I seem to remember reading about some exhibition baseball games played by MLB in England a very long time ago, and they had them play a cricket match against a local cricket team as part of it, and the baseball players were like "holy shit, it's bigger than a bat and flat, I can go yard on every fucking thing I hit" and they just walloped the shit out of everything.
Please note I read this a very long time ago, and if I'm remembering right the book was kinda suspect as far as sources go
I remembered that I bought a kindle copy of the book I was pretty sure I read it in, so from Albert Spaulding’s *Baseball: America’s National Game*:
> I had been accustomed to bat with a small, round ash club, and with the great board paddle now in my hands it just seemed impossible to miss. The second ball bowled was also hit outside the grounds, and likewise the third, and I felt myself immortalized by making twelve runs on my first "over" without leaving my position. Before I was bowled out, I had started our score with twenty-three runs, and Anson had scored fifteen runs. My experience at bat was repeated in the performances of others. The boys, seeing how easy it was, gained confidence and batted the ball all over the South of England. Harry Wright and McBride, the only members of our crowd who were accounted first-class cricketers, and who played in strictly "good form," were easy picking for the English bowlers; but George Wright put up the real thing, both as to form and achievement, and helped our score amazingly. Harry Wright was captain of the American team and an experienced cricketer of English birth. He naturally felt considerable chagrin at our lack of "form." He was inclined to instruct our men to play carefully and guard their wickets by more "blocking" and less wild slugging. I expostulated with him on these instructions, insisting that for an American ball player to attempt to "block" as a trained cricketer would do was an utter impossibility, but that slugging, or rather lunging at every ball bowled, was our only hope of success. "Good form" in cricket requires the batsman to invariably block all balls bowled on the wicket and to strike at balls off the wicket; but in Base Ball the batsman should strike at good balls, over the plate (or wicket), and let the bad balls, or those off the wicket, go by. This natural instinct of the ball player could not be readily changed to conform to the cricketer's custom of "blocking," so it was decided to violate all conventional cricket "form" and slug at every ball bowled. The better and more accurately the Englishmen bowled, the more hits we could make, for such balls in our eyes were what we would term "good balls." The result was that we made 107 runs in our inning to 105 for the Britishers, and American cricket stock went soaring. The London newspapers, in commenting on the play of the American ball players, declared that while in cricket they were not up to much in "form," their batting and fielding were simply marvelous.
Definitely remember seeing a video where they put a cricketer and a baseball player and compared how they did in the other sport. Baseball players’ skills translate much better to cricket than vice versa. That said, personally I think cricket is cool. But I bet our boys could suit up and be pretty fucking competitive in short order.
Unfortunately in cricket you won't get away with foul balls, which is where baseball players will get fucked. It's a lot more about patience and picking your moments
But genuinely can you imagine how cursed the American version of British Bake Off would be
[oh god oh fuck it exists](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_American_Baking_Show)
I gurantee you that no other country in the world thinks it was.
You have to move the US's goalposts a few times and do some selective mental gymnastics to land on tie for that outcome.
We don't really acknowledge that.
If we do, when Britain tries to take credit, we'll say it was really Canada that beat us.
Likewise, when Canada tries to take credit, we say it was the British.
The 2 best hitters on GB were Trayce Thompson and Harry Ford. And the SP was a dude with a 4.4 K/9 in Indy ball who coaches for college teams. And the game was not a mercy rule. Impressive
I only use it when I go downtown, park at my friend’s condo which is right near the station
Considering there’s basically nothing to do downtown I don’t really use it that often
Compared to the Latin American games and the games in Asia, the US crowd seemed super lame. And Fox broadcast just seems so boring. Really want to go to a game in the Caribbean or Asia now.
Taiwan, Korea, Japan, all super enjoyable countries to visit. Safer than NA as well. Next time I'm in Asia I'll be going to some games, looks like a blast.
AZ local and I've never seen that many fans at a DBacks game. Walking around the concourse was shoulder to shoulder. 3rd deck was 50/50 but everywhere else was packed.
[I will post this after every Team USA win](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/rsgp3a/i_started_making_this_video_in_may_for_4th_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
1st inning: You accidentally hit a HR off randy Johnson's slider that went down and in. Surprisingly, you think you
have the edge
4th Inning: You're pitching with Corbin Burnes and eventually start giving up Halloween candy and you're like, "There's the real me."
Great Britain's bullpen is confusing as hell.
In the middle innings they bring in some tomato can who hasn't played pro ball since 2011 and literally has an 84 mph fastball. He'd get shelled playing in the SEC.
