Meet Sweden's favorite MLB player: Garrett Jones [UPDATE]

A devoted fan traveled more than 4000 miles from Sweden to Pittsburgh to cheer on her favorite player, Garrett Jones, at Monday's Pirates-Cardinals game.

With all due respect to the Pirates' first baseman -- who's batting .324 on the season -- why him? It's a fair question, considering the most recent of only four Major League Baseball players to have been born in Sweden finished his career in 1922. Besides, in the Nordic countries, baseball is ... less of a big deal.

Searching Google for variations on "Garrett Jones Sweden" is about as fruitless as you'd expect -- unless you're interested in economist Garett (with one r) Jones' thoughts on Scandinavia, or the fact that a YouTube user called Garrett Jones recently subscribed to a Swedish vlogger. I'm guessing you aren't.

The mystery remains unsolved, but we're just glad this fan has found a favorite to root for from afar. And who knows? Maybe Clint Barmes has a massive secret following in Luxembourg.

UPDATE:

We're happy to report that our intrepid Swede got the chance to meet Garrett Jones -- even though the Pirate Parrot did his best to cause an international incident.

After we spotted her at Monday's Pirates game, Edith Andersson and her host siblings, Trevor and Amanda Norquist, were invited back to the ballpark the next day as Jones' guests. Edith attended her first Pirates game last August, and admits that she became a Garrett Jones fan because he's "just so good looking." No argument here.

-- Molly Fitzpatrick / MLB.com, with reporting by Brooke Smith / MLB.com Real-Time Correspondent

(Photos courtesy of Kyle Oland and Brooke Smith / MLB.com Real-Time Correspondents)