Houston You Have a Problem.

[Paul6754]

Don't know if there are any Baseball fans out there or if Baseball is shown on tv in the UK. The Houston Astros (Last year's World Series Winners) are currently playing the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, it's best out of 7 and the Sox lead 3-1 with a game tonight in Houston.

 

The action has been terrific, exciting, dramatic with incredible athleticism on the field, all stuff not usually associated with baseball. The last two games have gone down to the last pitch. Tune in tonight if possible or set the DVR.

[Paul6754]

Another nail biter va Astros, Red Sox through to the World Series and will play LA Dodgers. First game at Fenway Park on Tuesday, cheapest ticket $655. Tickets on Ebay from ca $1000 to well into 5 figure, barmey.

 

I'll give it a miss and watch on the telly.

[Jacko51]

I don’t understand baseball.

[ClntonBoulton]

I don’t understand baseball.

 

Rounders really....and the Septic Tanks think cricket is boring! Was in NY in April and watched the Yankees just for the experience and .....nope, still don't understand it!

[RailwayRowdy]

Many years ago, Channel 4 here in the UK occasionally covered live U.S. baseball.

 

As I just like sport, I watched it to “give it a go”. What amazed me, was how slow the game actually was ! It made cricket look like my beloved Speedway it was that slow !

 

Also, don’t they play a ridiculous amount of games a season ? I seem to remember seeing League tables where they play 150+ games a year ! Or had I eaten too much cheese before bed ?

 

My daughter lives in Lakeland, Florida. They have a minor league baseball team, but apparently have some sort of tie up with the Professional Detroit Tigers. Perhaps some of our U.S. based contributors may be able to give me more info ? Unless it’s tennis, our Lesley shows little interest !

[Paul6754]

Baseball is a pretty simple game but like all sports the deeper you get into it the deeper the laws become. Many of the skills required for baseball are required for cricket, particularly hand/eye co-ordination. There are also some parallels with cricket, the fast and spin bowlers in cricket, the fast ball pitcher (often > 100mph) and the knuckle baller in baseball where the pitch is slower and the ball dances/wobbles through the air.

 

The 20:20 form of cricket is more akin to baseball. You see elegance in some of the players in baseball as in cricket, Manny Ramirez swinging the bat is akin to Barry Richards at the crease, Randy Johnson's pitching action compared to Michael Holding's bowling action and Mookie Betts in the outfield runs like oil down the side of a can and his throwing arm is unbelieveably good, every bit as good as Derek Randall's arm and he's better dressed!!!

 

There are 30 Major League Baseball teams divided up into two leagues, The American League and National League and each of them is divided up into three leagues, East, Central and West. I believe the format of the game is slightly different between the American and National Leagues.

 

The teams do play > 150 games per season mostly between the teams in the same league but also between leagues. The Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees fixture is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport, the games often involve a brawl between the whole teams when a batter gets hit by a pitch, the players come pouring out of the dug-outs to join in.

 

Baseball is know as "Americas Pastime", all kids, boys and girls play from around age 5 and they take it seriously as do the parents. Some of the kids once they get some size can throw the ball fast but with little control, it can get dangerous. At this age the helmets the kids wear are often bigger than them.

 

It's like all sports some of the games are incredible but some are like watching paint dry. The Houston Astros are the reigning World Series Champs and were considered the favs this season but were beaten by the Red Sox, so Sox fans are thinking this year is their year. John Henry who owns Liverpool owns the Red Sox.

[Jacko51]

When we were Boston a few years ago we did one of those city bus tours and went to the Red Sox stadium. There is a statue of Ted Williams outside and we were told this bizarre story about how his son had his dad's head cryogenically preserved. Only in America .... !!

[CambridgeDon]

Both my kids were lucky enough to play baseball in an Anglo-American Little League at the US Base at RAF Alconbury (where the U2 spy plane and A10 Tankbusters used to fly from in their day), which the Americans put on to build community relations. They had a whale of a time - the facilties were great, coaching good, and for the most part, they tried to inculcate the values of sportsmanship into the kids. They also had a way of building confidence in children, which was really good.

 

It was also graduated so that kids of all ages could play - T-Ball to begin (where the ball is rested on a T-shaped stand for kids too little to hit a pitched ball), Coach Pitch (where only the coach can pitch in order to ensure a flighted ball even the younger children could hit), Little League and Big League. So I went from someone who had no interest at all to someone who got really involved and the missus learned how to be a scorer (even more complicated than cricket). We could learn a lot from the way they run sport for children and young people.

 

We had great weekends with the kids who made lots of new friends and got access to the American fast food places. Great fun.

 

Baseball has its own culture. The games are slow but, in the best ones, wind up to a terrific climax where the bases are loaded and one good hit gets all the players round (three on the bases and the hitter). It gets pretty tense if it's a close game. It's pretty skilled too and even the best batters hit just one in three balls. So people go to relax, chill out, eat and chat with friends and family. Never been to a game stateside though, which must be a great evening out.

 

PS it will be close this year as the Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers: https://www.mlb.com/. Sometimes you can get freeview but I doubt whether the world series will be free.

[cheshirevaliant]

Baseball is a pretty simple game but like all sports the deeper you get into it the deeper the laws become. Many of the skills required for baseball are required for cricket, particularly hand/eye co-ordination. There are also some parallels with cricket, the fast and spin bowlers in cricket, the fast ball pitcher (often > 100mph) and the knuckle baller in baseball where the pitch is slower and the ball dances/wobbles through the air.

