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ST. LOUIS - Within days of the St. Louis Cardinals missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010, the teams front office met and quickly zeroed in on what the club needed to get back to World Series contention. General manager John Mozeliak laid the plan out for the public at the teams annual postseason media conference.The Cardinals needed to be more athletic. They needed to catch and throw the ball more skillfully. They needed to add a dash of menace on the bases. As they discussed potential fixes, one other attribute sometimes entered their thinking. They wanted their team to better reflect the city in which it plays.The player they identified for their search was uniquely qualified to check off each of the boxes. Dexter Fowler has one of the most selective eyes in baseball, making him a perfect puzzle piece for the top of the lineup. He is an established center fielder whose defensive metrics are riding an uptick at age 30, when some players are beginning to slip. He is good for about 19 stolen bases a year, roughly three times what last years leading Cardinal base stealer, Stephen Piscotty, managed.It didnt hurt that the Cardinals were signing him away from the Chicago Cubs, the rival team he had just helped to its first World Series title since the Teddy Roosevelt administration.Nor was it lost on the Cardinals as they began contemplating a multi-year, big-money commitment that finding an African-American star could have social benefits in their community. Their background check on Fowler only reinforced their feeling that he was the perfect man for the job, prompting them to offer him a five-year, $82.5 million deal, which he agreed to last week.One of the things we think was very important about Dexter Fowler besides the baseball side of what he brought to the Cardinals was his understanding of social issues, Mozeliak said. He is very active in understanding whats happening around him. Hes a very bright and intelligent person and doesnt shy away from whats happening in communities.Fowlers signing has already helped reinforce the sometimes rickety bridge between the team and St. Louis large African-American community. It was even greeted with a statement of gratitude from the local NAACP.Me and my friends look up to him as not only an athlete, but a black athlete. Not many athletes playing baseball are of African-American descent, said Tommy Woods, a junior infielder at McCluer North High School. Him being on the Cardinals is just a real inspiration. It helps us stay on top of what we have to and helps us realize theres a chance for us, and we can always keep striving.Woods double-play partner, Dexter Swims, agreed: Dexter Fowler gives us hope that its possible for us to make it that far.Woods and Swims live in North St. Louis County, within a seven-minute drive of the St. Louis airport. Steer just a tick east, and you arrive in Ferguson, a little town that became a flash point for racial tension after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Hundreds of students at McCluer North, many of whom live in Ferguson, protested by walking out of class with their hands raised, forcing a brief closure of the school.I went down there because I wanted to see where it happened, Swims said. It was kind of touching because the whole community came together, and they were hurt. It was sad to see so many people down and losing hope.Last year, just 8 percent of players on the Opening Day rosters of MLB teams were African-American, holding steady from 2012 but still the lowest it has been since the integration era. That decline is felt acutely in St. Louis, which has a large black population and one of baseballs most adoring fan cultures. The look of the team and the fans in its stadium often hasnt reflected the faces in the streets around the ballpark.The city of St. Louis, where Busch Stadium sits in the shadow of the Gateway Arch, is nearly 50 percent black, and the entire region of roughly 2.4 million people, is roughly 18 percent black. The Cardinals havent had a black All-Star in 19 years.Swims said he frequently hears from his black friends and fellow students that baseball is a white mans game. He counters by filling them in on the history of the sport and the transcendent way his favorite player, Jackie Robinson, changed the game with his bold dashes around the base paths. Both he and Woods have had contact from Division I baseball coaches and are hoping to receive scholarship offers. In that way, they could follow Robinsons lead. He starred at UCLA before finding fame with the Dodgers.For years, Swims father, also named Dexter, had him watch tapes of baseball from the 1980s and 1990s, when black participation was higher. In 1975, MLB was 27 percent African-American, a number that steadily declined for more than 20 years. At their family gatherings, people openly wondered when the Cardinals would sign or develop another black star. Jason Heyward played in St. Louis for one season but signed with the Cubs a year ago. Fowler could be the star theyve been waiting for.Its a lot to put on one player, particularly one who grew up not in St. Louis, but in Georgia. Fowler, however, sounds up to the task of embodying something more than his ability to catch a baseball or hit one. Before he signed with the Cardinals, he had a telephone conversation with Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. A day later, at the press conference announcing his signing, he said the talk helped him feel more comfortable about making St. Louis his next baseball home, maybe his last. Fowler has previously played in Colorado, Houston and Chicago. He has a blanket no-trade clause.Just hearing the joy Ozzie had for the city, it definitely helped, Fowler said. You look at Lou Brock and some of these other guys, this is a good organization.Fowler, who is married to Darya Aliya Fowler, a woman of Iranian descent, said he would embrace helping build bridges between communities in and around St. Louis.I wouldnt say its forced. Its just something God has blessed me with, to be able to walk in a room and get along with everybody. My parents are the same way, Fowler said. Youve got to look past everything and realize everybody is themselves, and youve got to be humble about it.Smith would like to see the Cardinals with three or four prominent black players instead of one, but he understands the changing demographics within the game. Last season, reserve outfielder Tommy Pham was the teams lone black player until pitcher Jerome Williams arrived late in the season. The Cardinals had an otherwise diverse roster with players