LONDON — Londoners Chelsea Monteiro, Alfie Ferris and Emily Mae Ferris had never even watched baseball on TV when they got their first taste of the game at London Stadium on Sunday.
“First game, first everything, we’re obsessed,” said Chelsea, 23. “We love it.”
They got free tickets for their group through work and thought it could be fun. They googled the rules. They chose the Cubs to root for because they’d heard of the Chicago Bulls and thought, close enough. Alfie and Chelsea stuck Cubs-themed eye black stickers on their faces to show their support.
“It’s the adrenaline,” said Alfie, 23, who dubbed baseball his new second-favorite sport — after soccer, of course. “When they hit the ball, it’s like, ‘Don’t catch it, don’t catch it’. The adrenaline rush you get is phenomenal.”
Not every member of the group the trio came with agreed, bored with America’s favorite pastime. And, to be fair, Sunday’s game wasn’t an example of baseball’s best. The teams combined for four errors. The bouncy and unfamiliar turf, as the Cubs and Cardinals battled the effects of a long flight and jet lag, appeared to affect the quality of play Sunday more than it had the day before.
For the Cubs and Cardinals, the two-game division-rivalry series, which they split, had standings and trade deadline implications. But for the league and the game itself, the series had loftier goals, as MLB tries to establish a foothold in the UK.
The two games combined drew 110,227 fans, according to official attendance numbers, including a strong showing of Americans who made the trip. But the event also introduced some English fans to the game. And it gave expats a taste of home to share with their British friends and family.
Edward Reney, 74, and Pete Smith, 71, bonded over their love of baseball when they met over a decade ago. Reney was born in Massachusetts but moved to the United Kingdom in 1978, bringing his lifelong Red Sox fandom with him. Smith fell in love with the Cubs while visiting his brother in Chicago in the 1980’s.
“Even since that day, that was back in ‘85, I was smitten,” he said, his British accent making the words sing. “I’m a Cubs fan through and through.”
When the Red Sox and Yankees crossed the pond for the inaugural London Series in 2019, the friends went together. Smith became an “honorary Red Sox fan” for the series.
This weekend, Reney returned the favor, donning a blue Cubs shirt to go with Smith’s pinstripe jersey. They plan to attend next year, when the Mets and Phillies carry on the tradition — “We’ve just got to tell our wives about it,” Reney quipped. But there will be no honorary fandom in 2024; they’ll rep the Cubs and Red Sox.
“We come for the ballgame — not a particular crowd,” Reney said. “The beer.”
The ballgame brought Tigers-fan father-son duo Jason and Connor Blain to London Stadium on Sunday. Jason, 51, grew up in London, Ontario, in Canada, across the border from Michigan. He passed on his affiliation to his son, taking him to games when they visited his hometown. The family moved to the UK when Connor, 29, was two years old.
“This is pretty amazing, to be honest,” Connor said. “I’m not going to lie, growing up in England, I haven’t got one friend who knows what baseball is.”
American football has established a following in the UK, he explained, pointing to his Raiders hat. Father and son had been to NFL games at Wembley. But Jason was more impressed with MLB’s London Series.
“Incredible,” said Jason, who wore the Tigers’ classic home jersey. “We didn’t realize when we got on the Tube how busy it was going to be.”
Chelsea, Alfie and Emily Mae noticed that too. Hearing American accents everywhere, it felt like they were in a Hollywood movie, like they’d stepped into “High School Musical.”
“I’m invested now,” Emily Mae, 16, said of the game. “I don’t like sports, I’m a dancer, this isn’t for me. But I’m really invested in this.”
The West Ham United supporters did, however, have some advice.
“You need a proper chant,” Chelsea said. “… I want them to hear it like 50 miles down the road.”
