Teaches baseball to school students in New Delhi.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: As cricket continues to find its footing in the US, one American is trying to establish a fan-base for baseball all the way in cricket-crazy India.
Despite how similar the sports are, countries generally get behind one or the other, rarely both. The US is starting to see a slow emergence in cricket’s popularity, due largely to the growing minority population that brings the sport with them from their respective homelands, but baseball is still considered the country’s national pastime.
Conversely, India has long had a love affair with cricket, idolizing the players on its national team and starting the Indian Premiere League, an association of city-affiliated cricket squads that mirrors the way the NFL, NBA, and MLB are set up here in the US.
Jackson Golden, a Northeastern University anthropology major in the school’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), is actively trying to develop a long-lasting and meaningful baseball initiative in New Delhi.
An undergraduate junior who plans to graduate next spring, Golden spent eight months in India on a co-op trip, according to News@Northeastern, which he self-financed as a way to do both academic and extra-curricular work. While there, he co-founded an organization called Grand Slam Baseball, which essentially teaches young children – both locally raised kids, but also one from nearby schools, such as the Janakpuri Government School – the basics of both understanding and playing baseball.
Why bring baseball to India? Because that’s where Golden is from. An American who grew up in New Delhi, Golden became a child of both worlds, one who grew up surrounded by cricket but still able to develop a love for baseball. In fact, he played catcher and second baseman for a local team while in school, before coming to Northeastern for his higher studies.
Now, Golden’s fledgling baseball operation has expanded, with several local and international baseball leagues keenly paying interest to see if there are any potential superstars hiding in the previously non-scouted land of India. Grand Slam Baseball has become such a hit (pun intended) that it’s even garnered the attention of Nike, which has pledged to volunteer apparel and baseball gear for the children.
Even Major League Baseball scouts are paying attention, according to a report by Headlines Today. And companies from baseball hotbeds like Korea and Japan are teaming up with their India-based counterparts to provide baseball opportunities for children in underprivileged neighborhoods.
Adding another amazing layer to this story is the upcoming release of Million Dollar Arm, based on the true story of a baseball agent (played in the film by Jon Hamm) who comes to India to find new talent after catching a game of cricket on television. Once in India, he creates the “Million Dollar Arm” reality TV show, which offers a huge chunk of money and a trip to the US for anyone who can throw a MLB-caliber pitch.
That story ended with the discovery of Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh, both of whom came to the US and were developed into Major League pitchers. Both eventually became the first men of Indian origin to play Major League Baseball in the history of the sport, signing deals with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
For now, Golden hopes to just establish a vocal and passionate baseball foundation in India, giving the sport to a whole new group of people who have never before had it. Although currently just in New Delhi, Golden would presumably like to expand Grand Slam Baseball to all major Indian metropolises, and maximize its potential to touch as many fans as possible.
Here in the US, the Major League Baseball season has just gotten underway, with under 20 games played thus far in a season of over 160 games. Last year, the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals for their 8th World Series pennant.
1 Comment
Thank you for the coverage, Deepak!
We’re very excited to unearth enormous potential in India’s young athletes and we hope you all can follow our story! Check us out at facebook.com/indiabaseball and get involved in the Indian Baseball movement!