Little League Baseball

Not in Finland! Baseball is so popular among the Finns that nearly 10% of the Finnish population are active participants in the game. All schoolchildren learn to play baseball at school. Thousands of boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 19 participate in organized baseball leading to an annual championship. The Finnish National Baseball Association is among the largest sports federations in Finland, with over 60,000 active athletes. At schools throughout the country it is the most popular game among girls.

For many years the assumption was made that baseball was derived from the British game of cricket. Today however, sport historians are re-evaluating this claim. Recent historical discoveries point to the fact that baseball resembles more the game brought to America by the early Polish settlers of Jamestown, Virginia (1609) known as "pilka palantowa". Zbigniew Stefanski in his "Pamietnik Handlowca" ("An Industrialist's Memoirs") of 1625, gives the facts of the Polish game and even names some of its players.

Two games, both played with bat and ball, both involving hitting, running, and catching the ball, both with their origins in traditional folk games. One originated in Upper Silesia and Opole District, and may have been transferred to the United States by Polish and German immigrants, where, some claim, it served as the inspiration t'or baseball. The other began as a game by country boys in old England, grew gradually into an organised sport with defined rules, and was exported to the British colonies.

It is a thrill for me to be involved in this project. As a Peace Corps Business Volunteer assigned to Kutno it is my job to help both the city and Little League to reach their objectives. Considering that what one side says and the other side hears may be completely different, I try to stress the importance of good communication to my Polish counterparts and share with them the American viewpoint.