Budapest’s own boys of summer play baseball here in Hungary

The quintessentially American sport of baseball is still considered as an exotic oddity in Hungary (and across Europe), but this classic game has die-hard fans in every corner of the globe, and Budapest is no exception. Here in District XVIII, not far from the Budapest Airport, a sprawling sports complex was recently enhanced with the construction of a full-scale baseball field, complete with a cinder-coated infield, a scoreboard, a bullpen for pitching practice, batting cages, and a “locker room” full of gloves, bats, bases, and all other equipment necessary for playing nine innings of hardball.For this American-native member of the We Love Budapest crew – accompanied by a Hungarian colleague who had never before played the game – our visit to join the Budapest Reds during a recent practice session was an exhilarating flashback to childhood baseball games, and proof that this sport (often derided here as “boring”) is truly an action-packed activity that’s much more challenging than it seems, but is still thoroughly fun from beginning to end.The Budapest Reds manager and coach is Sam Siddall, a 25-year-old sportsman from Edmonton, Canada (although he’s a “Cubs fan first, Blue Jays second”), who now leads baseball organizations around the world after pitching for Nebraska’s Midland University team. As a devoted player of the game since childhood, Sam is a classic baseball jock who imparts his decades of experience to amateur athletes of all ages with the patient-yet-persistent manner of enthusiastic Little League coaches from coast to coast in the USA, encouraging his ragtag Budapest Reds with a good-natured combination of rallying and ridiculing.

Listening to Sam coaching with his Midwestern drawl while warming up out on the Reds field, it’s easy to forget that we’re in an outer district of Hungary’s capital – first we’re doing our stretches, sprints, and arm circles, before we actually put on our leather gloves to start tossing the ball back and forth between increasingly far distances. Amid this nostalgic experience of American sportsmanship, we are reminded of our real location as we hear some of the most talented players talking in Hungarian – although the team also has players from Italy, Japan, Australia, and beyond.Soon we are split into two groups, one to play outfield and the other to play infield, and here we practice catching pop-ups, line drives, and grounders, tossing the ball to our temporary teammates at second and first bases to execute potential double plays. Soon our throwing arms are thoroughly worn out – repeatedly hurling the ball halfway across the field takes a lot of power – but once the sun has almost set and fielding practice is over, there is no time for rest; we head straight to the lit-up batting cages to perfect our swing. Throughout it all, the satisfying feeling of securely catching the ball in our weathered mitts or firmly connecting with the ball after choking up on a Louisville Slugger delivers just as much of a thrill as it did during childhood.For us, this entire experience was just a fun diversion, but for the actual Budapest Reds players, this is an obsession – the gang gathers here twice a week for practice sessions, and plays games against other Euro Interleague Baseball teams both here and in neighboring nations all throughout the summer season. The next Budapest Reds home game is happening this Saturday, May 28th (a double-header against Apollo Bratislava), beginning at 1pm, and everyone is welcome to come watch in the stands for free. To get to Reds Budapest Field, take the M3 metro to the Kőbánya-Kispest terminus, transfer to the 182 or 184 bus to the Thököly út stop, and after disembarking, follow the bus along the same road about another 200 meters – on the right, at the end of the fence, a dirt trail leads directly to Budapest’s own ballpark.

Budapest Reds Facebook page