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July 03 Bill Morse Story of baseball in CambodiaTuesday, June 24, 2008
Have I Got a Story to Tell! By: Bill Morse Baseball and a Bottle of Red Wine I got to the ballpark just in time to watch the end of morning workouts for the Cambodian National Baseball Team. The coaches were in the field hitting flies to the outfielders, the infielders were taking fielding practice, the water buffalo were grazing in the outfield, and Joe Cook, the man who brought baseball to Kampuchea (Cambodia) was standing behind the cage with a big smile on his face. Joe left Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Wounded by a landmine and hiding from those who would have shot him on the spot, he reached Thailand and eventually made it all the way to Dothan, Alabama where he works as a cook in a Japanese restaurant. The locals didn't take to his Khmer name, so they just call him Joe Cook. Joe fell in love with baseball and decided it was a great sport to bring home. He's spent everything he has made, and could borrow to develop this league. He has a few teams across the country and they play every day. 2-3 games a day take place at the rough field he built next to a rice paddy and behind a small village about 35 kilometers north of Kampong Chnang. It wasn't easy to get there from where I work in Siem Reap. I took a 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh, spent the night at my cozy little hotel on the water front and hired a driver to take me on the 2 1/2 hour drive north to find Joe and the Cambodian Boys of Summer. (Actually Boys of Summer is a misnomer, since you can play every day of the year here.) It cost me $180 to make the trip. $10 for the bus and $170 for the driver, Mr. Ryvann. Now there is another story in Mr. Ryvann. As we left downtown Phnom Penh he and I were talking, exchanging our resumes so to speak, and he said he had another friend from California he drove all the time, and asked if I knew Asad Rahman. I was speechless. As many of you know, Asad and I work together helping Aki Ra at the Landmine Museum. My mother was right. Always be on your best behaviour. You never know when you will run into someone you know. Anyway, Mr. Ryvann is a also a major in the Cambodian Air Force. He flies small planes, Cessnas and the like. But the Cambodian Air Force is grounded. They don't have enough money to keep the small fleet of planes, including 22 Mig 21s in the air. But he does still get his pay. $75 a month. That's why he is also a taxi driver. We got to the field at 10:30 and I finally got a chance to meet Joe. I also got a chance to meet a couple of really great coaches who came all the way from California at their own cost to help the team. Tom Dill is the coach of the Notre Dame High School Baseball Team in Sherman Oaks, California. (He is a USC fan, so I didn't have too big a heart attack when I saw Joe wearing an ND hat). Tony Rondinella is a friend of his who couldn't wait to come over here and help Joe. They brought over 5 bags of equipment including gloves, hats and bats and balls. I brought over 80 t-shirts from the Dodgers, 175 balls from the Angels and 24 from the Palm Springs Power. I forgot to bring my hat, so Joe gave me an extra one they had laying around. It said ND in big white print on the front. I looked at the hat. I looked at the cloudless sky, and decided the sunburn would go away faster than any pictures of me in that hat.  The balls were a good idea. The ones they were using were missing covers and beginning to unravel. Joe's built a pretty good backstop and that helps keep most of the balls out of the rice paddy that stands directly behind the field. But these guys can hit. And they sure can foul them off. It's fun to sit and watch the little kids chase balls. It's just like at a PS Power game. As soon as that ball goes behind the field or into the nearby lake, the kids are off as fast as they can to bring it back. But they do it for a different reason. If they run out of balls here, they quit playing. Ain't no Big 5 down the street. The nearest place to get balls is Bangkok. Or from supporters who are traveling over from the states.The ground rules here a little different. Time is automatically called whenever a moto (motor bike), water buffalo, or buffalo cart passes through right field (See the picture at the top of the post). The field encompasses part of the village road, you see. I guess the main thing you want to know is can these guys play ball. Yep. They play pretty darn good ball. They don't have the arm speed that American kids would have, but remember, we play ball from the age of 6 or 7 in the US and Canada. Most of these kids hadn't