Baseball without Borders: The International Pastime

by George Gmelch (Editor)

A televised baseball game from Puerto Rico, Japan, or even Cuba might look a lot like the North American game. Beneath the outward similarities, however—the uniforms and equipment and basic rules—there is usually a very different history and culture influencing the nuances of the sport. These differences are what interest the authors of Baseball without Borders , a book about America's national pastime going global and undergoing instructive, entertaining, and sometimes curious changes in the process. The contributors, leading authorities on baseball in the fourteen nations under consideration, look at how the game was imported—how it took hold and developed, how it is organized, played, and followed—and what these local and regional trends and features say about the sport's place in particular cultures. Organized by region—Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific—and written by journalists, historians, anthropologists, and English professors, these original essays reflect diverse perspectives and range across a refreshingly wide array of from high school baseball in Japan and Little League in Taiwan to fan behavior in Cuba and the politics of baseball in China and Korea.

Genres: Baseball, Nonfiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Craig McGraw · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book gives a history of 14 countries around the globe but it some what dated since it was printed in 2006.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

for a research paper for my folklore & nationalism class. an interesting collection of essays about baseball as it is played in various countries all over the globe. some are better written than others, some are more detailed than others, but each writer's passion for the game is evident. fun. and a good general overview of how the game has adapted in different historical and cultural circumstances. the essays are long enough to give some history, but too short to do more than scratch the surface.

[Javier Alaniz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of essays on baseball in a dozen or so different countries.
While the subject matter is one I find personally interesting, most of the writers are just reporting history, or their own first hand accounts of the local baseball "scene".
Tim Wendel's essay "Behind the Curtain" stands out sharply for its evocative imagery and compelling subject. In it he investigates whether or not Fidel Castro was a legitimate baseball prospect. The only 5 star essay in a 2 star book, and the only one a non-baseball lover would enjoy.