Baseball in London

Baseball just isn’t on the majority of the UK’s radar. I’ve never seen a game and know nothing about it; except i do recognise those two team names. They usually hold events in Regent Street for big ‘US’ centric events happening in the UK. I hope it’s on UK TV as it would be interesting to watch. I know a lot of US fans travel here to watch the NFL games at Wembley Stadium.

I'm afraid baseball looses out to rounders in the UK and that's usually played in schools:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounders

Since Cricket is accepted baseball should find an audience. Nothing like their appreciation for the NFL though.

Prior to the Second World War there was a significant semi-professional baseball league in the UK, particularly in the North of England, with the bigger games such as Lancashire v Yorkshire attended by around ten thousand, plus coverage on the BBC. The British team beat the American one in the 1938 Amateur World Series. It never returned after the war.

There was an even earlier league where Baseball was associated with football teams - Aston Villa and Derby County for instance. The earliest known reference to baseball is 1755 - in Surrey.

"Since Cricket is accepted baseball should find an audience."

Well, not sure about that, my wife plays Stoolball which is the game that Cricket (and Baseball allegedly) evolved from and I've found that virtually nobody outside of West Sussex, Surrey or Hampshire has ever heard of it:
https://www.stoolball.org.uk/rules/what-is-stoolball/

Baseball was actually based somewhat on Rounders not Cricket.

From the Stoolball website:
"It is the origin of baseball and perhaps cricket too, and is mentioned in Shakespeare’s ‘The Two Noble Kinsmen’."

My husband is going to those games. I would have loved to go with him but someone needs to stay home and take our son to his baseball games.

I've actually seen a lot of men in London wearing the NY Yankees ball cap. Of course when I ask if they are a Yankees fan they say no. It's more due to all the rappers wearing them.

Love to see the reactions if the games lasted for 6 hrs, it is the Sox vs. the (*)ankees after all. Any way, go Sox!

I suspect 90% of those attending will either be American/Canadian expats and fans from the Big Apple/Bean Town traveling across the pond specifically to see the match.

I'd be curious what the percentages will be of the audience as far as Americans vs English. (Of course I realize there will be other nationalities there, too.) But regardless, it was extremely difficult to get tickets. We were up at 3:50am CST preparing to buy during presale and never got tickets. Ticketmaster's site was overloaded and we were barely able to even move through the process, and later in the day, it said all price points (except he ridiculously pricey tickets) weren't available. Luckily they must have held back tickets and we got up at 3:50am yet again three days later for the general sale and were able to get tickets for the 30th. There's a FB group called "MLB London Fan Group", and there's a large amount of British people very active on the page. Even if a majority of the UK isn't interested in baseball, clearly this is going to be a huge moneymaker. The tickets are being scalped (touted :) ) starting at $160 on Stubhub (we got ours for about $90 each). The FB group has frequent posts for UK based groups, i.e. UKMets, MLBMeetUpsUK, Boston Red Sox Fans of the UK, etc. So there's definitely a niche there. Even if a majority of the attendees are American, London is going to make boatloads of money from the tourists. Win win!

You maybe surprised.

I was stunned in 2013 when I attended the 49ers vs Jaguars football game at Wembley Stadium. 90,000 people in attendance with vast majority being British. I had no clue how popular American football had become in the U.K.

Given the prices of those tickets, I am amazed that the games are sold out. Clearly the fans want to wear their Yankee caps at a Yankee game! I guess rappers have no interest in the Red Sox brand.

I suspect 90% of those attending will either be American/Canadian
expats and fans from the Big Apple/Bean Town traveling across the pond
specifically to see the match.

Not this Yankee girl. The cost of the tickets were insane! LOL

They had tickets starting at 30£. Those were hard to get but we scored 60£ tickets. But I guess “insane” is a relative term. We’ve spent more than that on stateside tickets. So this wasn’t a big deal for us!

yup, myself and two friends are headed over there, tix to the sunday game, go sox!

Those were hard to get but we scored 60£ tickets. But I guess “insane”
is a relative term.

Yes it is relative. We pay $5-$25 for Yankee tickets. At £60, even with the current exchange rate that favors the USD wonderfully, the amount is $150 per couple FOR A BALLGAME. Yes, for us that's insane. LOL

You answered a question I didn’t even ask, Continental. After I sent my response I was like “she lives in NYC! How much is a Yankees game!?” Lol. I’m also jealous at the deals you can get out of JFK to get across the pond!
Skunklet, what section are you guys sitting in? We’re in 245. My husband is also a die hard Sox fan. This was a huge deal for us to score tickets!

You answered a question I didn’t even ask, Continental. After I sent
my response I was like “she lives in NYC! How much is a Yankees
game!?” Lol. I’m also jealous at the deals you can get out of JFK to
get across the pond!

The competition at JFK makes deals very possible with the exception of the high tourist season in the summer. Unless there are personal reasons like an event, we avoid summer travel overseas. It's more fun to go in the autumn and spring when culture is in high season like ballets, plays, operas, concerts. Yankee games can have off-the-charts-more-than-our-monthly-rent ticket prices. Beyond insane. We sit in the upper deck behind home plate for the chessboard view and go on weeknights when prices are affordable for us (under $20). We love the $5 nights!!

Y'all are lucky - Yankees/Red Sox is the best rivalry in baseball. Be glad you didn't get a series between Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins

Amy - sorry, just seeing this! We are in 218 row 64. Spent more than we wanted, but at least we're going! :)

That sounds like fun, Continental! I wish we lived near an MLB stadium so we could take advantage of cheap tickets like that! We usually avoid Europe in the height of summer, too. We always go in September. Of course, because of the games, we didn't have a choice.
Yes Skunklet, we're just excited to get the chance to go! It will be a blast!
ROFLOL!!!!!!!!! HeronLaw!!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear from the both of you how you enjoyed the game!

