Superpesis roundup

In Kitee its not just the stadium that is in being rebuilt, as the Coronavirus impacts on their player lineup Photograph from Kitee Facebook (c) Kiteen Pallo -90 Part 2 of this series focuses on Kankaanpää, Kempele and Kitee. Both Kempele and Kitee have had their lineups effected by the financial and practical fallout from the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and both need to rethink their strategies for 2020. Kankaanpään Maila Kankaanpää had a disappointing end to 2019, dropping out of contention for a playoff spot and eventually dropping to 10th place. Manu Haukkala escapes the sinking Alajärvi, who were relegated to Ykköspesis in 2019. Haukkala is a relatively young player, (22) with only 2 full seasons in Superpesis. Haukkala is still a developing player and time will tell if this signing will make much of an impact on KaMa’s chances in 2020. In the Halli-SM group games Haukkala batted 1st and had 10 successful hits, including 8 to 1st base. His best performance was against 2019’s le...

Anniversary thanks Today marks the anniversary for my first post on this blog. It was 29th June 2019 that my first game review between Joensuu and Sotkamo was published. Since then the blog has had a huge following from a great number of countries around the world. As well as that, i have also started the Superpesis Roundup Twitter account and more recently the first ever podcast about pesäpallo in English. During the last year I have got to know some fantastic people and it has been a real privilege to talk to them. I want to thank my co-hosts for the podcast Mikko Pirhonen and Ron Bronson for their support and the great conversations that we have on the best sport in the world. I also want to give a special thanks to 2 people for supporting and engaging with me from the start of my Twitter journey (when the blog became more widely available) - Antti Haapasalo and Juha Puhtimäki. Antti has been an excellent ambassador for expanding the word of pesäpallo and does a fantastic job a...

Hyvinkää have had a turbulent time since the pandemic has struck. How will they shape up in 2020 Photograph from Hyvinkää Facebook (c) Hyvinkään Tahko 2019 In this series of posts I will look at the players who have changed teams since last season and consider which teams are better or worse off coming into the 2020 season. In this first post I look at the current player lists for Hyvinkää, IPV and Joensuu. Hyvinkään Tahko Tahko added some strong players in Tuikka and Vikström in the offseason, with the pair coming off the back of a successful season with Sotkamo. In the Halli-SM group games, Tuikka played the same role as he had done for Sotkamo in 2019, batting 5th and playing at first base. Vikström on the other hand has seen a significant change in his role, fielding at second base (rather than a joker) and batting 3rd. Both players had solid outings in the groups games and it was going to be interesting to see if their addition to Tahko’s lineup would have brought greater success...

Cricket Finland introduce Joensuu players to a straight bat Photograph from Cricket Finland Facebook (c) Cricket Finland 2020 As the start of the men’s Superpesis season is a few weeks away, there is another bat and ball sport in Finland whose top league has already started - Cricket. With a significant rise in interest this year, including larger than normal viewing figures and exposure to a vas number of foreign markets, Superpesis may soon face a similar fate. Whilst i would love to explore the realities of what this has meant for Cricket Finland, this is a topic perhaps best for a discussion rather than opinion piece. What I have decided to talk about however is the benefits of having a grounding and understanding of both sports . It is often said that “travel broadens the mind” and enriches a person’s viewpoint on the world. In my view (and in my experience) the same can be said with sport: in looking at other similar sports we can in fact understand our own sport much better. W...

Emblem of the 1952 Summer Olympics, held in Helsinki I have had this post in my mind for quite some time after doing research into the origins of pesäpallo. Whilst the beginnings of pesäpallo date back even prior to the official commencement date in 1922, 1952 is actually an important year for showcasing pesäpallo on the world stage. Post war Europe  With political and social divisions in Europe in a state of self-reflection, the ideals of cooperation and prosperity took on an international element. Whilst gripped in an ideological struggle between the free-market west and soviet east, many countries sought strength in the form of cooperation and mutual economic practices. In stark contrast this period saw the birth of nuclear and atomic weapons testing. This atmosphere culminated in the birth of 2 organisations: A. The Nordic Council - which was established by agreement in 1952 and met in 1953; and B. The European Coal and Steel Community (the foundation organisat...

For almost 100 years each game has started with the Hutunkeitto - a literal tussle between the teams for control of the bat Photograph from Vimpeli website (c) Vimpelin Veto 2019 The Pesäpalloliito has released the detailed guidance on how games shall be arranged and played during the current Coronavirus pandemic (until further notice). For someone with a legal mins such as me it is fascinating to read such guidance that talks in great detail on how to ensure safety... but I know that this kind of detail for most people is just tedious; instead I have decided to write about the key changes and explain what the impact is. The Hutunkeitto  Pesapällo is full of unique and curious rules and traditions, perhaps none more so than the hutunkeitto which determines which team chooses to bat first in the first jakso. Unlike baseball, where the visiting team alway bats first (some say as a courtesy), or in cricket, where the captains meet for a coin toss, pesäpallo has had a ve...