And it's one, two, three strikes you're out. . .

Today I played Finnish baseball.  If you know me at all, you know that's stepping outside my comfort zone.  Sports and I have a long term enmity, that only slightly improved in Colombia, and pretty much only in relation to soccer.

But, learning the game was part of the social agenda, and who wants to sit at home by themselves on a sunny Friday afternoon anyway?  So, off to the park I went.

Baseball is one of the few sports that I know enough of the rules to that I can actually play the game, so I was feeling confident that at least it wouldn't be too confusing.  I was in for a surprise.  Chisako, a student from Japan, was an exchange student here before. "The balls are like tennis balls" she told us.  We all looked at her skeptically.  "Ok, maybe not", she back pedaled.  When we got to the field though, we found out she was right- the balls look a lot like tennis balls, heavier though, and without the bounce.  The catcher's mitt is different too.  We warmed up with a bit of throwing and catching, nothing too surprising there, but then, as our instructor got us ready to start batting, the first really big change caught me by surprise.  The pitcher stands right next to the batting mound and pitches straight up.  You hit the ball on it's way back down.  It sounds particularly easy, and it is easier than regular pitching in a baseball game, but the complexity of timing the horizontal movement of the bat with the vertical movement of the ball was a bit beyond my eye-hand coordination (or mental physics ability)

With everyone more or less comfortable with batting, the instructor walked us over to the field and proceeded to explain how you have 3 swings at the ball, when you hit it you run, blah, blah, blah. . . I thought I knew what was coming. But no.  Drop the bat and run clockwise.  As in, towards third base, if this were American baseball.  All my preconceived notions of "baseball" were shaken.  And from there, it only got stranger.  At that point I was anticipating a reverse baseball diamond, but instead, you zig-zag up the field, then across the field, and finally home.

The Finnish baseball field

Sure I was probably going to run the wrong direction when it was my turn to bat, I tried to erase all my preconceived notions of baseball and remind myself that this was, after all, a different game.  In the outfield we learned of yet another difference from American baseball- if you catch the ball before it's touched the ground, the player gets sent back, but he doesn't get an out for his team.  As the other team hit, we learned more rules as we went along- the hitter isn't really happy with how far he hit the ball on his first swing?  Fine, he still has 2 more swings left.  Missed the ball all three times?  Run anyway and hope the pitcher doesn't get you out before you make first base.

Eventually I made it up to bat.  I frowned and rolled my eyes a bit as I stepped up to the plate.  Just another chance to show off my incompetence when it comes to sports.  But you know what?  Despite my initial lack of enthusiasm (and complete lack of self confidence), I actually had fun, scored some runs for my team, and learned something new about Finland.

Running home