seen a baseball until they were in their teens. The pitchers are throwing in the 70's and low 80's (they had a gun on them at the All Asia Games last year in Thailand). And they've got a catcher who is really good. I never saw him miss a throw, he blocks the plate well and can make the throw to second as good as anyone I've seen. The infielders are handling the ball pretty well and these kids took to coaching like a fish to water. Tom and Tony watched them play a bit and realized the pitchers had no pick-off move at all. And the kids thought you stole on every play. It was a pretty wild game. Tom spent the morning working with the pitchers on pick-offs and when they started the game after lunch, you would have thought they'd been doing it all their life. Even picking off a guy trying to steal second. I had to leave at 4pm since highway 5 is not very safe after dark, and it being monsoon season, we had a good chance of getting caught in the rain. And in a monsoon rain, you can't see more than a few hundred feet in front of you. Not good on a 2 lane road with pedestrians, motos, trucks, horse-carts, water buffalo, and cattle headed home. Not to mention the occasional chicken crossing the road. We got back to Phnom Penh just as the sun was going down, and I went through my pictures. I can't wait to get back to see these guys again. I'm meeting Tom and Tony in LA when I get back and I'll bring some more of their equipment over in August. May 24 Atlanta Cambodian Baseball
Atlanta Cambodian Baseball team. I was in Atlanta, GA last Thursday May 22 and hang-out with Mung and Peter. They stayout in Northern Atlanta, close to Bufford Hwy off I-85 exit 99. They likes to go around and hang-out at the local recreation center where alot of little leaguers played. I don't remember much around there, but it sure is nice place to be. Makes me think of my old days. These guys are actually Cambodians. Some of them were born in the states. I'm glad to see them get into baseball. They got a few pretty good players. I hope to see Mung and Peter with SaKorn building up a few Cambodian teams. As far as I knows, they loves to play baseball.
Mung (left) Peter (Right) They both related, uncle and nephew. Mung is around late 30s and Peter is in the early 20s. Both of these guys played baseball a few years back. Now they're getting back into the games.
Mung 5'10, 164lbs. Peter 5'7, 152lbs Both of guys are playing baseball to be qualify for the 2008 Cambodian National Baseball Team (CNBT). The CBNT would hope to join the 2008 Asian Cups to be held in Manila, Phillippines in late November to Mid December. I would hope to get Mung play first baseman and Peter play 3rd baseman for CNBT, but I'll see what they show me in July 26. Keep up the good work guys. Our country needed ya. May 21 Back to coach baseball
I'll be heading to Los Angles, Ca on May 28th. I going to be able to meet with Coach Dill at Notre Dame High School Dean of men baseball team and his friend Tony's. I hope to see Mr. Lowe and his son Ranny also Byan Lucas and his families. I will be in Long Beach on Thursday May 29 for the interview with the medias and back to LA the next day and hope to see the Dodgers or Angles game. I wanted to thanks Tom Dill, his friend's Tony and people in LA and Long Beach area for the contribution of this trip. I also wanted say thanks to Mark Dennis at Tomwest Company for the this trip as well.
Once done, I'll be in Taipei, Taiwan and soon home in Cambodia on June 1st.
I'll be meeting with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and National Olympic Committee officials on June 1-4 in Phnom Penh for the baseball movement in Cambodia. We will definetly discuss about the 2008 Asian Cups to be held in Manila, Phillippines in late November. I will also meet with other Cambodian government officials in June 14-20 and after. Alot of works with the officials in Cambodia when it comes to baseball.
June 4-12, I will be in Baribo coaching the National team and the little league teams. Stan Westland from Mississippi (Red Sox fan's) also join the coaching mission with me on June 4-26. He's gotta be very crazy person to doing this in Cambodia. People are going to Cambodia for Angkorwat or other great places, and he's going for basebll? This is nut for him. Maybe he's loves baseball and kids too much. Whatever it is, he will have a great time with the team. Tom Dill and his friend's Tony Rondinella from Los Angles area also coming to Cambodia on June 17-27. They will bring tons of equipment to Cambodia this year. Tom lost his friend's he met in Cambodia during his visited in 2001 and he'll reunited with his friend's Chea Pov this year because of baseball in Cambodia.
