How much baseball is there in Manipur?
Manipur's physical and athletic culture, over-represented,
given its size, in all sports in India, also boasts an intensive
baseball culture. The capital city of Imphal (pop.150, 000)
has about 20 clubs who have baseball players and over 700
amateur players of both sexes from age 10 to 60. Of the 20
clubs with baseball players, about half of them can field
a full team or more.
When did baseball come to Manipur?
Maharaja Churachand and an entourage of his sportsmen witnessed
an exhibition baseball game at the Shillong Cricket Club
in 1936. There are also references, such as wartime correspondence
and photographs, to baseball played all over Northeast India
by American military personnel during WW2. One member of
the Manipur king's1936 entourage was key in building baseball
in Manipur with the help of the US Embassy in New Delhi
in the early 1980s.
How is baseball organized in Manipur?
Baseball players come from multi-sports leikai (neighborhood)
athletic clubs. These leikai clubs have multipurpose playing
fields of varying sizes. Baseball players use these multipurpose
or soccer fields when available. There are no baseball parks.
When is baseball played in Manipur?
The baseball-playing season is in the dry season, from October-March.
But until 2006 when First Pitch: The US Manipur Baseball
Project stepped in, players only came together to practice
for about a month when the Amateur Baseball Federation in
New Delhi organizes a tournament.
How did FIRST PITCH change Manipuri baseball in 2006?
First Pitch saw there was no baseball season and regular
practice because of a severe lack of even basic baseball
equipment. So the first programs it undertook in 2006 was
the donation of balls, bats and protective gear by Spalding
Baseball and organized a professional coaching camp conducted
by Major League Baseball International.
Why did FIRST PITCH choose Manipur?
First Pitch was formed to provide American support for Manipuri
baseball by New York fans of the game, from an initiative
of L. Somi Roy, a Manipuri-American NRI based in New York.
American baseball fans were impressed by the athletic talent,
passion and grit of Manipuri players who kept baseball alive
against the unimaginable odds of poverty, isolation and
conflict and played. They were moved when they saw an American
baseball ideal in Manipur: playing for the love of the game.
Why and for what purpose did MLB choose Manipur?
First Pitch approached Major League Baseball with a proposal
to establish in Manipur a much-needed center for baseball
in India. Unlike previous MLB attempts to establish the
game in India, this new strategy formulated by First Pitch
was to build a model center in Manipur where there is a
passionate baseball and athletic culture and the game is
not dominated by cricket. The model would be built over
3-5 years and would be replicated in Northeastern India
and then across the rest of India.
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