Beisebol no Brasil, o Brasileiros no Beisebol?

October is the best of times, and the worst of times. It’s the best because the baseball comes to a climax—my Los Angeles Dodgers won the first game of their division series last night—but it’s also worst because baseball virtually disappears off the calendar until spring training begins in February. From early November, I’ll be in South America, mostly in Argentina, where baseball is a tiny niche sport.

Brazil's O Globo daily tweeted the news of Gomes' heroics against the Yankees.

That said, baseball got more extended press in Brazil last night when Cleveland catcher Yan Gomes—a native of São Paulo and the first Brazilian ever to reach major league baseball—made all the difference in the Indians' 9-8, 13-inning victory over the New York Yankees. The Rio de Janeiro daily O Globo published a lengthy account of the game on its web page, stressing of course the exploits of their countryman.

For Cleveland, Gomes—who plays the most demanding position on the field—was the hero of a comeback from an early 8-3 deficit. In the top of the 11th inning, he thwarted a Yankees’ rally by picking off the potential winning run at second base, on a brilliant throw with nobody out. Then, in the bottom of the 13th, his walkoff single into the left field corner drove in the winning run and his teammates mobbed him.

"His name is Yan Gomes! From Brazil to the world!"

There aren’t many Brazilians in major league baseball (most South American imports are Venezuelan), but Gomes’ countryman Paulo Orlando—who waxed enthusiastic over Gomes’ performance—was the first to win a World Series ring, with the Kansas City Royals in 2015. Seattle relief pitcher Thyago Vieira and former major leaguer André Rienzo (now in the San Diego Padres’ organization) are also paulistas, while Atlanta’s promising Luiz Gohara comes from a smaller city in São Paulo state.

Buenos Aires's Liga Metropolitana plays at the Estadio Nacional de Béisbol, near the international airport at Ezeiza.

Unfortunately, even the limited advances in Brazilian baseball haven’t yet made it to Argentina (though there’s a league in Buenos Aires and a small national stadium, with other fields scattered around the metropolitan area). Thus, it’ll be quite a while until we see the impact that Argentines have made in professional basketball through players like Manuel Ginóbili and Luis Scola.

Beisebol no Brasil? Brazilians Play Ball!

For more than two decades, I’ve been covering the Southern Cone countries of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and the Falkland Islands for various guidebook publishers. Because the seasons are reversed from my Northern California home, I’ve arguably experienced an endless summer – as a rule of thumb, I leave the Northern Hemisphere when the World Series ends and return in time for opening day. In South America, though, I’ve generally missed the presence of baseball, my favorite participant and spectator sport.

It hasn’t been a total loss. I’ve played both softball and baseball in Buenos Aires (where there’s a pretty good recreational league that includes teams of Cubans, Japanese and Koreans, as well as Argentines). In the Falklands, I surprised some Japanese fishermen by joining them in a game and catch and throwing curveballs – something they expected even less than somebody who could catch the ball. In Paraguay, I watched a sandlot pickup game (pictured above) in which most of the players were ethnically Japanese.

Venezuela, of course is South America’s baseball powerhouse, contributing many players to the major leagues though the economic crisis there has brought hard times to the game. Colombia is a distant second, but there’s an up-and-coming entrant – as of just a few days ago, Brazil can boast its first player ever in the World Series, reserve outfielder Paulo Orlando of the Kansas City Royals. At the age of 29 Orlando, who started playing with Japanese-Brazilians in his home town of São Paulo, is a late bloomer who played more than a thousand minor league games before finally reaching the majors this year. Seen above hitting a game-winning home run in July, he played in 86 games and showed speed and some power, with 14 doubles, six triples and seven homers.

Orlando hasn’t played much in this Series against the New York Mets, though, and he’s not even the highest profile Brazilian in the game. Catcher Yan Gomes, of the Cleveland Indians, plays the game’s most demanding position and, though he spent considerable time on the disabled list this year, the 27-year-old is just entering his prime (Gomes also spent much of his youth in Florida). São Paulo native Andre Rienzo, a righthanded pitcher for the Miami Marlins, has had limited success so far but is also only 27.

According to Gomes, baseball “is such a growing sport (in Brazil) right now, it’s amazing.” Whether Brazilian baseball will ever really take off in a country that’s obsessed with futebol (soccer) is open to question, but these three major leaguers demonstrate that the athletic talent is there to play this complex and difficult sport.