The $10,000 arms

Two Indian men, plucked from the obscurity of "rural India" are set to make their MLB debut in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system. I am not too sure they will be able to crack the highest tier, simply because in terms of baseball skills they are true rookies, but the fact that they are even within sniffing distance must be worth the adventure.

Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, their two India-born pitchers who had never seen a baseball game before being the top two finishers in a TV reality show designed to find potential Major League Baseball arms, are nearly ready to make their professional debuts.

Neither had picked up a baseball, much less thrown one, until little more than a year ago. Aspiring cricket players, they had no idea that American athletes could make so much money playing a sport they knew nothing about.

Now, after a busy year crowded with TV show appearances, basic baseball instruction, fitness workouts, constant throwing and adjusting to a pro athlete's life in a new country, they are about to take the mound for the Bradenton Pirates of the rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

(Link courtesy of JAN, an unabashed fan of M&M; not the rapper but the Sri Lankan bowlers).