The Olympic Stadium in London was converted for baseball purposes and turned into a diamond. Photo: Ondracek
Memories wake up. People in baseball jerseys walk through London. Caps from a wide variety of teams from North America can be identified. The sport, which is actually not very common in England, is talked about on the streets. There is a touch of USA in the air. Major League Baseball, MLB for short, is back in Great Britain’s metropolis.
For the second time since 2019, the world’s largest baseball league is hosting games on the European continent. And just like back then, the Olympic Stadium in the cosmopolitan city at the zero meridian is the scene of the spectacle. The event is taking place three years late – like so many other things, this is due to the corona pandemic. This time, the MLB has chosen the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals to bring the sport closer to the people. Four years ago it was the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
Two traditional teams as guests
Under the motto “Old Rivalry, new Grounds” the two duels will be held by two of the oldest baseball clubs in the world. It is difficult to say which of the two traditional teams has attracted more fans to London. The Cubs’ blue dominates at first, but the Cardinals’ red takes over on the way to the stadium. And arrived in Stratford in front of the arena of Premier League club West Ham United, the rivalry is celebrated in an equally humorous way. Nothing stands in the way of a baseball festival in blue and red.
During the games, the stands are well filled with around 55,000 spectators each, but the arena is not completely sold out. Nevertheless, the atmosphere is right. “It was a great experience. The greatest crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” enthuses Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras, who moved to the Mississippi from arch-rivals Chicago before the season. At the venue itself, MLB made some adjustments. First and foremost, the playing field was enlarged. “We turned the field around a bit. So we gained more space. This also means there is less empty space in the stands,” explains Maria O’Connor, Marketing Director of MLB Europe.
To transform the track and field arena into a baseball diamond, the organizers brought in 13,000 square meters of turf and 345 tons of clay. The most striking innovation for the spectators: Up to the center field boundary, the widest point of the field, it is 119.5 meters instead of 117.3 from four years ago. This change is also noticeable in the course of the game. While the first game in 2019 developed into a batting festival with 30 runs and both teams hit a total of ten home runs in both games, there were only three over the entire weekend in 2023.
The expansion has not gone unnoticed by the players either. “We were more than aware of that,” says Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbar after the second encounter on Sunday. St. Louis won this game 7:5 and thus got revenge for the 1:9 beating the night before. Home runs were only seen in the first game. All on the Chicago side.
Gloves for the Hall of Fame
Ian Happ wrote his name in the history books. The Cubs left fielder hammered the ball twice over the edge of the field. His batting gloves will be exhibited at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, USA. As on the field, the rival camps met each other quite amicably on both days. A few taunts here and there, the odd fan chant directed at opponents, but no animosity. People have come to celebrate a baseball festival. As familiar as one is used to from baseball games. And a big family, as becomes clear again in London, are baseball sympathizers in Europe anyway.
2023-06-26 20:04:40
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