Inside Pesäpallo, Finland's Answer to Baseball

Pesäpallo, a baseball-inspired sport with a few key differences, has been played in Finland since the 1920's. It features a zig-zag base pattern and a completely bonkers way of pitching that must be seen to be believed.

More from the Wall Street Journal:

[yesterdaysrose]

The video is slightly inaccurate that in unlike American baseball, we don't do Random Organ Solos. I really wish we did, because that would be *totally awesome*.

[Mistermies]

Obviously hitting the ball is easier in Pesäpallo, but the pitcher doesn't just lob the ball for the batter.
The pitcher can:
- control the height of the pitch to make batting harder
- position the pitch on the plate, so the ball doesn't just go straight up&down
- give a curve to the serve
- make an illegal serve on purpose, as the team inside often aim for a flying start from the base
Pitcher is by far the most important player in pesäpallo. He/she has to know the best shots of key batter and also play against the coach/game manager of the oppising team to deny these flying starts from bases.

[Elmex_]

This game requires very good game knowledge / sense from the players. The batter has a lot of responsibility :D

[AlexColberg]

I saw a couple of pesäpallo games in Finland, and one ritual I thought was cool was that whenever a player crossed home plate they would pump one of their arms in the air.

[kimnice]

Americans should scout for young talented finnish baseball players. I mean if they can throw heavier ball at 85-90mph without "charging" (like pitchers do in american baseball)..they haven't even trained for that because in finnish baseball you don't have time to charge your throws.

[gb]

I like how the only person who could be hit by the bat is not wearing head protector. Very Finnish👍

[kingjj]

who else looked this up after jukka from the dudesons said it

[thediamonddust]

Why do they pitch like they do? Dangerously close to the person teeing the ball up.

[edfdsfsddsgfdsgsd]

This is actually more sport than Baseball.

[dvotzmusiccompilationsandc]

We should disband the mlb and replace it with a pesapallo league

[mspointsfre]

Maybe it’s just me but I think it’s a bit more entertaining to watch guys have to hit 100mph fastballs than have it lobbed in front of them like little league practice.

[rao]

Home runs ? Kinda wack without home runs

[alexcombs]

I would put up any MLB player against of these “athletes” and see who comes out on top. The dude actually called baseball boring and then made that? Wow.

[anthonyhenderson]

Instead of taking baseball as is and becoming better at it (like the Japanese, Dominicans, Venezuelans, and Cubans) they decided to bastardize it into something that no one would enjoy. That was a missed opportunity Finland.

[theflashingscotsman]

Looks like a waste of time, just like American baseball.