Picture from left to right: David Palese, Mike Griffin, Rick Dell, Joe Truesdale and Cameron McDoWall. David Palese and Rick Dell - MLB International coaches will be in Cambodia June 19-24 to help our National team prepare the Asian Cup.
Jim Small - VP of MLB International will also join our baseball ceremony from June 19-22. I wanted to thanks MLB International and their entire staffs for supporting our baseball program in Cambodia. They have done a great job with baseball in Cambodia.
I'm always doing my job, find and collecting equipment and be able to send to Cambodia for the kids and their communities. I want to thanks Jim Small, his family and friends in Japan for donated these books to the kids in Cambodia in 2005.
Coach Dill, Tony Rondinella, Stan Westland will compete in the 2008 Buffalo Baseball Contest. They will ride the buffalo from homeplate around the horn to see who can hang on to the waterbuffalo the longest and win. We'll here goes the schedule what's happening in Cambodia this year:
That's it for now. For more information, please contact me. Thank you. Joe Cook. April 21 The First Star
Ranny Lowe - The First Star
Cambodia may not be known for baseball or any other sports, but Cambodia's First Star is born and shinning very bright and can be seen all the way to the rice fields in Southeast Asia.
Mr. Lowe, Ranny's father, who survived the genocide - where over 1.7 millions Cambodian skulls had been executed, slaughter and tortured by hand of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In 1979, he escaped and fled to the Thai border and eventually found a new home in Southern California in 1984. During his school years, Mr. Lowe enjoyed playing all kinds of sports and some of his trophies remain at his school to show his children how much he enjoys athletics.
Ranny was born in Granada Hills, California in 1991 with a very special gift. He started baseball at an early age with his father 's encouragement to play catch at the local ballpark. By the age of 14, Ranny and his travel team was one of the best in the State and they went on to play in an International Tournament in Tokyo, Japan.
With his great baseball skill and excellent grades, Ranny earned a position on the top-ranked Notre Dame High School's baseball team. Ranny plays short-stop like no one else. He has exceptional speed as well as a cannon for an arm. Notre Dame High School, in Sherman Oaks, California - 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles, with an overall record of 18-2 and 6-0 in the mission league. The Knights are now the number one ranked team in the "baseball rich," San Fernando Valley. Ranny is coached by Tom Dill - the Dean of Men and Varsity Baseball Coach at Notre Dame.
Ranny is a junior at 5'10, and 154 lbs. This season, he's started 19 games, and his fielding percentage is .904%. He has stolen 4 bases without being caught this season. But Ranny's not stopping here, he wants to prove that Cambodian's can play at a high level.
Ranny's #7 at SS
During the 2007, Cambodian team went to played in the 24th SEA Games. Despite the 0-5 record, the team had made many histories and records. They were the newest and youngest team, most of the players age of 16 to 20s years old. Some of them had only been played about a few years or less of baseball experience.
This November 2008, Philippines will host the Asian Championship Cup to be held in Manila. Ranny country is seeking to participate in the tournament. But the team is little skill of baseball and they're desperate in-need of coaches and equipment as well as fund to help building the team in Cambodia.
In Ranny's dream, he's deeply wants to play baseball to represent his people and native country of Cambodia where baseball is still young and an unknown sport.
Ranny had hoped to join the Cambodian team for the Asian Championship Cup but, unfortunately, he is still in school. We hope he continues to do well in school and plays hard for the Notre Dame Knights and helps lead them to a CIF Championship.
Ranny is the hero to the children in Cambodia and they're praying and hope that they get to see him play in the big leagues. With Ranny's passion, he can help the children in Cambodia by his example of strength and focus. We love and care for you Ranny! Good Luck with your season! Go Notre Dame Knights! April 18 SEA SERIESWelcome to the SEA SERIES.
SEA SERIES is the SouthEast Asia Series for the baseball tournament, regular season will begin in April 1st til the end of September. Playoff begin October to November.
SEA SERIES will be opening on April 1st, 2010 in their own country.
