For most kids in the U.S., baseball is accessible practically from the day they are born. But elsewhere in the world, “America’s Pastime” is not quite so ubiquitous. It can be challenging to build up the sport in regions without inherent knowledge of the game.
Sometimes though, all it takes is a foam bat to show kids the magic of baseball.
MLB First Pitch was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2021 as a program that aims to spark an interest in physical activity through basic baseball skill development. It is targeted at primary school children (8-12 years old) and can serve as in-school curriculum or an after-school extracurricular. The program runs nationwide with large hubs in London, Sheffield, Cardiff and Liverpool, which have all been part of the program since its inception.
“The reason First Pitch exists is, yes, to try and see participation of baseball increase and introduce the sport to people,” said Maria O’Connor, head of communications for MLB Europe. “But it's also about creating a platform to make that introduction, because right now, it isn't a sport that's readily available.
“There's so many other things that the children are offered through the curriculum that isn't necessarily a baseball-linked sport. We are missing out on that opportunity to immerse someone in that sport from a young age, so that they grow up and they're interested to learn about who the teams are, who the best players are, in the way that young kids growing up with soccer, for example, have that.”
There are three key prongs to MLB First Pitch. Major League Baseball supplies the equipment kits and program resources, Youth Sport Trust (YST) facilitates teacher training and supports the program’s leadership development and data reporting, and Baseball Softball UK (BSUK) helps develop the specific programming and connect MLB First Pitch to local community clubs. All three organizations work in tandem to incorporate feedback into future iterations of First Pitch and ensure that the program is steadily growing the love of the game.
Participating schools in MLB First Pitch are equipped with a resource pack laying out eight weeks of baseball instruction, as well as an equipment pack containing foam bats, foam balls and the like. The program is designed to be implementable in all settings, indoors and outdoors, hence the plush materials that are friendlier for a smaller space.
In 2024, MLB First Pitch reached 22,466 children and 496 schools in the UK, including 236 new schools, with 3,329 total sessions spread nearly evenly among boys (52%) and girls (47%). There were also 123 schools that participated in First Pitch festivals (larger events outside a school setting) in 2024.
Several of these festivals took place surrounding the London Series, which is the only opportunity most UK kids have to experience Major League Baseball played in their country. Many First Pitch schools went to workout day at London Stadium the day before games started, which brought the program to life for the children in a thrilling way as MLB stars from across the pond descended on their home turf.
“There's these opportunities through the London Series that really do set children's hearts on fire, that they can see and be part of this, and the thing that they're watching or hearing about, they're doing at school,” said Victoria Wells, head of sport at Youth Sport Trust. “There's some really exciting magic. You just feel it off them, in terms of what that means to them.”
Diving deeper into the program impact, a key success story is the percentage of program participants who are from ethnically diverse communities (50%), receive free school meals (36%) or have special educational needs or disabilities (15%).
“We're overrepresented, which is brilliant for these communities,” Wells said. “That does not happen across every program. This, for me, is quite special and unique around this.”
So what makes First Pitch so welcoming and inclusive to students who may get left behind elsewhere? A common thread across program feedback was the notion that baseball provides a level playing field for all participants. UK children grow up with bat-and-ball games such as cricket and rounders, but for students at a social or economic disadvantage, playing a sport that none of their peers have been steeped in since birth often boosts their confidence athletically. The novelty of baseball, and the lack of shared national context surrounding it, gives British kids who may feel behind their peers a “fresh start” when it comes to sports and physical activity.
The benefits of MLB First Pitch extend far beyond the baseball diamond, and beyond baseball itself. In 2024, 94% of practitioners reported a positive impact on kids’ confidence in sports, and 88% reported that the children felt more connected to each other. Additionally, MLB First Pitch had an overall positive impact on kids’ resilience (61% of practitioners reported this), engagement with school (69%) and behavior at school (66%).
“The older children would help the younger children in their team when playing the games,” said representatives from St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary School in Northamptonshire in First Pitch’s 2024 year-end report. “They all learned to communicate, and teamwork skills were promoted by working together to get people struck out, which they enjoyed. We were particularly pleased that the children who did not normally attend any clubs went on to thrive and looked like they thoroughly enjoyed it, which was wonderful to see.”
The positive feedback about the participants’ well-being extended to the schools themselves, as 84% of surveyed schools are interested in continuing First Pitch again in 2025.
When looking at the next frontier for MLB First Pitch, several common themes emerge. Very few participating schools are connecting with local community baseball clubs, which are generally geared towards children older than those MLB First Pitch targets. The more connected the community clubs are with First Pitch, the more likely they’ll provide volunteers for future festivals and emerge as a logical next step for kids interested in continuing their baseball involvement.
“That's really where we're focusing our attention,” said John Boyd, CEO of BSUK. “How do we make sure that while we're giving this new interest to so many young people, that they can continue on through their journey, and so as a growing young person into their adulthood be able to access the sport? … We're still too heavily adult recreationally focused [in UK community clubs]. So being able to address that balance is really important, and First Pitch is a critical part of it.”
The program also prides itself on cross-curricular resources, which integrate baseball into other subjects such as math and geography. This will likely be an increasingly big focus of the program moving forward, especially without the anchor event of the London Series in 2025 to connect program instruction with live MLB action.
MLB First Pitch sits at the heart of the MLB London Series Legacy, which aims to bring more opportunities to play and participate to anyone who wants to get involved long after the final out of the London Series.
Another future area of emphasis for MLB First Pitch will be empowering the young people who have gone through the program to pursue leadership roles with First Pitch and mentor the kids coming after them, potentially through coaching roles in after-school versions of First Pitch. The leadership pipeline that this creates would provide a sustainable, stable future for the program built on students giving back to other students.
But while that aspect of the program’s impact is still in the early stages, those working closely on the MLB First Pitch have enjoyed its resounding success in touching the lives of children all over the UK, particularly from underserved communities who were not otherwise engaged in sports.
“Sport can be the hook. Sport can be the reason why children get up and want to go to school,” Wells said. “There's something really special about this work, and we need to shout about it and amplify it, because this is not happening in other places and with other programmes.”