Pesäpallo [pesæpɑlːo] (Swedish: Boboll, also referred to as "Finnish baseball") is a fast-moving ball sport that's quite often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other countries, such as Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, and Northern Ontario in Canada (Both Australia and Northern Ontario have high Finnish and Scandinavian populations). Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the BALL ( Biochemical Algorithms Library) is a C++ library containing common algorithms used in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Territorial evolution Those areas which formed part of New France in the pays d'en haut, essentially the watersheds of the Ottawa River, Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well The game is similar to brännboll, rounders, baseball and lapta. Brännboll (pronounced) is a game similar to Rounders, Baseball, lapta and Pesäpallo played on Amateur level throughout Sweden Rounders ( Irish: cluiche corr) is a Sport played between two teams each alternating between batting and fielding Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each Lapta (лапта is a Russian Ball game, similar to Brännboll, Rounders, Baseball, and Pesäpallo.
Pesäpallo was developed and refined by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala, who based it on baseball and some local games, around 1910–1920. Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala ( January 5 1888 &ndash May 20 1981) was the inventor of Pesäpallo, the Finnish variant Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each The rules have remained the same since, aside from some fine-tuning in the 1990s by the Pesäpalloliitto, the governing pesäpallo federation in Finland. The basic structure of the game is identical to baseball's. Pesäpallo has 3 out-bases and a homebase. Players use a bat to hit the ball out to catchers, then move from base to base trying to arrive before the ball.
Pesäpallo was a demonstration sport at the 1952 Summer Olympics, held in Helsinki, Finland. A demonstration sport is a sport which is played in order to promote itself most commonly during the Olympic Games, but also at other sporting events The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland Helsinki (in Finnish;) or Helsingfors (in Swedish;) is the Capital and largest city of Finland. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe.
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Differences
The more significant differences from baseball are:
- The back line on the fly counts as a foul ball. In Baseball, a foul ball is a batted ball that is not a Foul tip, and that passes out of the playing field in flight while over foul
- A batter's box is removed and the home plate serves as a pitching plate, which is round with a diameter of 0. In Baseball, Softball, and similar sports and games the batter's box is the place where the batter stands when ready to receive a pitch 6 m (23 in).
- Pitches are lifted straight upwards from above the pitching plate, and the batter hits the ball when it drops down. There is no catcher; the ball hitting the pitching plate is a miss.
- The strike zone is rather different, the ball is good if it was lifted at least one meter (3. Strike Zone is a Star Trek The Next Generation novel by Peter David. 2 ft) above the heads and it hits the pitching plate.
- Walking requires fewer invalid pitches. A base on balls ( BB) is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in Baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire
- Catching a ball in flight is not an out, but forces all runners not on a base to return to home base (this is sometimes called a "haava", lit. In Baseball, the rules state that a batted ball is considered In flight when it has not yet touched any object other than a fielder or his equipment In Baseball, an out occurs when the defensive or fielding, team effects any of a number of different events and the umpire rules a batter "a wound" or simply "koppi", "a catch").
- The batter is not required to run after hitting the ball on his first or second strike.
- The bases are not in a diamond shape, the players have to 'zig zag' the court.
Players
The team playing the defensive half has nine players in the field. The pitcher is positioned in the home base. A catcher plays in the infield on the side of the second base. Each of the three bases has its baseman and an additional stopper playing close to the base. Two fielders cover the outfield.
The team playing the offensive half has nine batters and three additional batters known as jokers. The term "joker" refers to a wild card rather than a jester. Whereas ordinary batters must bat in a pre-designated batting order, the joker batters are allowed to breach the batting order.
Fast runners are usually positioned in the front of the batting order, after which a player who specializes in switching players (called runners) between bases. After that comes a player specializing in homing runners. The jokers are a batting joker (specializes in force play scoring (all bases have runners)), a switching joker (specializes in switching runners between bases), and a runner joker (specializes in advancing in the field).
Both teams have a captain who tries to beat the other team's captain in the draw of choice which determines which team gets to choose whether it will want to start in the offensive or the defensive half.
Rules
The game is overseen by an Umpire-in-chief who is assisted by a plate umpire, a 2nd base umpire, 3rd base umpire, and a Backline umpire.
The two teams play in pesäpallo court which has 3 field bases and a home base. During the offensive inning, the team is batting and during the defensive inning the team is catching, pitching and trying to Out the other team's runners. Each of the batters bats the ball and tries to advance in the field before the fielders get the ball to the next base.
A team is formed by up to two managers and up to 12 players. Nine players are allowed to be fielders in a single defensive inning. In a single offensive inning 9 players can participate in batting and 3 work as jokers. During an offensive inning a team can use each of the 3 jokers once in a batting round.