of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, Colombian and South Korean descent.Its very important to have a player like Dexter. An organization has to start looking like its community, Smith said. If it doesnt look like its community, then when you look at the ballpark you dont see the community. Its got to be more inclusive. If you want more African-Americans at the ballpark, the imperative is to get African-American players. If you get them, and they go out and do their job every day and entertain people, youre probably going to get more people out at the ballpark. This is not rocket science.The heir to a team that Branch Rickey ran before he was hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke baseballs color barrier by signing Robinson, Mozeliak is aware of the Cardinals place in the community.Four of the teams 10 all-time WAR leaders are black, and three of those players -- Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith -- are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1964 Cardinals, in particular, helped reinforce the idea of integration when, in the World Series, they upset the New York Yankees -- still largely segregated under GM George Weiss -- with a team dominated by stellar black players such as Gibson, Brock, Bill White and Curt Flood. The Cardinals appeared in three more World Series in the 1980s, again behind largely African-American talent such as Smith, Willie McGee, Lonnie Smith, George Hendrick and Vince Coleman.Dexter Fowler has such a unique opportunity to really kind of build on that legacy, and were so proud of the Cardinals, who made not only a great decision on a player, but also in continuing to diversify and to keep inclusion at the forefront of their operation, said John Gaskin, spokesman for the St. Louis County NAACP.The Cardinals seem quietly confident they got the right man. If theyre right, his absence will hurt the rival Cubs. Hell continue to get on base at a high rate and hit the occasional home run. Hell stabilize their outfield and unclog base paths that seemed lined with molasses when the Cardinals were running.If it works out as well as they hope, hell also look around and embrace his new neighbors. 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The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. SEOUL, South Korea -- Badminton at the Rio Olympics will try to shake off multiple scandals and adapt to a rule change many consider an attempt to curb Chinese dominance.Seen as backyard fun by many Americans, the sport is serious business for millions in Asia and parts of Europe, where throngs of people pack stadiums to watch players who are household names.Its less popular in Brazil, and that has some players worried about whats in store for them.Those who tune in will see an appealing blend of power, speed and agility, with long rallies that can seem like video games as the shuttle whizzes back and forth across the net and players stretch like gymnasts to parry smashes that can reach speeds of well above 100 miles per hour.Heres a look at what to expect in Rio from a game named after a 19th century English dukes country house:---SCANDALSBadminton has been rocked by scandal in recent years and is hoping the Olympics will provide a chance to move on.At the 2012 games in London, two South Korean womens doubles teams along with a Chinese and an Indonesian team were disqualified for trying to lose early matches so they could get better draws in the knockout round.Two of the disgraced South Koreans, Kim Ha-na and Jeong Kyung-eun, made the Olympics team for Rio. Time has passed and Ive moved on and grown up, Kim said recently. Although I still have bad memories, I will never make the same mistake again.The current No. 1 mens singles player, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, served an eight-month ban for doping. Lee said he took an anti-inflammatory drug inadvertently, and a panel said he had been negligent, rather than intending to cheat.A gambling scandal, meanwhile, has hurt the chances of the recently improved Japanese mens team. Kento Momota, a young star who had been ranked No. 2 in the world, was banned from the Olympics after admitting to gambling at an illegal casino in Japan.---END OF CHINESE DOMINANCE?China won gold in all five badminton events in 2012, and many top Chinese will again be contenders.But competition in Rio is likely to be more open after an Olympic rule change that limits countries to two singles entrants in each event. Each country could previously enter three, something that benefited Chinnas deep field of talent.ddddddddddddEven without the change, however, the rest of the world has been gaining on China.The current top mens and womens singles players are non-Chinese -- Malaysias Lee Chong Wei and Carolina Marin, of Spain -- although both of the No. 2 and No. 3 players are Chinese.---THREEPEAT?Chinas Lin Dan, considered by many the greatest mens player of all time, will be going for his third consecutive singles gold.He won at home in Beijing in 2008 and again in London in 2012, both times against his top rival, and perhaps the second greatest player of his era, Malaysias Lee Chong Wei, who is now considered the top gold medal contender.Lin, currently ranked No. 3, is no longer the top-ranked player even in China, eclipsed by world champion Chen Long, the world No. 2.Both Lin and Lee are old by badminton standards: Lin is 32; Lee is 33.Still, Lin combines a powerful attack, agile defense and subtle net play, and many fans are hoping for a dramatic rematch between Lin and Lee.---VENUEBrazil is not a traditional badminton power, and there is some worry about fan support and the arenas layout.Lin Dan, used to huge, adoring crowds and dedicated badminton arenas, mentioned what he considered the venues small size after playing a test event there last year.Air drifts and currents are also worries when playing top-level badminton in a place thats not used to it. Drifts can play a major, detrimental part in a game by changing the direction and speed of the shuttle, which is conical, made of 16 goose feathers stuck to a leather-covered round cork, and weighs only about 5 grams.Major drift culprits include air conditioning and the opening and closing of doors and windows.To be fair, there were drift complaints even at the Olympics in England, where the modern version of the game was developed in the 19th century. To try to compensate for any drifts, players change ends during matches.---AP TV journalist Jungho Choi contributed from Seoul.---Foster Klug, APs bureau chief in Seoul, South Korea, is covering table tennis and badminton in Rio. Follow him at www.twitter/apklug ' ' '