Baseball in Finland

[Finnblue]

I decided to tell you more about baseball in here, instead of hiding my stories in Interference-thread.

So, Finnish Championship games:

Game 1 pictures

Game 2 pictures

(The man in uniform in this

picture

is representing sport called Finnish Rules Baseball

"Pesäpallo"

. That sport has some similarities with baseball. I shall tell you later about it)

As you can see, our playing facilities are (way) far from perfect, but we manage to do with these. Fields are dirt (read: gravel), no permanent mound, only one field has good backstop. The field we use in Tampere doesn't have any fences around it, others have at least some part of outfield bordered with fence.

Couple of years ago we still pitched from field level. That made our trips to international competitions hard, usually it took a game or two to get used to both pitching from the mound and hitting those pitches coming DOWN. So now we have built several artificial mounds to get the right kind of pitch movement.

More to come.

MS

[Finnblue]

Game 3 pictures

MS

[Finnblue]

And finally here's pictures from the deciding game, Espoo Expos won the Finnish Championships (SM = Suomen Mestaruus) by three games to one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/espooexpos/

[Umpire in Chief]

Great pics.

I do have a question?

Is the line in the pic below the foul line or out of play line?

Also I like the dugouts!

[Finnblue]

That's "out-of-play line". Foul line is ca. 30 ft left from it. I don't know whose idea was to take pics so twisted, my neck hurts when I try to look at them.

Unfortunately I had to work that day, so I wasn't able to be there - especially because my wife and me got a "For the Love of the Game" -throphy.

MS

[Finnblue]

Season's Greetings from the country of Santa Claus!

[MCLEOD36]

Baseball in Finland is like Hockey in Miami..... Merry Christmas to the boys across the pond.......John

PS: I cant insert my hockey photo.....

[Mr Umpire]

Great pics.

I do have a question?

Is the line in the pic below the foul line or out of play line?

Also I like the dugouts!

The photo is weird. I'll bet the players are on their toes in that dugout for foul balls. Are they at a baseball game or waiting on a Greyhound bus?

Merry Christmas to all!!

[Finnblue]

Baseball in Finland is like Hockey in Miami..... Merry Christmas to the boys across the pond.......John

PS: I cant insert my hockey photo.....

At least you can play hockey on ice in Miami, too. Baseball is played on all dirt fields here...

[Finnblue]

The photo is weird. I'll bet the players are on their toes in that dugout for foul balls. Are they at a baseball game or waiting on a Greyhound bus?

Merry Christmas to all!!

That's not a foul-line there but out-of-play-line far enough not to be scared by foul balls. And dug-outs are movable, used usually at soccer fields. It's still a baseball game we are playing. Kinda...

[NFUA_44]

Thanks for the Pics Finn, defenitley cool to see how the other side lives! Will certainly help me appreciate some of the fields that I really "hate" to go to!

Merry Christmas

Tom

[Finnblue]

There has been some changes here in Finland: City of Helsinki built a new multi-sport indoor facility that has full sized soccer field. Half of the time it is for soccer but "marginal" sports got also some turns in it, too. Baseball can be practiced there twice a week. City also installed permanent batting tunnel in there.

The problem with the field is the high quality astroturf; we train all winter there and spring brings us back on dirt... some change. But we are working on our first baseball diamond to Helsinki, too.

Pictures can be seen in my albums, I shall add more after Christmas.