In early 20th century, Lauri “Tahko” Pihkala was visiting the United States, and as a sportsman, he was quite interested in seeing local sports. Baseball captured his imagination, but not in the way most would expect. Instead, when he returned to Finland, the development for a more dynamic, quicker paced, strategical version of baseball and native throwing and hitting sports began. The result was pesäpallo, or Finnish baseball. With a field shaped in a different way, pitches being thrown straight up to fall on the homeplate and catches in the air not being outs, new possibilities for hitting came to be.

A key difference is that even if you hit the ball, you don’t have advance to first base until the third strike. Also, if your third strike is hit a foul, you’re out. This allows each hitter to try different kinds of hits in a single at-bat, giving more room for success. The field is shaped in such a way that basepaths get increasingly longer as you advance. 

*wip