International Sportsman

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Phil Scanlan was attending Harvard University in 1975 when he attended a World Series game at Fenway Park featuring the Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds.

But not just any World Series game. The Australia native happened to be at Game 6 – the legendary contest won by a Carlton Fisk home run in the 12th inning and the game many credit for re-awakening America's love affair with the game.

"I was in left field," Scanlan said. "Here's the (foul pole, about four feet away). And the ball goes flying over my head, and hamburgers start flying all over the place."

On Wednesday, Scanlan and his team from the Australian Consulate in New York City got to revisit some baseball history – and learn some history of their own – during a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Scanlan now serves as the Australian Consul General in New York, and made a special trip to Cooperstown to see the Museum's temporary exhibit called Swinging Away: How Cricket and Baseball Connect.

Cricket is one of the most popular sports Down Under.

"I think it is a fabulous exhibit," said Scanlan. "It is quite unique and is a tremendous educational tool for everyone around the world that is associated with cricket or with baseball."

Scanlan brought his staff members Drew Hart, policy officer; Vared Rainisch, director of cultural relations and public diplomacy; and Jeremy Perrott, intern; to join him and learn a little bit about the relationship between Australia's national sport and America's National Pastime.

"The sport is highly developed in Australia as the national identity," said Rainisch.

The exhibit explains some of the shared histories of the games of cricket and baseball and also how the games relate today. Most Americans don't know that before 1850, more Americans played cricket than baseball. Many cricket fans don't realize that the first international cricket match that was held in 1844 was between the United States and Canada. In fact, the first English international tour in 1859 was to North America.

"I think Australians would learn a lot from this exhibit," said Scanlan.

There are even connections between Don Bradman, an Australian widely considered the best cricket batsman of all time, and Hall of Famer Babe Ruth. Ruth met Bradman in 1932 on the sidelines of a Yankees game in New York and became interested in cricket.

"I will try this cricket business," he told Bradman. "Why don't you put on a Yankee uniform and see what you can do against our kind of pitching?"

Ruth kept his promise and tried out cricket on a visit to London in 1935.

"Rumor is Ruth could club it quite far," said Scanlan.

Scanlan played cricket and baseball growing up in Sydney, Australia.

"It was very much an amateur game when I was young," he said. "But now it is quite professional. It has completely transformed in my lifetime."

Like baseball, Scanlan believes cricket has a democratizing effect on the nations that play it.

"Cricket is a great leveler," said Scanlan. "It doesn't matter who you are – on the field – you are all the same."

It doesn't matter what country you are from or if you are on a cricket pitch or a baseball diamond, competitive fire reigns. Just ask the Consul General about The Ashes, the test match in cricket that has been a celebrated rivalry between England and Australia since 1882.

"We usually win The Ashes," Scanlan said with a smile.

Swinging Away will remain on exhibit at the Hall of Fame through the end of February.

Samantha Carr is the manager of web and digital media for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum