Kiwi baseballers learn from the best

  • Breaking
  • 07/11/2013

Some of the countries best young baseballers had the chance to learn from one the game's best today.

Major league MVP contender Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks is in the country.

It's all part of Baseball New Zealand's plan to bring 'America's pastime' to Auckland.

When the Diamondback met the Diamondblacks, the one known as 'Goldy' stopped by Auckland as he continues to grow the game of baseball worldwide.

He said he wishes "to get more and more kids involved".

"Hopefully they'll enjoy it like I did when I was young, and try to stick to it, and you know they're going to continue to get better and I'm sure you're going to see some New Zealand major league baseball players soon".

Arizona's CEO admits he chuckled when they heard the name of New Zealand's national team.

"We love the Diamondblacks. And for us being the Diamondbacks...we hope that we can be New Zealand's major league baseball team as well," he said.

The Diamondbacks will open the 2014 MLB season in Sydney, but the term 'hit it out of the park' could also soon apply to Eden Park if Baseball New Zealand's plan to host a major league game comes to fruition.

"If a major league team comes here, or an all-star team, they'd have to play here. But we think Eden Park is behind that and major league baseball is behind it... so this is a good chance for the country to visualise how it would look," said Ryan Flynn, Baseball NZ president.

The main aim on these shores remains an Auckland franchise in the Australian league and its know-how, and funding that Baseball New Zealand will use opportunities like this to obtain.

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source: newshub archive