The story you’ve already heard a thousand times: Every major pro sports league in the world is dying to emulate the success of the NBA in marketing its sport to the Chinese masses. A quick cross-section of that group: ice hockey, baseball, Australian rules football, NFL (American) football, and rugby. To name just a few.

The story you’ve heard a few times in the last few weeks: The New York Yankees have signed two Chinese players, after having made the first inroads of any MLB team in getting into China and opening up an office there.

The story the Associated Press is reporting today (that you’ve heard a thousand times with various sports): building a fan base is going to be a challenge, because the Chinese don’t “get” baseball. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea? A lock for baseball popularity. The most populous nation on earth? Not so much…at least, not yet.

Lack of interest hurts baseball in China (The AP, via the New York Times)