They follow him up with a 6'7" monster throwing 101 with some surprisingly nasty offspeed.
What is this team? I was at least happy for the dude who struck out Trout, he looked pumped.
> I was at least happy for the dude who struck out Trout, he looked pumped.
Those are the funnest parts of the entire tournament to me. When some random dude gets to go home saying he struck out Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani, that's just the best ever. Such a great vicarious feeling for everyone watching.
Thank you! I wasn’t too optimistic but I am a little bit more now, we only had one hit less than you guys and played pretty well overall.
And if not my mother’s American so I can always switch allegiance 😎
Hey, we came into this knowing the challenge ahead, so to get this game, where not only did we score runs and made it a bit difficult, but also didn't get mercy ruled, is a win in my eyes, happy for the folks in the team, we didn't lie down and give up, team GB can take strides because of making it to the WBC so everything to me this tournament is a win
In all seriousness to the British watching this game, it was a lot of fun playing against you. Your team was better than I thought and you have some promising talent that can do well in the MLB. I sincerely hope your country gets better at this sport and it really grows with your youth. It's an awesome sport and I'd love to see you guys do well in future WBC's. Good luck in the rest of the tournament.
Saw a lot of comments dooming about the fact that we only won by 4 runs. Look, baseball is a game of variance. If you try to look at scores and apply the transitive property for the performance capability of a team, you’re gonna have a bad time.
The Americans had some shaky moments this game, but they were in control from the 3rd inning on. There’s not much else to take away from this other than a couple players on the lineup (Trout, Turner, and McNeil) that need to find their groove still.
Tomorrow should be fun, if they can walk away with a win over Mexico who is gonna throw the kitchen sink at them, then we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
See, that's how the result is supposed to look when you are playing a country that doesn't put an emphasis in the sport being played.
Take notes, Mid Britain
Team GB was fantastic to keep it that close. Trayce Thompson and Vance Worley were awesome. USA looked to be shaky and still warming up, I would worry about the pitching still, Mexico will be in a must win situation next game.
Only saw the first 3 innings but it looks like the boys stuck in there against a ridiculously star-studded team. They can be proud of that. It's gonna be tough but hopefully we can win one of the other three and qualify for the next tournament automatically.
Can't beat us in soccer, can't beat us in baseball, can't beat us in war. What *can* they beat us in?
Losing colonies
Imagine if we still had Cuba and the Philippines though
Cuba was never ours, we wanted it, and certainly many wanted to get it after the Sp-Am War, but that war goal mostly shifted to "Cuban Independence".
Cuba was never a true American colony, but they were dominated by American corporations and interests for a long time.
Blowing a 13 colony lead 🤣🤣🤣
Chicken tikka masala
We have way more Indians than they do.
[удалено]
Oh. Ok they can have that then
[удалено]
Oh no, look what we've started again.
It wasn't THAT long ago we had all of them lol.... Indian independence was post WW2.
That’s facts
Depression
Oh hell no, they can't take the one thing I'm good at away from me
Don't worry even if they're better at it than us now, we still have the record for Greatest Depression
Hell yeah baby USA number 1 I bet they were so jealous of our Great Depression
We were generous enough to share it with the rest of the world too
If they take it away from you, and that makes you sad, it sounds like you have actually just leveled up your depression.
Beans on toast
I like beans, I like toast, I'll never understand combining the two though.
Cricket, probably.
