball ProspectusMedical Mojo
2008-02-18 20:11
by Jon Weisman
Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus mentioned today that his Team Health Reports are being run "in the order of finish for last year's Dick Martin Award," given for best team medical staff. So the longer we have to wait for the Dodgers, the extra disappointed we can be. Three National League West rivals - Arizona, San Diego and Stan Conte's old club, San Francisco - have come ahead of the Dodgers. The gauntlet has been thrown. * * * Strong article by Kevin Baxter in the Times about one man's efforts to bring baseball to Cambodia. March 09 International Pastime: One Man's Hope for Baseball in CambodiaInternational Pastime: One Man's Hope for Baseball in Cambodia
 International Pastime looks at baseball's influence outside the U.S.Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times pens a tremendous piece for the paper today about one man's rather obsessive quest to bring baseball to his homeland of Cambodia. Joe Cook (legal name: Joeurt Puk ), a Cambodian refugee of the Khmer Rouge genocide, now lives in Alabama. Among the thing things we learn about the man: he's the grandfather of the sport in his homeland, pouring $300,000 into baseball there. A good chunk of that is from his own pocket. This has left him poor and in bad graces with his wife. He's $41,500 in debt. His car was repossessed; his gas and electricity has been shut off. At first glance, this all seems somewhat crazy. After all, trying to bring baseball in a stable form to his country has basically left Cook's life in shambles. But then again, few of us have ever come from this: Arriving in Chattanooga as a 12-year-old, he was introduced to a number of marvelous things he had never seen before, such as a flush toilet, television, radio, the mirror.Cook might be crazy, but he also is bringing the game he loves to a place he sees as starved for fun. One should not fault him for this. Immigrant of the Day: Joe Cook (Cambodia)Immigrant of the Day: Joe Cook (Cambodia)ImmigrationProf BlogA Member of the Law Professor Blogs Networkby: Kevin R. Johnson The L.A. Times earlier this weelk ran a wonderful story on our Immigrant of the Day, Joe Cook, a Cambodian refugee who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide to escape to the United States. Cook has spent the last five years trying to turn the former killing fields of his homeland into fields of dreams -- by bringingbaseball to Cambodia. Along the way he's lost his life savings, his car and nearly his marriage. And, Cook insists, some people in Cambodia would like to see him dead. "I want to walk away from this. I do. But these kids," he said, pointing to a photo of three shoeless children in torn clothes toting bats and gloves through a rice paddy, "baseball brings smiles to their faces." A restaurant worker in Alabama, Cook, with some help from among others Major League Baseball, has brought youth baseball leagues to Cambodia. In December, thanks to Cook, Cambodia fielded a national baseball team for the first time in the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Cook, whose legal name is Joeurt Puk (he began using Cook after taking his first restaurant job), said he spent nearly half his childhood in Cambodia living off tree bark, insects and grass in labor camps run by the Khmer Rouge. Along the way he lost his father and two sisters, was nearly killed when a booby trap exploded next to him, then survived an artillery barrage that pounded the road he and hundreds of others were following on their escape to a Red Cross camp across the border in Thailand. KJ Baseball Brings Smiles to Their Faces"Baseball Brings Smiles to Their Faces"Swords Into Plowshares by: Robert E. Williams Today's Los Angeles Times brings the story of a Cambodian genocide survivor who is working to ensure that baseball will take root in his homeland. Joe Cook, who was born Joeurt Puk in Cambodia just five years before the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, has raised over $300,000--much of it his own money--to take a sport he came to love as a young refugee in the United States back to his home. The Times' Kevin Baxter writes:
But, as Cook noted, "winning is nothing. The biggest deal is we showed up." Read the whole story here. Labels: Southeast Asia February 26 Baribo BaseballBaribo is a name of the district or city, it located about 18km west of KompongChnang province. Population is about 40,000. Rice is the only main industry here. Baseball given Baribo a new icon. Today, people visit Baribo because of baseball.
When I first cameback to Cambodia from Dothan, AL in 2002, I brought the American pastime as a gift for the children in Cambodia. The kids and I built the first diamond and I soon taught them how to play the basic of baseball. It went pretty rough at first, by the first week, they able to hit and run.
For more story like these, please drop me an email and would loves to hear it from you. Thank you.
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SEA: Thailand, Philippines to play for gold
On Thursday, Myanmar closed the tournament with a 10-0 shutout-win against Cambodia, which remained winless in its first international event. Myanmar opened the score with a run in the second inning, then rallied for five runs in the fourth at bat to take a deciding lead, then added three runs in the fifth. Myanmar-pitcher Oo Zaw Zaw gave up only one basehit, while he and his teammates collected 14.
SEA: Top three teams decided
Most of the players of the Cambodian team are between 16 and 20 years old, but starting pitcher Nget Kea is one of the older players. He will turn 27 on December 11 and besides pitching, he also was the fifth batter in the batting order for Manager Philip Beaudoin. Thailand opened with two runs in the first inning, scored only one in the second at bat, but then decided the game with a 9-run rally in the third inning. After adding four more runs in the fourth to bring the score to 16-0, the game ended after 4 1/2 inning, due to the tournament's mercy-rule. In its first international game, Cambodia was unable to register a basehit off 16-year old Thai pitcher Sek Sitthikaew.
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