Take me out to the Beisbol Game!

Central America is a land of fierce soccer rivalries. Nicaragua is slipping behind in the soccer stats because most of them are on the baseball field. Baseball has been popular here for over 100 years and growing all the time. Kids wear baseball hats and practice pitching in the street in the evenings. Every small town has a baseball diamond and games are played on weekends. We stopped at the game in nearby Las Salinas on Sunday to watch the local talent.

A few things were different than going to a game in the United States. 

*Instead of arriving in their brand new Hummers, players get to the field by bicycle, motorcycle, or horseback.

*The bullpen- a simple abandoned soccer goal in the outfield, outside the baseline- is not for warming up for pitching, but rather for the players to have wrestling matches and perform monkey bar routines.

*It is 100 degrees (38Celsius) and dusty. There are a few trees around the field, but the only real shade is the dugouts. This is taken over by fans, displacing the players to wander around while waiting for their turn to bat. 

*The players all wear complete, professional-looking, uniforms. Most of them don't match, but baseball is a sport where matching uniforms are not really required to tell which team is which in the midst of the action. 

*On the backs of the jerseys, the players may have their name, the name of a business, or the name of the town they play for. My favorite player, the catcher for Las Salinas, had "SHRIMP BASKET" in capitol letters across his shoulders.