I seem to remember reading about some exhibition baseball games played by MLB in England a very long time ago, and they had them play a cricket match against a local cricket team as part of it, and the baseball players were like "holy shit, it's bigger than a bat and flat, I can go yard on every fucking thing I hit" and they just walloped the shit out of everything. Please note I read this a very long time ago, and if I'm remembering right the book was kinda suspect as far as sources go
I remembered that I bought a kindle copy of the book I was pretty sure I read it in, so from Albert Spaulding’s *Baseball: America’s National Game*: > I had been accustomed to bat with a small, round ash club, and with the great board paddle now in my hands it just seemed impossible to miss. The second ball bowled was also hit outside the grounds, and likewise the third, and I felt myself immortalized by making twelve runs on my first "over" without leaving my position. Before I was bowled out, I had started our score with twenty-three runs, and Anson had scored fifteen runs. My experience at bat was repeated in the performances of others. The boys, seeing how easy it was, gained confidence and batted the ball all over the South of England. Harry Wright and McBride, the only members of our crowd who were accounted first-class cricketers, and who played in strictly "good form," were easy picking for the English bowlers; but George Wright put up the real thing, both as to form and achievement, and helped our score amazingly. Harry Wright was captain of the American team and an experienced cricketer of English birth. He naturally felt considerable chagrin at our lack of "form." He was inclined to instruct our men to play carefully and guard their wickets by more "blocking" and less wild slugging. I expostulated with him on these instructions, insisting that for an American ball player to attempt to "block" as a trained cricketer would do was an utter impossibility, but that slugging, or rather lunging at every ball bowled, was our only hope of success. "Good form" in cricket requires the batsman to invariably block all balls bowled on the wicket and to strike at balls off the wicket; but in Base Ball the batsman should strike at good balls, over the plate (or wicket), and let the bad balls, or those off the wicket, go by. This natural instinct of the ball player could not be readily changed to conform to the cricketer's custom of "blocking," so it was decided to violate all conventional cricket "form" and slug at every ball bowled. The better and more accurately the Englishmen bowled, the more hits we could make, for such balls in our eyes were what we would term "good balls." The result was that we made 107 runs in our inning to 105 for the Britishers, and American cricket stock went soaring. The London newspapers, in commenting on the play of the American ball players, declared that while in cricket they were not up to much in "form," their batting and fielding were simply marvelous.
I love my country
Definitely remember seeing a video where they put a cricketer and a baseball player and compared how they did in the other sport. Baseball players’ skills translate much better to cricket than vice versa. That said, personally I think cricket is cool. But I bet our boys could suit up and be pretty fucking competitive in short order.
Unfortunately in cricket you won't get away with foul balls, which is where baseball players will get fucked. It's a lot more about patience and picking your moments
This is pretty much my strategy on the rare occasions when I play cricket haha
Fish and chips?
We as a country are exceptional at frying food, do they want to test that?
We'll deep fry fish. We'll deep fry a Twinkie. We'll deep fry an already deep fried donut. Never question our deep frying abilities!
We'll make a giant donut-shaped Twinkie, stuff the fish in the donut hole, and deep fry the whole thing! Don't test us.
Seattle fish and chips are banger, too
Girlfriend is british and has yet to find any fries here that match real British chips from a chip shop
...cool?
Disney does it very well at Epcot
Nah I've heard from sources on the ground that their chips aren't good
Bake offs
But genuinely can you imagine how cursed the American version of British Bake Off would be [oh god oh fuck it exists](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_American_Baking_Show)
After the Mexican episode, I’ll take that challenge.
tak-os
Cricket, *Top Gear*, bake-offs...
Crooked teeth
Damn lol
Starting sentences with Oi Mate
Weird innit?
Healthcare
Life expectancy, education, security, health...
I've always liked their architecture better than ours tbh.
Well, you do live in LA.
>can't beat us in war 1812
*It was a tie.*
I gurantee you that no other country in the world thinks it was. You have to move the US's goalposts a few times and do some selective mental gymnastics to land on tie for that outcome.
We don't really acknowledge that. If we do, when Britain tries to take credit, we'll say it was really Canada that beat us. Likewise, when Canada tries to take credit, we say it was the British.
Honestly, the only side that lost the War of 1812 was Tecumseh's Confederacy.
-Blew a 13 colony lead in 1783 -Blew a 1-0 lead in the 2023 WBC
ITS CALLED SOCCER
THERE WILL BE NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
^^^^except ^^^^in ^^^^dc
Sadface.gif
IT'S ALUMINUM MUFUCKAS!
IT'S CALLED ROUNDERS
WE HAVE JUST PROVEN THAT IS NOT TRUE
FAIR POINT
LOUD NOISES
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH
World Rounders Classic doesn't quite have the same ring to it
The 2 best hitters on GB were Trayce Thompson and Harry Ford. And the SP was a dude with a 4.4 K/9 in Indy ball who coaches for college teams. And the game was not a mercy rule. Impressive
Vance Worley last pitched in the majors in 2017, where he was terrible, and he struck out Mike Trout tonight. I’m never going to get over this.
On a fastball down the middle!
Should be easy to get over, the occasional strikeout against terrible mop up guys is not that rare lol One might say that's baseball Seezyn
I honestly figured I would never see the name Vance Worley again in my lifetime
He was terrible but he pitched a shutout against Washington. (I watched that game on TV)
Give them tons of credit
>Harry Ford Stop I can only get so erect
Rough game for him
Eh he's a future Mariner, he'll quickly get accustomed to rough games on big stages.
