Baseball: Our next big sport?

Baseball in New Zealand is taking off, with numbers playing the sport more than doubling in a year.
“Membership throughout the country has expanded from 2000 to 4600 in just one year of existence,” said Cambridge Baseball Club president Rick Van Sant.
In that time his own club has gone from one team to three, and he believes the sport could grow as big as cricket.
His club started with one team a year ago, yet has already held an inter-school competition.
The competition features six teams and round two was played on March 9 and 10.
There have been recent successes with New Zealand youngsters getting the chance to try out for baseball teams in the US.
Major League Baseball players also came to Cambridge to help coach the club’s youngsters.
Mr Van Sant said US-based major league baseball was pumping around $20 million into the sport in Australia, with the possibility of a baseball league there including a New Zealand team.
http://www.baseballnewzealand.com/index.php/news-a-media/facts-a-stats