​They sang for Harry Kane, then they sang for Michael Harris II. Harris, the Atlanta Braves center-fielder, isn’t exactly a household name among many Major League Baseball fans. A local kid who made good, he has carved out a solid, above-average everyday role and, at 25, is enjoying a career-best season. Yet his face doesn’t dominate billboards and ads the way Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge do. But to a pack of football fans, he is a superstar.
Last week, England supporters in Atlanta for the World Cup and fresh off their dramatic last-32 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo were offered discounted tickets to the Braves’ home game against the St. Louis Cardinals. They filled a section of the center-field bleachers, hung their flags, and brought Wembley’s energy to Truist Park. The player closest to the England fans, Harris, immediately drew their attention. In a 5-1 win, he had one hit, one RBI, and four putouts, a performance not quite matching Kane’s heroics earlier in the day, but the supporters in red and white sang with convincing zest, from “Walking in a Harris wonderland!” to “Baseball’s coming home—with Michael Harris!”
This World Cup has been full of stories about international visitors marveling at America’s small towns, delis, high schools, Walmarts, ranch dressing, and local culture. They are also giving a welcome boost to the national pastime. More than five million fans attended home games of the 14 teams across 12 World Cup host cities (including Toronto) from June 11 to July 5. The average attendance across those markets—35,326—outpaced the attendance in the same stretch of three of the past four seasons. While World Cup visitors may not be the sole reason for attendance increases in certain markets, the calendar crossover has created a compelling blend of sports cultures: the slow, quiet tempo of midsummer baseball colliding with the loud, frenzied energy of international soccer.
“We export the game. We play games in other parts of the world. And now the world is coming to us,” said Adam Zimmerman, the Braves’ senior vice-president of marketing and content, who oversaw their England promotion. “And what is a more American experience than going to a baseball game?”
The Boston Red Sox were quick to jump on the opportunity. With Scotland in town for their World Cup group-stage matches, Boston hosted a Scottish Heritage Celebration Night on June 14 against the Texas Rangers, drawing more than 5,000 members of the Tartan Army to Fenway Park, where the crowd totaled 32,006. It wasn’t that many of them knew much about baseball. “How many innings is it?” one fan asked a local TV reporter. “Oh, you’re having a laugh!” he exclaimed after learning the answer—nine. What did excite that fan was the concession area, a reminder that cross-sport curiosity can be a powerful lure for attendance, even if it occasionally comes with humorous gaps in knowledge.