SPORTS STORY
When Baseball and Cricket Legends Crossed Paths
First Ruth and Bradman met, then I brought my cricket bat to a diamond
Baseball was inspired by cricket — or was it the other way around. I had many discussions with my friend who is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. We could not reach a consensus.
Was there ever a moment when baseball and cricket inspired each other?
You bet! when Hall of Fame New York Yankee legend Babe Ruth, the most revered baseball player met Don Bradman, the best all-time cricket batsman.
Bradman’s records, particularly his batting average tower above all. Cricketers with modern equipment have not achieved what Bradman did in the ’30s and ’40s on .
I can imagine both gentlemen respected each other’s sporting achievements. They probably even joked about trying their hands on each other’s sport.
Back in the day, there was hardly any money in cricket so I doubt if Ruth would have wanted to switch to cricket. Don was tiny and I don’t think he would have managed a hit off a 100-mph Major League Baseball pitcher.
Remember, where a baseball batter is all power, a cricket batsman is about precision and finesse, at least in the .
I am not sure if Bradman faced up to a Yankee pitcher with his cricket bat or if Ruth tried hitting a fast bowler out of the park. I know I did.
In , as Bradman played his last game of cricket in England, Ruth lost his battle with cancer in New York.
When I landed in the US for college, I brought along my cricket equipment. Opportunities to play cricket on campus were limited — most of my American classmates kept mistaking cricket for croquet.
My first baseball game was at the Oriole Park at Camden Yards — where Baltimore Orioles were beaten by the Seattle Mariners.
I enjoyed the stadium’s atmosphere, but I did not understand baseball one bit.
A batter can bat multiple times in the same game?
You have to run every time you hit a ball?
What’s the deal with the foul ball?
By my sophomore year, I was itching to play cricket. One day I gathered my courage and cricket bat and headed towards the campus baseball field. Sure enough, some students were playing a friendly game of baseball.
I was met with a few astonishing glares.
Who was this little fellow holding a strange bat dressed like a hockey goalie?
Undeterred, I marched up and asked them if I could play. After some thought, and a gazillion questions about my equipment, I was allowed to play baseball with my cricket bat.
It was a fun game. Some were intrigued by my crouching cricketing stance as opposed to the high-elbow bat above shoulder baseball stance. In cricket, a ball generally bounces once before reaching the batter, so I was perplexed by the pitches whizzing past me.
The laughs and doubts were assuaged once I got a ball in the middle of my flat bat and hit it out of the park. I made some new friends that day and we began playing baseball cricket now and then.
Bradman visited the United States to garner some interest in cricket from the American audience — he failed. Bradman’s endeavor came full circle after 72 years when the cricket World Cup was held in the US this year.
As I cheered from the stands in one of the games in New York, I kept thinking of Ruth’s meeting with Bradman and my days of playing baseball with a cricket bat.
I am sure both Babe Ruth and Don Bradman were smiling above.
Fun Fact: The first-ever international game of cricket was held between the USA and Canada in New York in .
Thank you so much for reading. Do you have a memory where two semi-related sports crossed paths?