Each country require to have at least two National teams or no greater than 12 teams per country. Each team must compete other teams for their regular season games. The best team's in their country goes to the playoff. Each of their country team's must play a total of 10 regular season game with other SouthEast Asia teams. Each team must play 100 games of their regular season.
Example: Cambodia have two teams: CA and CB team, Malaysia have two teams: MA and MB. CA must play with MA total of 5 games and MB total of 5 games. So CA played total of 10 games with Malaysia teams. CA must play 10 games with Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Phillippines and Myanmar, total of 50 games. The rest of 50 games, CA must play with CB.
Each team must not have greater than 25 active rosters. International players are not allow to play for their country teams.
I am contacting with IBF - International Baseball Federation and BFA - Baseball Federation of Asia for their support. Please check back later about the SEA SERIES.
Thank you very much,
Joe Cook - SEA SERIES April 17 Go To CambodiaPicture yourself you're in Cambodia with these kids. "You'll never forget the moment".
Are you interested in going to Cambodia for a Baseball Mission? Well, let me tell you something, "It's always a beautiful days for baseball in Cambodia". You can always go to see AngkorWat or ride on a waterbuffalo, when you're tired.
Here's some information you need to know:
Our baseball camp is called, "Khoom Baseball Field", it's located in Baribo District, KompongChnang Province, it's 68 miles west of the capital Phnom Penh or about 3hrs ride. The weather is always about 70-90F with humidity around 70-80s year round. Rainny season is in late May til October. The best time to be in Cambodia is in November and December. The field dimension is 241ft from homeplate to rightfield, 328ft to leftfield and 378 to centerfield. Rice fields all around the ballpark. The backstop is small and short. Dips and holes are everywhere. Flooded whenever it rains. Everythings crossing the field while we playing baseball; scooters, carts, bikes, animals and people. It's a busy Field.
There's about 20 of hotels and motels in the province of KompongChnang. From the hotels to our ballpark is about 30mins of joy ride. Transportation is avalible such as scooter $2-3, taxi cab $5-10 or waterbuffalo cart $5 for oneway. Hotel price range from $30-90/room. Each room have a single or a double bed, with internet, phone, shower & bath, TV & cable, and some include breakfast, pool and more. If you can live like the real Cambodians, you can stay at our local house next to our baseball field. You'll eat and sleep together with the players and coaches. We don't ask for money, but it entirely upto you what you can pay for your chef, foods, drinks, and doing laundry for you.
Cambodians loves hot/spicy foods and we can serves regular soup, curry, stirfry, steam, fry and bake for your everyday taste. We got great chefs ready to plase you in Baribo.
There are a few local super-markets nearby for all your shopping needs. The most famous market is Phsar PLey and they open as early as 4am til the who's know when. You can find everythings there!
Only one internet shop in Baribo with 2 computers and it could get pretty busy sometime.
Joe Truesdale - using internet in Baribo We have 3 local churches with over a thousand Cambodian Christians. Baribo New Life Church is about 10 mins from our ballpark. Mr. Kerry is our baseball chapel. Every Sunday, we goes to church in the morning and play ball in the late afternoon. Budda temples are every corners. The monks loves to come and to watch baseball everyday.
Health Clinic is about a mile. They're happy we got baseball, because our ballplyers always come to see them when they got injured.
There's 4 Elementary schools and a Highschool in Baribo. The college is in the Province of KompongChnang.
To learn more about Cambodia travel agent, accommodation and transportation, please click here: http://www.tourismcambodia.com/ or http://www.yellowpages-cambodia.com/search/?q=hotel&area=
If you're interested, please call me at (334) 790-5002 or drop an email: joecook_@hotmail.com and come-on to Cambodia for a baseball experience of a Lifetime!
Mike Griffin- won the 2007 Khmer Homerun Derby
I appreciated, God Bless You!