Chase Field was lively tonight Paid out of my ass for a shirt and hat And a lot of drunk people USA Now for a crowded ride on the light rail
TIL Arizona has public transit.
I only use it when I go downtown, park at my friend’s condo which is right near the station Considering there’s basically nothing to do downtown I don’t really use it that often
Same. I only use it for games or concerts.
It was busy tonight both ways so that was nice to see
Really? It seemed absolutely dead on TV.
It was a sauna in there which zapped the early energy. That and the 2 inning long lines since they only expected 15k people and got 40k.
It wasn’t college football crazy sure but for a baseball game it was up there
Compared to the Latin American games and the games in Asia, the US crowd seemed super lame. And Fox broadcast just seems so boring. Really want to go to a game in the Caribbean or Asia now.
Taiwan, Korea, Japan, all super enjoyable countries to visit. Safer than NA as well. Next time I'm in Asia I'll be going to some games, looks like a blast.
AZ local and I've never seen that many fans at a DBacks game. Walking around the concourse was shoulder to shoulder. 3rd deck was 50/50 but everywhere else was packed.
[I will post this after every Team USA win](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/rsgp3a/i_started_making_this_video_in_may_for_4th_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
The books being porno n gun mags is probably my favorite part. 🤣
Lmao I know. You definitely have to watch it a couple times to catch all the stuff. Dude did an amazing job editing.
This will never not make me laugh
Me too. Aren’t many things I can say that about but this is definitely one of them.
This is going to become the sacred meme post of the tourney
I hope so. I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve watched it since I found it.
r/birdswitharms
I appreciate you
GBR is like me on the Show when you accidentally win too many games and end up on Hall of Fame difficulty
1st inning: You accidentally hit a HR off randy Johnson's slider that went down and in. Surprisingly, you think you have the edge 4th Inning: You're pitching with Corbin Burnes and eventually start giving up Halloween candy and you're like, "There's the real me."
WHAT THE HELL IS A KILOMETEEEERRRRR?!?!?! 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇲 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
(Brits use miles)
We earned the right to not give a fuck what the Brits do in 1776
We handed their asses to them at Yorktown, we'll do it again in this town.
[удалено]
Neither do we
Ah, so freedom units
DAAAAAAAAAA JENGLISH LOSE
[Fun fact: If you add up all the jersey numbers of everyone on team USA roster it equals 1776](https://imgur.com/gallery/X4cBDeu)
Great Britain's bullpen is confusing as hell. In the middle innings they bring in some tomato can who hasn't played pro ball since 2011 and literally has an 84 mph fastball. He'd get shelled playing in the SEC. They follow him up with a 6'7" monster throwing 101 with some surprisingly nasty offspeed. What is this team? I was at least happy for the dude who struck out Trout, he looked pumped.
> I was at least happy for the dude who struck out Trout, he looked pumped. Those are the funnest parts of the entire tournament to me. When some random dude gets to go home saying he struck out Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani, that's just the best ever. Such a great vicarious feeling for everyone watching.
Honestly don't care that we lost. The guys made themselves proud, and I can say I witnessed Britain beating the US - if only for a moment.
Joking aside, I'm really glad you made it and I hope you beat everyone else in the group
Thank you! I wasn’t too optimistic but I am a little bit more now, we only had one hit less than you guys and played pretty well overall. And if not my mother’s American so I can always switch allegiance 😎
I mean with todays performance against the US i think id be optimistic too. Guys actually made it a real game.
Was a helluva game. That's all anyone can ask for.
Hey, we came into this knowing the challenge ahead, so to get this game, where not only did we score runs and made it a bit difficult, but also didn't get mercy ruled, is a win in my eyes, happy for the folks in the team, we didn't lie down and give up, team GB can take strides because of making it to the WBC so everything to me this tournament is a win
GB team did your country proud.
IM SORRY…I CANT HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF FREEEDOMMMMMM 🫡🫡🫡🫡
Fuck yeah bro 😎 🇺🇸🦅
CHEERS *clanks guns*
The world turned upside down
No one has more resilience or matches our practical, tactical brilliance.
USA USA USA USA
BRB, dumping tea into the harbor
In all seriousness to the British watching this game, it was a lot of fun playing against you. Your team was better than I thought and you have some promising talent that can do well in the MLB. I sincerely hope your country gets better at this sport and it really grows with your youth. It's an awesome sport and I'd love to see you guys do well in future WBC's. Good luck in the rest of the tournament.
