Baseball in the streets

You can play the game anywhere and I have.

The game was initially supposed to be a pastoral set outdoors to allow young people to fill their lungs with clean air and benefit their health. Poppycock ! The games most ardent roots come from playing in downtown Brooklyn, or San Juan, or east LA or downtown Detroit or across from the drug store in Boston.  Side of a hill or in a deserted schoolyard.

In Latin America, the  difficulties stem from what equipment is available. No gloves, or tattered ones, fields are make shift, no grass, mostly rocks, hard scrabble grey and bumpy.

The highest baseball tournament in Latin America is the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe), with participants including the winners of the Winter Leagues in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
According to some, baseball is today more popular in Latin America than in the United States. It is no secret that USA, Japan and Latin America are top baseball countries but it seems that recently the game has lost some of its popularity in the United States.

This never happened in Latin America, where people are still very passionate about the game.

There is absolutely no doubt that baseball is one of the most popular sports in Latin America, especially in the Caribbean region. There are many possible reasons for this. First of all, sporting competition has always been a big thing in Latin America. Just think about the popularity of soccer, among other sports. When it comes to baseball, it seems that this game is perceived as a perfect way for a poor buy from a humble environment to rise above his status and become a star.

Baseball players in Latin America are highly regarded and often idolized by the fans, maybe even more than their colleagues in the USA. Winter League stars are regarded as national heroes and if they are lucky enough to reach the American major league (which many of them actually do), they are in for something of a cult status. This probably has much to do with the fact that so many people in Latin America struggle with poverty and they find much consolation in the fact that some of them can actually reach success and a better life.

In addition to that, baseball is more suitable for kids in dense urban areas to play. It does not require vast fields and can be played in the street. If you are poor, you only need a small field and some rocks to mark the bases. If you don’t have a proper baseball, you can use a tennis ball or some other sort of ball. Not having proper equipment never seems to stop kids in Latin America from playing.

Also, baseball does not require perfect or at least specific physical shape and condition, like football and basketball, which is one of the possible reasons for the popularity of baseball in Latin America.
Compared to Americans, the Latinos seem to care more about baseball, its rules, seasons and players. Baseball is not a sport with simple rules and enjoying it to the fullest often requires a great deal of knowledge and focus. Latin American fans are believed by many to be the most dedicated and knowledgeable when it comes to baseball. They also expect a lot from their players, who need to go all in in each and every game, or else the fans may actually turn their backs on them. This, of course, increases the quality of the players and of the game.

 American kids would sneak out of the orphanages into empty parks. Here the kids begin the ritual of deciding who has first ups.