Joe Cook - Founder of Cambodia Baseball
Tel: (334) 790-5002 USA
Tel: (855) 11-736-415 Cambodia or 011-736-415
To learn more, please visit Cambodia Baseball website www.cambodiabaseball.org or Joe Cook website http://kbaseball.spaces.live.com/ April 02 Donate your Equipment
Jeng SovEm #99, SS In the last 5 years, we had collected and shipped over $80,000 worth of equipment to Cambodia. Mostly were donated by MLB International, private businesses and individual throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. Because baseball and our program is growing in Cambodia, we need more equipment and funds to expanding the project. Schools and communities are involving with our baseball program. We're currently collecting baseball equipment, uniforms and as well as funds to help pay for the shipping cost. We will ship the equipment this May 18th from Dothan, Alabama and it should be arriving in Cambodia by middle of June. We hope you could get involvment our collecting project. Please join us. For more details, please contact me and I would be happy to get together with you. Thank you very much. Cambodian Fan's
Cambodian Fan's at the 24th SEA Games 2007 During our games in Bangkok, we had more than 100 Cambodian fans to help cheer our team. Some of our fans are Khmer Surin and they're been living in Thai since they were born. Our Cambodian fans were from Phnom Penh, KompongTom, Battanbong, KompongCham, BantymeanChey and Svey Reing area. Even American and Thai people are help cheer our team during our games. We were very please and greatful to have such fans. Because of them, we able to play game much harder. We appreciate you as our special fan as well. Thank you. April 01 MPR: News CutThe kid from CambodiaPosted at 1:05 PM on March 28, 2008 by Bob Collins
Over the years, I've gotten out of the habit of sitting around the family radio at night, so I don't often get to hear The Story, which airs on MPR weeknights at 9. Fortunately, I was on the road last evening and was reminded of a couple of things (1) Why radio is such a fabulous medium (2) How often in the humdrum of our daily lives, we really don't have an appreciation for what we've got, based largely on our ignorance of what others don't. Last night, I heard an update of the story of Joe Cook, who helped create Cambodia's first baseball team. Cute stuff, with the story about having to play baseball with water buffalo and motorcycles running across the field. But it's impossible to listen to his journey (delivered with an Alabama accented Cambodian accent) and not ask, "What would I have done in that situation?" Of course, most of us have no frame of reference because we don't come close to dealing with these situations. Here's the Cliffs Notes version. 1. He was 5 when Pol Pot seized power and his father went to the battlefront, returning only briefly to tell his family "I will not be with you anymore." A few minutes later when his father left he heard "so many guns shooting, so many bombs exploding," and he found out a few days later his father was gone. 2. The Khmer Rouge sent him and his family to the "Killing Fields." He ate leaves, grass and tree bark to stay alive for two years. 3. He tried eight times to escape. He escaped on the ninth, as the Khmer Route shot at him and his family. Over the next few weeks, he found two brothers and his mother, but his sister never showed up. At age 7, they walked five months barefoot to the Thailand border and eventually made it to the U.S. 4. They settled in Alabama, and many years later, he found his sister was alive. He flew to Cambodia only to find out his sister had no money to get to the border, so she sold her 10-year-old son for $47. "She wanted to meet me at the border to show her brother how honored she was for him to come." 5. He bought her son -- his nephew -- back for $100. "That's Cambodia," he said. "Life is cheap." His niece and nephew proudly showed him where they lived. "I have to do something about this," he said. That's when he said, "I'm going to bring baseball back." As a refugee, he wandered past a Little League game in Alabama when he was 12. Although unable to speak English, he was able to communicate to the coach that he wanted to play. So he did. He wasn't very good but he loved the sport. "Imagine playing baseball blindfolded, I had no idea where (the players) go or how they play." 6. In 2002, Joe, who is a chef, put together enough old pieces of equipment to bring baseball to Cambodia. "Baseball has always been in to me and I just wanted to do so much," he said. Recently, Cambodia's national team was invited to play in an international tournament for southeast Asia. His team got smoked against Thailand, the #1 ranked team. They lost 16-0. "It was great," he told The Story. "I told them 'no matter win or lose, we're here.'" The nephew he bought back was one of the players. "Without baseball," he said, "we'd have no heroes." Now Cambodia has one. And so should we all. You can find his blog here, and after you visit it, trust me, you'll be having a much better day. Comments (2)First off, I love baseball like a I love viewing a natural wonder for the first time or being honored for an achievement; almost as much as anything else in the world [ of course family, friends, and MPR come before that :) ] And baseball, much like soccer, seems to have the universal effect of bringing people together while enabling a person to forget whatever worldly concerns he/she is bound by. Unlike soccer, baseball somehow manages to remove whatever it is that causes soccer fans to hate/bring aggression onto fans of the other team and/or riot following the conclusion of many matches. They lost 16-0. "It was great," he told The Story. "I told them 'no matter win or lose, we're here.'" I'd say that is proof enough. Posted by Tyler Suter | March 28, 2008 3:35 PM Wonderful story, Bob. Thank you. Posted by Jamie | March 30, 2008 3:15 PM March 28 The Chosen Joe"God created me in a place of a Million Skulls".