 

The 20:20 form of cricket is more akin to baseball. You see elegance in some of the players in baseball as in cricket, Manny Ramirez swinging the bat is akin to Barry Richards at the crease, Randy Johnson's pitching action compared to Michael Holding's bowling action and Mookie Betts in the outfield runs like oil down the side of a can and his throwing arm is unbelieveably good, every bit as good as Derek Randall's arm and he's better dressed!!!

 

There are 30 Major League Baseball teams divided up into two leagues, The American League and National League and each of them is divided up into three leagues, East, Central and West. I believe the format of the game is slightly different between the American and National Leagues.

 

The teams do play > 150 games per season mostly between the teams in the same league but also between leagues. The Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees fixture is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport, the games often involve a brawl between the whole teams when a batter gets hit by a pitch, the players come pouring out of the dug-outs to join in.

 

Baseball is know as "Americas Pastime", all kids, boys and girls play from around age 5 and they take it seriously as do the parents. Some of the kids once they get some size can throw the ball fast but with little control, it can get dangerous. At this age the helmets the kids wear are often bigger than them.

 

It's like all sports some of the games are incredible but some are like watching paint dry. The Houston Astros are the reigning World Series Champs and were considered the favs this season but were beaten by the Red Sox, so Sox fans are thinking this year is their year. John Henry who owns Liverpool owns the Red Sox.

 

Ed Smith, the current chief England cricket selector, wrote a very good book about the similarities and differences between cricket and baseball. He spent a bit of time with one of the Major League teams (NY Mets rings a bell) and wrote about his experiences. "Playing Hard Ball" it is called. Definitely recommended.

[Paul6754]

When we were Boston a few years ago we did one of those city bus tours and went to the Red Sox stadium. There is a statue of Ted Williams outside and we were told this bizarre story about how his son had his dad's head cryogenically preserved. Only in America .... !!

 

I've heard something along those lines, it wouldn't surprise me. If you flew out of Logan Airport you would have travelled through the Ted Williams Tunnel. Fenway Park is the oldest Ballpark in Major League Baseball.

 

I used to come to Boston on business in the 90's and one time was with a colleague who was a Derby fan. It was our last night and we were a bit worse for wear from Sam Adams and decided to visit Fenway Park, my colleague pronounced, "It's just like the Baseball ground", thought for a second then innocently slurred, "Bl**dy h*ll it is a Baseball ground", made me chuckle.

[Paul6754]

Both my kids were lucky enough to play baseball in an Anglo-American Little League at the US Base at RAF Alconbury (where the U2 spy plane and A10 Tankbusters used to fly from in their day), which the Americans put on to build community relations. They had a whale of a time - the facilties were great, coaching good, and for the most part, they tried to inculcate the values of sportsmanship into the kids. They also had a way of building confidence in children, which was really good.

 

It was also graduated so that kids of all ages could play - T-Ball to begin (where the ball is rested on a T-shaped stand for kids too little to hit a pitched ball), Coach Pitch (where only the coach can pitch in order to ensure a flighted ball even the younger children could hit), Little League and Big League. So I went from someone who had no interest at all to someone who got really involved and the missus learned how to be a scorer (even more complicated than cricket). We could learn a lot from the way they run sport for children and young people.

 

We had great weekends with the kids who made lots of new friends and got access to the American fast food places. Great fun.

 

Baseball has its own culture. The games are slow but, in the best ones, wind up to a terrific climax where the bases are loaded and one good hit gets all the players round (three on the bases and the hitter). It gets pretty tense if it's a close game. It's pretty skilled too and even the best batters hit just one in three balls. So people go to relax, chill out, eat and chat with friends and family. Never been to a game stateside though, which must be a great evening out.

 

PS it will be close this year as the Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers: https://www.mlb.com/. Sometimes you can get freeview but I doubt whether the world series will be free.

 

Seems like they replicated the American experience closely CD. Boston is a baseball town, Fenway Park had had something like 20 years completely sold out, some/much of it corporate.

 

Most towns in New England have a Little League parade before the start of the season in April to the local Baseball fields. All the kids who are playing and those that for whatever reason aren't don their uniforms and march through the town proceeded/followed by Police cars and Fire engines, most of the town comes out to line the route and applaud the kids. It's quite a spectacle.

[markpvfc]

I got into watching Baseball when it was shown on Channel 5 during the late 90s early 2000s. I used to book the week off work for the world series and stop up to watch it live, sometimes going bed after I would normally be getting up for work.

Never understand why Sky have never tried showing it, when I think they've shown all the other major US sports, perhaps it's the 162 game regular season that puts them off

[markpvfc]

Like American Football, Baseball is coming to London in the next year or so, I think they may have already confirmed it'll Yankees vs Red Sox.

[Paul6754]

After two games in Boston the Sox are winning 2 - 0, the Sox are relentless. Too cold for the Calis in Boston, next 3 games in LA in 80oF temps.

 

Game 1 and 2 highlights.

 

 

[NellyTheValiant]

The closest I ever got to watching baseball was passing by Wrigley Field on the 'El' when travelling from Evanston into Chicago. Would have loved to have taken in a game and possibly going to watch the Bears but never got one. I did get a glove and a Pirates cap when I went to Pittsburgh though.