Baseball in India

History

Baseball was played in Manipur as early as World War II when the US Army Air Force flew supplies to China over the Himalayas, known as "Flying the Hump", and the locals learned the game from the troops stationed there.[1]

The Amateur Baseball Federation of India was founded in 1983 and India's first national baseball championship occurred in 1985, taking place in New Delhi. That same year, it joined both the International Baseball Federation along with the Baseball Federation of Asia. In 2006, MLB International sent Envoy coaches to India to train local coaches and players in partnership with First Pitch, an India-based grass-roots baseball organisation.[2][3]

The first ballpark in India was opened on 5 February 2017 at a farmhouse on the Gurgaon-Delhi border by Grand Slam Baseball and recognised by WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.[4] Built by social entrepreneur and baseball enthusiast Raunaq Sahni, India's first and only regulation-size baseball ground is named Field of Dreams in homage to the 1989 American film of the same name.[5][4] Sahni had set up Grand Slam Baseball in 2013 as a grass-roots sports initiative to help organise tournaments and coaching programmes for youths across the country. Before the birth of Grand Slam Baseball, the sport was mostly played among expats and among government school players. Grand Slam Baseball changed this by starting pay-for-play programmes at elite private schools in Delhi-NCR while also sponsoring an equal amount of government school players.[6][7][8]

In July 2019, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced plans to open an office in New Delhi to promote the growth of baseball in India. The league also announced to plans to stream one regular season game a week on Facebook in India.[9] MLB also stated that it would relaunch Million Dollar Arm holding tryouts in India between September and December 2019. MLB also announced the launch of First Pitch, a grassroots program for primary school children from 300 schools across New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai to learn baseball through workshops by MLB coaches.[10]

Million Dollar Arm

In 2007, struggling MLB agent J.B. Bernstein decided to start a competition in India titled Million Dollar Arm, a talent search for the best throwing arms in India. He gained his inspiration after watching ESPN's broadcast of a cricket match featuring bowlers that bowled at speeds as high as 150 km/h and realising that India was one of the largest untapped environments for baseball. Despite being inspired by cricketers, the two winners were 19-year-old javelin throwers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. Although he did not reach the million-dollar mark, Singh won $1,00,000 for the fastest delivery of the contest and Patel won $5,000. They were also invited to the United States to train and try out for Major League Baseball teams. Eventually, both pitchers were signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation and became the first two Indians to play professional baseball.

Patel ended up having a successful 2009 season for Pirates' Gulf Coast League team, finishing with a 1–0 record and a 1.42 ERA in 6⅓ innings. His 2010 season was not successful with his ERA going up to 8.59 in 7⅓ innings. He was released after the season and returned to India where he now teaches baseball and has prepared kids for subsequent seasons of Million Dollar Arm.

The screen rights to their story were purchased in 2009, and in 2014 Disney released the film titled Million Dollar Arm. It made $3.9 crore off a budget of $2.5 crore.

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References
  1. "Gaining Ground | European Baseball & Softball Magazine/Home". European Baseball & Softball Magazine/Home. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  2. "MLB International Envoy Program to send coaches to India". 17 July 2006. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  3. Rajghattal, Chidanand (5 November 2006). "It's just not cricket: US exports baseball to India". Times of India. TNN.
  4. "WBSC President welcomes India's first-ever Baseball Stadium". WBSC. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  5. Kohli, Sharad (6 February 2017). "Field of Dreams: Giving wings to India's baseball aspirations". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  6. Gupta, Shivani (9 February 2017). "Major League Baseball coaches train kids in India's first pro-baseball field in Delhi". India Today. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  7. Amsan, Andrew (12 November 2017). "Chasing a Home Run: India takes its first steps towards baseball". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  8. Anand, Aswati (16 November 2017). "Batter Up! Bringing Baseball to a Billion". Little India: Overseas Indian, NRI, Asian Indian, Indian American. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  9. "MLB to open New Delhi office in bid to gain India foothold". Reuters. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  10. Bagga, Bhrigu (2 July 2019). "MLB and Delhi Capitals look to spread baseball in India". Sportstar. The Hindu Group.
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