Submitted by contextual_somebody t3_z50do8 in todayilearned
I was going talk about rounders too as I played it loads at school. I don’t really know that there’s much difference in the rules between that and baseball either.
Exactly. Rounders was the precursor to these sports. Just as Private school “rugby” became America/Canadian/Australian/association football.
Your missing up to 10.000 in the title. Top flight football in England during the same period was averaging mid 20,000 spectators.
It may have rivaled soccer but never got near as popular as football
This was also the time period in which the USA finished third in the World Cup.
I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but 10,000 spectators is very few compared to most professional football and cricket games of the period.
I don’t have a bubble or a dog in this fight. Baseball was rapidly becoming very popular and in some places it rivaled Soccer and the two sports shared a pitch.
West Ham hosted Baseball at the Olympics because of the Hammers’ history as one of the most successful baseball clubs in England.
Interestingly, for a long time the world record for a crowd at a game of baseball was held by the MCG in Australia. I believe that baseball was a demonstration sport at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and a huge crowd flooded the MCG to watch. As that stadium was bigger than most US baseball stadiums for a few decades, it held the record for some time.
Probably because Rounders was it's parent sport.
Derby county used to play at the baseball ground (1895-1997)
Wow, that's amazing.
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Wake me when fuckball takes off.
What's with the downvotes? Sheesh, you people are cranky. Sticks out of asses and set down on the desk, please.
Why would they bother with baseball. The US doesn’t really invite other countries to participate in its “world championships”*
*Maybe Canada once in a while.
Baseball is honestly one of our purest exports... Almost all of our allies are or have at least tried it. Look at Japan and Australia, Germany is picking it up.
And then there's Cuba.... if only the Yankees had signed Fidel...
Edit: Went and googled. That Castro story is a myth. Still, Cuba's love of the game has had an interesting impact on U.S.-Cuban relations...
I know. It’s very popular in Latin America and Southeast Asia. I was simply making a joke that the WORLD Series is just a US championship
Ok but what about the World Baseball Classic?
WBC
The Netherlands is currently ranked 5th in the world rankings. Italy is ranked 11th and Germany, 17th.
There is a baseball World Cup. Because something isn’t well known where you live, it might still exist.
Globally, It’s about as popular as Rugby.
Baseball is one of the most popular sports on earth with more fans than Rugby or Golf. There are a few international events, including the quadrennial World Baseball Classic. Japan holds the most titles.
Sidenote, The Netherlands currently holds the fifth spot on the global rankings.
Sidenote #2. Your outlook is almost stereotypically American.
I'd be willing to bet it's because they learned about how popular baseball was in America and had to swap up what they were doing.
Sorta like how they had to completely change their language because it sounded too French. Yea, modern English is further from the OG English than American English. Which is wild considering how much we've bastardized it.
Probably because the English like to keep things simple to understand.
If baseball is hard to understand for you, cricket will give you "forgot to study for the test and showed up naked" nightmares.
And cricket isn't particularly complicated.
What with all of its 2 bases and total lack of baserunning...
You realise that baseball is just simplified cricket, right?
But rugby and cricket are national sports, in addition to football?
kreiger-69 t1_ixu9gsf wrote
Everyone who went to a school with a field in the British countries have played rounders(The precursor to baseball)