Finnish people participate in a fair number of typical sports; there are many great hockey players, F1 drivers, and soccer players from Finland. Still, the country’s national sport is one that no one has heard of: pesäpallo, or Finnish baseball.
At first glance, pesäpallo (nicknamed pesis) appears to be a rip-off of American baseball, and it is. The game draws from both traditional European ball-and-bat games and baseball. The key difference in pesis is that instead of the ball being pitched horizontally toward the batter, it’s pitched vertically. The batter and pitcher stand across from each other around the “pitching plate,” which is essentially home base, and the pitcher throws the ball up directly above the plate.
While it seems like a small change between the two games, the nature of the pitch makes all the difference. Instead of the skill required to hit and pitch in American baseball, pesis centers around fielding strategy. Players bat in a specific order, sending the fastest runners first, the most skilled hitters second, and finishing with more powerful hitters to get the initial runners home. A colored fan of signs is used to signal when the players should move bases, large patches of colored dirt that chart a zig-zag through the field instead of the well-known diamond.
Pesis is a dramatic sport—slides are made headfirst, almost all good catches are diving, and the uniforms are fantastically bright. So, naturally, I initially saw the sport on Instagram. While it hasn’t yet reached showstopping fame, the professional pesäpallo league has an account (@superpesis), where they post highlights and clips from games. But while most catching highlights follow the same routine as baseball, some are even more spectacular. Pesis games are often played outside, and instead of a stadium setup, there are no outer walls. If a ball bounces before it goes out of bounds, it’s a fair ball. Pesis players will chase the ball down into a creek, out onto the concrete surrounding the field, or anywhere else.
Despite the quality highlights, there aren’t many pesäpallo players who have reached Google-able levels of fame. The only apparent king of modern pesäpallo is Henry Puputti, who has been playing in the professional league for twenty-six years. At forty-two years old, he has medaled in sixteen Finnish Championships and appeared in eighteen East-West matches (similar to All-Star games). Puputti would, in any other sport, be a star. But even with the number of logos and brands stitched onto their uniforms, pesis truly is not on the global stage. It’s only popular in Nordic countries or countries with large Nordic populations.
And, while the game appears ridiculous at first glance (and is certainly not winning any popularity awards), I enjoy watching clips that pop up on my feed. The simplicity of the sport, coupled with the somewhat ridiculous nature of the highlight clips, makes the sport perfect to watch as an outsider. And that quickly becomes clear when you read the comment section of any highlight reel. People make jokes about the silly nature of the field, wonder how the game works, and compliment the impressive plays. To me, it seems like the Finns picked their national sport well and are waiting for the world to catch on.