Finnish Baseball

I had the opportunity to catch part of a Finnish baseball game (Pesäpallo). The game is played on an artificial surface and is the national sport of Finland. I found this to be a bit surprising given the Finn’s love for hockey. The game only vaguely resembles US baseball. The bases are laid out in a zig zag pattern with longer distances between bases occurring as you advance. 1st base is to the left. The pitcher tosses the ball in the air and that is just the start of the differences. The game was created here in Finland nearly 100 years ago. The crowd was animated and listening to the Finnish version of the YMCA song was interesting. The rules are quite complicated and they are covered elsewhere. If you get the chance you could watch a short video describing this sport.