Imagine a sport that has the tactical skill of American football, the passion of baseball and a pace faster than any bat and ball sport you have ever seen. Fortunately you don’t need to imagine such a sport, because one already exists. For almost 100 years, pesäpallo has been played in Finland with the rest of world knowing nothing about it. Information on pesäpallo has been unheard of in English, with very little in depth analysis being available in Finnish too. With the Polttolinja website, that is all about to change as Finland’s most undersold masterpiece is becoming Finland’s hottest sporting export. Over the last few years, the growth of pesäpallo in Asia has skyrocketed, with the sport now forming part of the syllabus in schools and equipment being manufactured in the Indian subcontinent.
What is pesäpallo
Pesäpallo is a sport that originates in Finland, but has roots and links to old Northern European sports and baseball. Pesäpallo is often referred to as pesis or Finnish baseball; however the rules and style of play are very different to America’s pastime. Pesäpallo is credited as being invented by Lauri “Tahko” Pihkala, where the aim of the game being similar to that of baseball: the offense tries to score by hitting the ball successfully and running through the bases, while the defense tries to prevent the runners from advancing and putting the batter and runners out. Whilst this core is consistent with baseball, there are a number of differences to the two games.
As the sport became established in Finland, a national competition was established, which has gone through a number of formats before its current iteration. At present pesapällo in Finland is played professionally in a tiered league format, with the top division being Superpesis, which is played equally between men’s and women’s leagues. This change came about in 1989 and the second tier is Ykköspesis. The tiered system allows for a promotion and relegation system, which has its or seen many different formats to determine who will go up and down each year. Superpesis and Ykköspesis both have a regular season and a post-season, which determines who will be promoted and relegated, as well as who will take gold, silver or bronze in Superpesis.
Internationally, pesäpallo has been very much under the radar and still remains a mystery to most outside of Finland. In the 1952 Olympic Games, hosted by Helsinki, pesapällo was a demonstration sport where a game was paid on 31st July between the Finnish Baseball Federation and the Finnish Worker’s Sports Federation. Lauri Pihkali was honoured by throwing a ceremonial first pitch in front of a massive crowd of 19,309 people. The game was commentated in Finnish, Swedish and English but took a more leisurely pace than that seen in the national competition owing to the nature being an “exhibition” game. The game was reduced to just an hours playing time and ended 8-4 in favour of the Finnish Baseball Federation. Today, Pesäpallo is played around the world in various countries including Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia and Canada as well as informally elsewhere. Pesäpallo is a niche sport and very little information is available in English on the internet; however this blog aims to spread the popularity and accessibility of this sport.
Pesäpallo v Baseball
Some of Pesäpallo’s roots are borrowed from baseball, but there are a number of significant differences that would confuse those familiar with America’s pastime. A list of differences include:
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Pesäpallo |
Baseball |
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Vertical pitching – the pitcher stands next to the batter and must throw the ball up over 1m above home plate |
Horizontal pitching – the pitcher is on a mound 18.39m (60’ 6”) from home plate and the ball is thrown horizontally to the batter |
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Batters – the 9 players who have allocated fielding positions will bat at a position in the lineup, but in every inning the team my insert a “joker” to bat anywhere in the lineup. There are 3 jokers on the team lineup and a maximum of 3 jokers can be used in an inning |
Batters – traditionally the 9 players who have allocated fielding positions are the only players who can bat. The exception is where the designated hitter rule is used, where the pitcher is taken out of the lineup in place of a batter. The designated hitter has a fixed position in the lineup. The only other technical exception is where a pinch hitter takes the place of another player in the lineup (substitution) |
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Walks – if the bases are empty, 1 bad pitch (that doesn’t fall on the home plate) will advance the batter to first. If there is one or more runners on the bases, 2 bad pitches will advance the lead runner to the next base |
Walks – if the pitcher throws 4 balls (bad pitches) the batter progresses to first base |
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Hits – the batter has 3 strikes/attempts to reach first base. The batter may advance on any of them, but will be out if they don’t reach first base safely before they run out of strikes |
Hits – if the batter hits the ball and it doesn’t go behind the foul lines the batter must run |
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Home runs – if the batter goes beyond the backfield line (or any wall etc) without hitting the ground it is called a strike and the batter or runners cannot advance. A kunniajuoksu (home run) is the same as a triple in baseball, I.e the batter registers a fair hit and reaches third base. In such a circumstance the batter scores a run but remains at third base, therefore there is a chance for the batter to come home and score off another batters hit |
Home runs – a batter can score a run if they hit the ball beyond the backfield line (or any wall etc) without hitting the ground. A batter can also score a home run by rounding the bases in order and reaching home off their hit (in-the-park home run) |
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Uniforms – one thing that will be confusing to the eye, for those familiar with baseball uniforms, is that in Superpesis uniforms are covered with various sponsors. Those familiar with football (soccer) or Rugby (league and union) will be familiar with sponsorship on uniforms |
Uniforms – there are no sponsors on uniforms and generally speaking are muted in colour |
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Outs – being caught is not classed as being out, rather any runners advancing (including the batter) is classed as “wounded” and is removed from the field of play |
If a ball is caught, even if it is outside of the field of play, the batter is put out and runners must return to the base they started at if they were attempting to advance. Once the catch is made however the runner may attempt to advance normally |
Following Pesäpallo
There has never been a better time to follow pesäpallo internationally and there is now a whole host of information, videos, podcasts and more widely available. Check out some of the links on this website for more information or even download the Superpesis Roundup Podcast: the English language podcast that covers everything pesäpallo.
