Why a quintessentially American game became a global obsession
From the Caribbean to East Asia, baseball is woven into national identity. The story of how is genuinely fascinating.
Baseball is often called America's pastime, but some of its most passionate homes are thousands of miles away, and that spread is one of sport's better stories.
A game that travels on connection
Wherever baseball took root, the Caribbean, Japan, Korea, Latin America, it arrived through people: sailors, students, workers, soldiers. It then grew its own local flavour, styles and heroes, until it stopped feeling imported and started feeling native.
Béisbol Report tells the Latin American chapter especially well, see how the region fell for the game, from Cuba to the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
What that means for a new fan
It means there's almost always a league, a story and a community near you, and that following baseball connects you to a surprisingly global culture, not just one country's.