Early baseball in Finland/Game 1
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| Spread of baseball: Home -> Finland -> Early baseball in Finland/Game 1 |
| Location | Finland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980 |
| Country | Finland |
| Was NY rules baseball | Yes |
| Played by | Locals |
After spending sometime in Boston, Finnish Professor in 1922 melded American baseball with traditional Finnish ballgames, confecting the game of "pesapallo," which gained subsequent popularity in Finland. Pesapallo features, among other variations, zig-zag base lines, placing the ball in play with a sort high lob, and "wounded" status as an intermediate fate between "out" and "safe" . . . [you thought this Knick rule was dead?] fair balls hit out of park are just singles.
This game is same as delaying the entry of modern baseball in Finland: "needless to say, this national game has surely hindered the [local] development of America's pastime. Although Finland's American Baseball Federation was formed in 1980 in large part due to efforts from its Swedish neighbors, less than 200 people were playing the American game in 2006"
Josh Chetwynd, Baseball in Europe (McFarland, 2008), page 202.