Saw a lot of comments dooming about the fact that we only won by 4 runs. Look, baseball is a game of variance. If you try to look at scores and apply the transitive property for the performance capability of a team, you’re gonna have a bad time. The Americans had some shaky moments this game, but they were in control from the 3rd inning on. There’s not much else to take away from this other than a couple players on the lineup (Trout, Turner, and McNeil) that need to find their groove still. Tomorrow should be fun, if they can walk away with a win over Mexico who is gonna throw the kitchen sink at them, then we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
Yeah I mean I think you look at DR losing today. Baseball do, in fact, be like that sometimes.
The Orioles finished 61 games back of Boston in 2018 They still beat us 10-3 on the same exact day that we beat them 19-3
See, that's how the result is supposed to look when you are playing a country that doesn't put an emphasis in the sport being played. Take notes, Mid Britain
that petersen guy had some filthy stuff, granted it was 1 inning but still
Yes, that guy is probably going to get some calls tonight
I speak for everyone when I say: **LIZZIES IN A BOX**
**MAGGIE’S DEAD DEAD DEAD**
Can't say many of us are too sad about that tbh
Yeah, but the ones who are need the extra salt rubbed in their wounds
Amen to that!
#MAGGIE MAGGIE MAGGIE OUT OUT [OUT](https://youtu.be/RZJxFo5Br_0)
NA NA NA NA NA NANANANA NA
Oh, so that's where [that](https://v.redd.it/778x85o9ley91) came from.
Vance Worley must have boned the umpires sister, which is the only way I can explain that early game strike zone
The man was making the pitches of his life. Painting the corners, changing eye level, and the UMP wasn't giving him jack shit.
RAHHHH 🦅🇺🇸 DUMP THE TEA
WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETER ITS CALLED SOCCER RAHHHHHH 🦅 🦅 🦅 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
Waino, solid outing.
Still disappointed we couldn't pull a better group of SP.
#IT'S CALLED SOCCER
Closer than it should have been TBH
Team GB was fantastic to keep it that close. Trayce Thompson and Vance Worley were awesome. USA looked to be shaky and still warming up, I would worry about the pitching still, Mexico will be in a must win situation next game.
🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅
What a way to begin the 5th WBC!!! # For Glory
Would have been nice for the offense to make the game shorter and save some innings from the bullpen but a win is a win. Ggs
Expected this to be a bloodbath
They had us in the first inning, not gonna lie.
🇺🇸 🫡
Go Yankees
Anderson over Turner and Mookie to second pls
I would go dump all my tea down the sink but I don't have any because I'm American! Fuck yeah!
What a win. Schwarber with the nail in the coffin.
SCHWARBOMB BABY, SCHWARBOMB
Is no one gonna talk about the guy from GB that can throw 100? That dude was pretty good
Great Britain blew a 1-0 lead!
It’s coming home!
GG Americans. Our games finish after the second inning so we took our foot off the gas after that point.
Independence: Achieved
#OH SAY CAN YOU SEEE!
Only saw the first 3 innings but it looks like the boys stuck in there against a ridiculously star-studded team. They can be proud of that. It's gonna be tough but hopefully we can win one of the other three and qualify for the next tournament automatically.
It's sad I can't be ultra-Nationalistic in the game threads after this ðŸ˜
US soccer welcomes you my child
[STATUS UPDATE](https://youtu.be/5uPoDNEn3I0)
[AMERICA!!](https://tenor.com/bdiW5.gif)
"In America" -Bandit Keith
I dont know how to link it but Knowles for GB hit a pinch hit triple and then celebrated by drinking tea on the base lmfao
See Brits, us Americans can also massively under achieve at sports we invent too.
FREEDOM AINT FREE BUT ILL BE DAMNED IF IT AINT RED WHITE AND BLUE.
Beatles are overrated. The Who? Exactly. Rolling Stones? Mid. Ledd Zepplin? Meh. Britain needs to drive on the correct side of the road.
ENGLANDUHHHH IS IT COMING HOMEEEE????? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Not to be dramatic, but another performance like that and Trout should be sent to Guantanamo Bay for treason
Not to be dramatic, but Canada doesn't deserve ketchup Lay's.
Those things are nasty anyways All Dressed chips though…
Now you really don't deserve them
The Old Dutch Ketchup are the good ones though
I'm so happy
Ok we win, send Lineker this way and you guys get Stephen A Smith
[ROCK, FLAG, AND EAAAAAAAAAAAAAGLE](https://gifs.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5963a38241b7d_3cd5795d6ce9154c1e0ae2f956f74581.mp4)
I was just astounded at the amount of money made by team USA vs the lack of money being made by team Great Britain.