Chasing a Home Run: India takes its first steps towards baseball

But much before this ground became a reality, Sahni had to chalk out Grand Slam Baseball (GSB). Set up in 2013, GSB is a grassroots sports initiative that helps organise tournaments and coaching programmes for youths across the country.

Rahmat Ali, one of the fastest pitchers at the academy, was among the first to enroll in GSB. He once aspired to be a cricketer, but hefty coaching fees and stiff competition nipped his dream in the bud. However, baseball gave wings to another — Ali was selected and has already represented the Delhi state baseball team this year. Many children are also drawn to the sport because, realistically, it’s an easier space to succeed in, compared to cricket — where all the surplus talent means it’s tougher to make it to the state team. In baseball, the chances of making it to the nationals are relatively higher. As a consequence, getting that sports quota for higher education also becomes more viable. For instance, Daksh Jain, from Delhi’s Modern School, will be joining Ryerson University in Toronto soon. “Unless scores are above 95 it’s difficult to get through to a US college. I had around 80-85. There was no way I could have made it without baseball,” Jain says.

With about 10 colleges under the Delhi University too, offering sports quota admission under baseball, the sport certainly seems more appealing. There are 15 schools Sahni’s academy has partnered with. Private schools pay a monthly fee of Rs 50,000 per month, while the government school students are trained free of cost. Already, about 4,000 private and 200 government school children have become part of this unique mission to popularise baseball.

The history of baseball in India can be traced to World War II, when British soldiers stationed at Manipur introduced the sport to the locals. But, the centre of contemporary baseball is the national capital — the American Embassy was arguably the first to own a baseball facility in the country, though it only catered to diplomats and a handful of Indian players. In 1983, the Amateur Baseball Federation of India was formed and the first camp was held in the capital two years later. India now regularly takes part in various Asian tournaments. In fact, they will be heading to Malaysia for an invitational tournament soon.

“I think baseball has grown a lot in the last couple of years. More kids want to take up the sport. We have around 26 states participating in the nationals we organise each year,” ABFI’s general secretary Sudhir Mohindru says.

Riccardo Fraccari, president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation and International Baseball Federation, was in Delhi this October, and met both Sahni and the federation officials. “He told us that they are really interested in seeing the sport grow in India,” Mohindru says. Beyond Delhi and the NCR region, the sport is also widely popular in southern and central India, believes Jitender Shinde, India’s pitching coach.

“There is a misconception that baseball is not played widely. If you take the national team, you will find players from all across the country,” he says.

Shinde, who represented India in the early ’90s, says that the biggest difference has been the number of academies that have mushroomed in recent years. “The quality of the sport has gone up due to the academies. Now, there are training facilities in almost all the states,” says Shinde. Sagar, who was part of the Indian squad in 2012, echoes Jitender’s views. “We have a lot of talent in India but we did not have the kind of facilities we have now,” he says.

Sahni was introduced to baseball by his American neighbour and friend, Jackson Golden. The ground where the GSB stands today, was the same where he first held a baseball bat as a kid.

“It was a barren land, overgrown with weeds. I started accompanying Jackson to the American Embassy in Chanakyapuri and learned more about the sport,” says Sahni, who grew up in Delhi’s Pushpanjali farms. But finding enough space to set up a baseball ground was never going to be easy in the capital where land rates can reach astronomical figures. Initially, he had a tough time convincing investors to get involved in a sport that has little visibility.

Sahni felt the “barren land” on Pushpanjali farms, the same block where he lived, could be put to better use. Praveen Jain, a family friend who owned the land, agreed to fund the project and also became a business partner. Sahni’s father, a businessman, also chipped in to help his son, as did Jackson’s father.

Although knowing cricket may make the switch a bit easier for players, the dynamics of the two sports are different. “In cricket, the batsman transfers his weight on either foot according to the length of the delivery. In baseball, where all the deliveries are full tosses, your weight is predominantly on the backfoot. Your knee never bends,” Sahni explains.

The round baseball bat is almost half the width of a standard cricket bat. In other words, hitting the sweet spot, as they call in cricket, isn’t easy. “In cricket, you can swing the bat wildly hoping to connect. Many times that strategy works, but not in baseball. If you don’t hit right from the middle of the bat, the ball will fly to the side you did you not intend to hit it to,” Ali says.

At the moment, the academy generates around Rs 2.5 lakh a month, says Sahni. But it is only a matter of time before the deficit is bridged, he believes. The academy employs 15 Major League Baseball approved coaches, apart from other maintenance staff. The baseball ground helps him engage schools in the coaching programme and that is where the main revenue gets generated. The baseball field is also highly reliant on corporates, who rent the space on weekends. A restro-bar is also being set up to explore additional business opportunities.

But Raunaq does not make any tall claims about the future of his business. “ I may not make any profit from the baseball ground, but we need it. If there is no ground, we have no presence in the country,” he says.