Will do! .............

Just to report back.... The game was great. It seemed like a good mix of both Americans and Brits. And other nationalities! I thought the American themed food/candy/beer was a great touch. It seemed to be a success!

We are St. Louis Cardinals fans and they are playing our rivals the cubbies In June 2020. We sure want to go! Any hints on how y’all got tixs for yanks and red socks.

Yankees vs Red Sox - too bad only one team can lose. 😐

@kim, contact the Cardinals' office and see if they will be offering any special packages for fans.

@Kim - I was up in December at 5 am for 4 mornings trying to get tix during multiple pre sales. Finally got Tickets on the 4th day.

Cricket bores me to tears but then I tried watching baseball and that took the boredom threshold to another level! How can something be so boring and yet so popular?

The reason I find American Football so boring is the constant stop/start nature of the game. From t'internet.... An average professional American football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes. That's not enjoyable, that's simply boring.

Forty years ago (egad!), MAD Magazine came up with a humorous suggestion that the game be reinvented to spur more action, and renamed “Basebrawl.” To help get more hits and runs, the new game would have the pitcher, batter, and catcher all on the same team, on the field at once, so there’d be no attempt to strike out the batter, or to throw a runner out at Home Plate. And runners would be encouraged to carry their bat with them, instead of dropping it after hitting the ball, and using the bat to freely whack opponents. Good thing that’s not actually part of the game, but the phrase “playing hardball” means someone in real life is being as tough as necessary to get done what they want.

Now boring . . . That would be poker games, which are being shown on American sports channels.

"The reason I find American Football so boring is the constant stop/start nature of the game. "

Also the fact that it's called "football" but they hardly kick the ball.

The National Football League figured out long ago how to break up the action to maximize profits ... TV commercial breaks, pauses, and Halftime which just happen to provide spectators an opportunity to buy high priced snack foods and watery lager. Athletes ready to run their next play sometimes have to stand around on the field, until they’re given to “go-ahead” when the round of TV ads are finished, and the network’s ready to resume broadcasting the action.

There was a lot more “foot” back in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The game has changed a lot; no more leather helmets, goalposts were moved farther apart a long time ago, passing has become a big part of most teams’ offensive strategy, and (remember this is all about profit) there are more and more teams now.

So when will the UK send some Rounders players or Cricketeers over to the USA for a spectacle?

I think a lot of the popularity of US football has more to do with gambling than sport. Maybe that's what's drawing interest in the UK.

@Kim, same thing as skunklet. Except we're in central time zone and had to get up at 4am. LOL. Oh! Be sure to follow MLB London and watch for when they open up registration. (If it isn't already letting people register.) That way you will get emails with info on ticket sale dates and any necessary codes. I joined the FB group (not sure if it was an official MLB page, but there were thousands on it) so I constantly got info from others, too. We probably would have been able to get tickets to both games between the two of us, but I misunderstood the message I got when I tried to purchase (in my frenzied state) and didn't realize that I simply had to call my credit card to authorize the purchase. So we lost the tickets for one of the games. I think if we'd waited, we could have gotten seats on Stubhub really close to game time for less. But since we were having to plan such an expensive trip around the game, it wasn't worth the gamble. We wanted tickets "in hand" before we purchased air. Also, another trick.... As soon as they announced the dates of the game, I booked our hotel. I found hotels that had reasonable refundable rates/flexible dates. I didn't know our exact dates of travel, so I guessed. Then after playing with airfare and figuring out the best dates to fly for the best price, I firmed up the dates with the hotel. But my daily rate had already been locked in... We got a great hotel at a reasonable rate....

I contacted my ticket sales rep about a month ago. So far no info is out yet. We are the home team. He said he would let me know when he hears something. I also researched info about this past June tickets sales. Sites said tickets went on sale end of nov last year for season ticket holders and 1st of dec for general public sales. I signed up for info on two sites.

Now the other dilemma is if we get tickets, I want to add on RS tour of villages of so England but need to sign up before end of November for the early booking discount. If no tickets, guess we will transfer to a different tour that I had originally planned for 2020. But all may change depending when my youngest son gets married. Arrggh Lol!

I am a planner and this is killing me! 🙂

So when will the UK send some Rounders players or Cricketeers over to the USA for a spectacle?

Because I doubt anyone will be interested. Besides, no-one over the age of 14 plays rounders.

20/20 cricket is much faster than the traditional game, as JC says, rounders is played by schoolchildren.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty20

That must have been great fun to go to one of the games. It was an odd two game series as it looked like extended BP with record-breaking offense.

The Yankees won both games! Go Yankees! ⚾️

Kim, sounds like we're so alike when it comes to travel planning! I hated not being able to make definitive plans until we knew we had tickets!

| | So when will the UK send some Rounders players or Cricketeers over to the USA for a spectacle?

Because I doubt anyone will be interested. Besides, no-one over the age of 14 plays rounders.

Agreed. Perhaps we should send over the (bronze medal) netball team. If you want to see deadly slow watch netball.

We may not have taken the World Cup in football, but we did take the Cricket World Cup - and most of the games were very exciting and the finals and semifinals were all nail biters.

Not much rounders. I'm not even sure that many schools play it since the playing fields have all been sold off.

No, to be honest I didn't. All the walk and stop, everybody stay away drives me nuts. I'm afraid stop and start isn't much fun for me. That's why American football bores me.