Sauna is, of course, the top Finnish
way to relax.
But I just learned about pesäpallo,
a wildly popular major sport played in Finland. Some years ago I
visited a Finnish festival in Embarrass, Minnesota. During the
afternoon they played pesäpallo,
but I never took the time to watch. Now — I wish I had.
The name pesäpallo makes it
seem like baseball, but it’s entirely different — with a fast
pace, a zigzag pattern for base running in a vast pentagon-shaped
field. It’s clearly not baseball as we know it. In fact, Finns
apparently define our baseball as “the lukewarm version of
pesäpallo!”
To start with, the pitcher stands next
to the batter and the catcher is midway to second base, which is
sorta where a major league baseball’s first baseman might play.
Second base is out in a MLB right field. First base is about where
third base would be. Third base is where left field is.
The outfield in pesäpallo more
than doubles the size of a MLB outfield — an entire MLB field fits
into a pesäpallo infield! According to a Wall Street Journal
story, one player racked up 10.5 kilometers during a game.
To play, the pitcher tosses the ball
up, at least one meter above the batter’s head, psyching him with
an assortment of heights and locations.
The hitter’s team stands behind the
home plate area— to better heckle the opposing pitcher. Batters hit
nearly every pitch, so the four fielders are running all the time.
Four, yes, the left — and right —
shortstops, along with the left and right fielders. There aren’t
relief pitchers, but designated hitters are called “jokers” (like
a “wild card”). The game is played with two periods of four
innings each.
Pesäpallo is the second most
popular sport for boys, trailing only ice hockey. It’s the most
popular sport for girls and it’s cheaper to boot.
And it sounds like fun! Especially if
you can have a sauna afterwards.
Nikki