Without baseball: "Between late 1960s to 1980s, over 2 millions Cambodians perished because there's no baseball.
I was born on July 1, 1970 in the village of Srok Kar Koss, Svey Chech district of the BantyMeanChey province. It's near Battambong in the northwestern of Cambodia. My father was a high rank military for the Cambodian government in KompongThom province. During the Khmer Rough tookover the country in 1975-78s, an estimation of over 1.7 millions of Cambodians had been excuted, starvation or sick to death; "included my father and two younger sisiters". Not only that, but I was seperated from my 3 sisters and found them after 24 years later.
My family and I escaped into Thai border in late 1979 when the Vietnamese invaded the Cambodia and was nearly starved to death on the journey of freedom. We spent about 4.5 years in the Thai and Phillippines camps then later arrived in Chattanooga, TN in May 13, 1983.
My newphew and his new born sister. Kids looking for an open rice field to play baseball.
Life's in America was beautiful as it can be when I first touchdown. I discovered many new things such as; learn to operate TV, radio, turn-on light, water, stove and the most amazingly, "flushing a toilet". I was inspired and suprise by hundreds of new incredible-things which I was unable to understand when I was in Cambodia, Thai or Phillippines.
My niece's Moum (4yrs) loves to play baseball Baseball Glove is desperately in-needed
I realized that life in America is much harder than I thought. I had trouble learning English, making new friends, accepting new culture and region. At the local community in Chattanooga; baseball fields, Churches and kids seem to be everywhere.
We built the first baseball in Baribo (2002) We renovated Baribo field (2007)
I remember at first, I loves riding a bus. Riding a bus wasn't available in Cambodia. Well, in America is different. I took advantage of the bus on every Sunday. Now that's how learn about Christian faith and accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savoir, by Riding a Bus. Amen!
Kids learning to swing for the very first time Older folks learning to throw baseballs
I have difficulty making new friend, so I begin go to a sport complex. I relized that the kids playing something that I don't even know what it is. I watched for awhile and finally I have a gut to say something to a coach. I didn't even speak much English, I just speak in my body language and he understood what I wanted to say. He gave a glove and got a kid infront of me and we started to throw and catch. I was filled with joy from then on!
My neice's SeyLa (10yrs) My grand neice's MiLa (11yrs)
Playing baseball was a way of making new friends for me when I was a teenage. Involved with baseball got me stay of trouble and learning English. I remember when I was with the team, the kids taught me so much southern English words.
My cousin daughter Srey Neang (12yrs) Donating school supplies to the kids (BantyMeanChey)
I was in highschool and my family moved to westcoast (California), but I wanted to stay in Chattanooga while I was in 11th grade. I have no choice but to work and support myself. At first, I was offered for a busboy job when I was told at the school. By the time I came in the back-door, the head chef told me to COOK. It's hard for us to communicated at first, because I don't speak Japanese and he don't speak much English.
Cambodian stance and contact. I was coaching the National Team (Nov 2007) I told the head chef; "Taka" that I can't cook, I'm here for a busboy and clean table. But he kept say; "You Cook!". After 2 yrs of training by Mr. Taka, everyone I cooked for were very please with my experience. Since then, I was known as Joe Cook!
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