One inning has been played, after both teams have played a defensive and an offensive inning. In official pesäpallo games 2 periods of 4 innings are played. The team that has scored most runs during the period, wins the period. A period can also result in a draw. Change of innings takes place when the offensive team has gotten 3 outs or when two runs haven't been scored at the time when the player having started the offensive inning gets his/her turn at the bat and the team has used all its jokers.
If, after two periods, the game is at draw, a super inning is played. If the game still after the super inning is at draw, a scoring contest is used to resolve the game. In this a runner is positioned at the 3rd base and a batter tries to home the runner.
Equipment
Helmet
Each player is required to wear a helmet when playing in an offensive inning. If a player sets at bat without a helmet an out can be marked for the team. The pitcher and the outfielders are not required to wear a helmet, but other fielders need to wear helmets. The helmet must be approved by PPL (Pesäpalloliitto).
Helmets are not used in the school or in informal settings.
Glove
The glove is used to ease catching the ball when playing a defensive inning. The glove used in pesäpallo differs from the one used in baseball both in characteristics and in appearance. The glove is made of leather although some manufacturers use different kinds of synthetic fibers on the back side. The inside of the glove is always made of thick leather and the main differences between gloves lie in the amount and quality of paddings, the thickness of the leather, the size of the glove and its shaping.
The ball is caught into the glove's cup between the thumb and the index finger. Sometimes, however, the ball hits the palm and a properly designed glove can prevent injuries.
Other devices to catch the ball are not allowed.
Bat
The bat is a round, tapered cylinder. Previously the bats used in pesäpallo were made of wood. These were fairly brittle and did not last very long when used to hit forcefully a fairly heavy ball. Nowadays, wooden bats are only used in children's games and the bats used in adult's games are made of a mixture of glass fibres and carbon fibres. This mixture creates not only sufficient strength but also has proven to be durable. Top players use 2-5 bats during a season. The bat has to be approved by Pesäpalloliitto. The only manufacturer still producing approved bats is Karhu. Previously also Exel produced composite bats. Exel plc is a British based logistics company Its headquarters are in Bracknell, Berkshire, to the west of London.
The biggest differences between bats lie in the weight, center of gravity, flexibility and length. The maximum length of the bat is 100 centimeters. When using a children's ball the maximum length of the bat is 90 centimeters.
The weight of the bat is considered to be its most important property. A typical bat used in Superpesis-league weights between 580 and 620 grams. The heaviest bats weight more than 650 grams but these are only used by strong players like batting jokers. Also lighter bats exists. For example junior players typically use bats that weight less than 400 grams. The usual diameter for the bat's hitting point is 56 millimeters.
Spikes
The use of spikes is not required to play pesäpallo. However, they do help the player substantially in rapid situations. Especially when playing on modern artificial grass fields. Artificial turf, or synthetic turf, is a man-made surface manufactured from synthetic materials made to look like natural Grass. The artificial grass differs from e. g. what is used in football fields. Football is the word given to a number of similar Team sports all of which involve (to varying degrees kicking a Ball with the foot in an attempt to score a The material used in Pesäpallo is a mixture of sand and grass.
There are only a few manufacturers producing spikes designed for pesäpallo and many players use normal running spikes. Some shoes have also spikes at the heel but mostly spikes are positioned under the ball of the foot. Usually there are 7 spikes in a shoe and they are 3-15 millimeters long. When playing on artificial turf the maximum length of spikes is 6 millimeters.
Ball
Pesäpallo is only played with balls approved by Pesäpalloliitto. The circumference of the ball has to be 21. 60-22. 20 centimeters. The weight of the ball varies by series:
- Men's ball 160-165 grams
- Women's ball 135-140 grams
- Junior ball 95-100 grams
The ball is yellow and balls approved by Pesäpalloliitto have a stamp. The balls to a game are provided by the home team. In the beginning of 2005 season a rule governing the ball's resiliency properties. Resilience is the property of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then upon unloading to have this energy recovered The values are:
- for a men's ball
- a new ball's resiliency percentage (at 130 km/h) must be between 44. 5-45. 5 %.
- a used ball's (70 times/130 km/h) resiliency percentage must be over 40 %.
- for a women's ball
- a new ball's resiliency percentage (at 130 km/h) must be between 44. 5-46 %.
- a used ball's (100 times/130 km/h) resiliency percentage must be over 43 %.
- for a kid's ball
- a new ball's resiliency percentage (at 130 km/h) must be between 46-49 %.
- a used ball's (140 times/130 km/h) resiliency percentage must be over 45 %.
Competing
The Finnish championship series is known as Superpesis. Both men and women compete in their own series.
A World Cup is played internationally. In 2006 the fifth World Cup was played in Munich, Germany. Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Participant countries included Australia, Finland, Germany and Sweden. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation.
External links
- Pesäpalloliitto
- Superpesis
- Pesäpallo World Cup 2006
- Internet Introduction to Finnish Baseball/Pesäpallo
- German Pesäpallo League
- Official international rules of pesäpallo
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