Dear Europeans, baseball is the symbol of American exceptionalism

Much more than a sport, it is pure culture. The tension of the match builds slowly: a sustained pleasure interspersed with moments of excitement. And the fans are as passionate as you’d expect: loyalty is the rule rather than the exception

In the United States the three most popular sports – defined by the number of viewers – are, in order, American football, baseball and basketball. Unexpectedly, what we call football and they call football, moved up in the standings to fifth place. Explanation? An emerging interest in the sport, the success of the American women’s team in world soccer and, probably most importantly, the growth of the Hispanic-American population in the United States.