As a member of a small minority in Major League Baseball, Curtis Granderson, an All-Star outfielder for the New York Yankees, said Monday he believes diversity is the most important thing in baseball today.

In Seoul as an MLB International Ambassador, helping promote the sport across the globe during offseasons through clinics and fan meetings, Granderson said the ability to connect with people from different backgrounds is the key to success on the field.

“If you can’t get along in the clubhouse, you’re not going to be able to go and get along on the field,” Granderson said at a media conference at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. “That’s why I feel like diversity in this game is so important.”

Granderson said when Asian players make the jump to the U.S. league and see that players from different backgrounds are all on the same page, it will make their transitions smoother.

“It will make adjustments for them a lot easier to know that everyone’s different on this team but we all get along,” he said.

“We all strive for the main goal, and that’s to go out there and be the best team we can be. That starts from the clubhouse, being a team and being a family.”

Granderson made his big league debut with the Detroit Tigers in 2004 and joined the Yankees in a trade in late 2009. He said he counted his blessings at having played alongside players from Cuba, Mexico, Taiwan, Canada and Australia, among other places. He hadn’t heard of the ambassador program prior to his first trip in 2006, but once he found out there would be opportunities to travel around the globe, he said, “I was all for it.”

Before South Korea, Granderson traveled to countries including Italy, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand. South Korea and Japan, his next destination, have thriving professional baseball leagues, unlike some of his earlier stops, but Granderson said he treats “everybody the same” in his baseball clinics in different countries.

“We go over the basics, and the first and foremost rule is keep the game fun,” he said. “If you’re having fun in the game, you’re going to want to get better. As you want to get better, you will get better and the sky is the limit on what you can accomplish.” (Yonhap News)