Baseball Rising in the Middle East

As I did with the China unit, I decided to look into baseball and its impact in the Middle East. I came across an article from the Washington Post written in 2018 that talks about a man named Kemp Gouldin and his efforts to bring the American pastime to the Middle East. Currently, no one from the Middle East plays in the American major leagues. Part of Gouldin’s mission and vision was to develop the love for the sport of baseball in the Middle East and hopefully have some from the Middle East drafted into the MLB. The article talks a little bit about how traces of baseball may have been found in Egypt in the form of artifacts that are over 2500 years old which is fascinating and another motivation for Gouldin’s efforts to bring more attention to the sport. Gouldin created an organization called Because Baseball which has now gained the attention of a lot of MLB teams. The organization is currently getting baseball equipment for kids in the Middle East and it hopes to eventually lead to the creation of leagues where kids across the Middle East will be able to compete against one another and internationally. The article was a very interesting read, and I will post the link here so anyone interested can read.