First they sang for Harry Kane. Then they sang for Michael Harris II.<\/p>\n
The Atlanta Braves<\/a> center-fielder is not someone many Major League Baseball fans would consider a household name. A local kid made good, he has established himself as an above-average, everyday outfielder and at age 25 is enjoying a career-best season, but his face doesn\u2019t dominate billboards and ads in the way of Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge.<\/p>\n To a pack of football fans, though, he is a superstar.<\/p>\n Last week, England supporters, in Atlanta for the World Cup and fresh off their team\u2019s dramatic last-32 win<\/a> over the Democratic Republic of Congo, were offered discounted tickets to the Braves\u2019 home game against the St Louis Cardinals. They filled a pocket of the center-field bleachers, hung their flags and brought the sounds of Wembley to Truist Park.<\/p>\n As the player situated closest to the England fans, Harris caught their attention. His performance in a 5-1 win \u2013 one hit, one RBI, four putouts \u2013 didn\u2019t quite match the heroics of Kane earlier in the day, but the supporters in red and white sang in spirited verve anyway, from \u201cWalking in a Harris wonderland!\u201d to \u201cBaseball\u2019s coming home \u2013 with Michael Harris!\u201d<\/p>\n This World Cup has been full of stories of international visitors marveling at the small towns<\/a>, the delis<\/a>, the high schools<\/a>, the Walmarts<\/a>, the ranch dressing<\/a> and the culture of America. They\u2019re also giving a nice boost to its national pastime.<\/p>\n More than 5 million fans attended home games of the 14 teams in 12 World Cup<\/a> host cities (including Toronto in Canada) from 11 June to 5 July. The average attendance across those markets (35,326) was higher than in the same stretch of three of the past four seasons.<\/p>\n England supporters attend a game between the St Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves at Truist Park earlier this month. Photograph: Todd Kirkland\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The influx of World Cup visitors may not be the only responsible factor for attendance boosts in certain markets, but the crossover in the calendar has made for a compelling collision of sports cultures: the slow-paced, quiet of midsummer baseball with the raucous, frenzied energy of international soccer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe export the game. We play games in other parts of the world. And now the world is coming to us,\u201d said Adam Zimmerman, the senior vice-president of marketing and content for the Braves who oversaw their England promotion. \u201cAnd what is a more American experience than going to a baseball game?\u201d<\/p>\n The Boston Red Sox were the first out of the gate. With Scotland in town for their World Cup group-stage matches, the Red Sox hosted a Scottish Heritage Celebration Night on 14 June against the Texas Rangers, drawing more than 5,000 members of the Tartan Army<\/a> among a crowd of 32,006 at Fenway Park.<\/p>\n Never mind that many of them didn\u2019t know much about baseball. \u201cHow many innings is it?\u201d one fan asked<\/a> a local TV reporter. \u201cOh, you\u2019re having a laugh!\u201d he said upon hearing the answer of nine. (What did excite that fan was the concession offerings: \u201cWe\u2019ve been here four days and I\u2019ve not had a hot dog yet. I\u2019m gagging for it.\u201d)<\/p>\n The Tartan Army led a bagpipers\u2019 march down the historic Lansdowne Street that borders the 114-year-old ballpark. The stands were filled with supporters in Scotland tops, kilts and red socks, chanting \u201cWe\u2019ve got McGinn, Super John McGinn\u201d. They sang Flower of Scotland after the Star-Spangled Banner, and roared when the team organist played Loch Lomond and I\u2019m Gonna Be (500 Miles).<\/p>\n Members of Scotland\u2019s Tartan Army march down Lansdowne Street to Fenway Park before a game between the Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox last month. Photograph: Maddie Malhotra\/Boston Red Sox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Such was the Red Sox\u2019s amazement at the scenes \u2013 which came amid a slump for one of baseball\u2019s most historic franchises \u2013 that the team president wrote a letter thanking Scotland for \u201cgenuinely one of the most moving things we have witnessed at Fenway Park in a long time\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMy bucket list is to be at a European game one day with my kids, and that was probably as close to it as you can get as far as the atmosphere,\u201d said Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, whose own team started playing<\/a> No Scotland, No Party in their clubhouse after two wins with the Tartan Army in attendance. \u201cThat was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n The Miami Marlins, hosting Scotland fans eight days later, saw their biggest crowd for a Monday game in nine years. An estimated 8,000 supporters helped give a team that has historically sat at the bottom of MLB\u2019s attendance table one of their best home atmospheres this season, with a crowd of 20,008.<\/p>\n In the heart of Texas, the Rangers hosted Australia fans at their Globe Life Field, which sits across a parking lot from World Cup host Dallas Stadium. One Socceroos fan \u2013 perhaps a cricketer back home \u2013 earned himself headlines last Thursday for his barehanded catch<\/a> of a foul ball.<\/p>\n Norway fans took their trademark row celebration to the first game of a New York Mets midweek doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. One supporter, surely captivated in part by the 18ft (5.5m) Home Run Apple<\/a> in center field, told MLB.com<\/a> that Citi Field was the most beautiful sports venue he\u2019d ever visited.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been to a baseball game before, and I think this is part of the American experience, to be at a baseball game,\u201d that fan, a visitor from outside Oslo named Daniel, said. \u201cSo this is the United States for me.\u201d<\/p>\n (If the Norwegian support has been a boon for their team, who are in the World Cup quarter-finals<\/a> for the first time in their history, it didn\u2019t help the fortunes of the last-place Mets<\/a>: they lost both games of that doubleheader amid a seven-game losing streak.)<\/p>\n The Braves started planning for how to make the most of World Cup opportunities in Atlanta months in advance, but their 1 July England night came together quickly once the knockout draw was released. Team staff worked with the British consulate and the Football Supporters\u2019 Association to arrange discounted game tickets and free bus services from downtown, where many fans spent the afternoon watching the win at Atlanta Stadium. A special allowance was made for just one night to let fans bring flags inside the ballpark, where the brick walls were dotted with emblems of Leeds and London, Birmingham and Brentford. The team hired a cover band called Broasis \u2013 yes, they played Wonderwall \u2013 decorated a red double-decker bus and made \u201cEngland is Braves Country\u201d T-shirts that \u201cflew like hotcakes\u201d, Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n No moment had as wide a reach as the one that happened completely spontaneously: the fans\u2019 interaction with Harris. After the game, they tossed hats and jerseys to be signed and called for him to make a speech, serenading him with chants of \u201cThere\u2019s only one Michael Harris!\u201d (There are, in fact, at least three: his father and his son share the same name.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The wholesomeness of the moments has left players charmed and front offices inspired to find ways to carry on that energy at baseball games long after the soccer fans return to their home terraces.<\/p>\n \u201cFor our players to experience fandom from a different country and a different perspective was remarkable,\u201d Zimmerman said. \u201cAnd then the trick for us is, OK, you don\u2019t want to take that and overly engineer it and then take out what was beautiful about it, which was the spontaneity. I think my biggest takeaway was to provide the ingredients and see what people make.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the visiting fans showing baseball the love this summer. The ceremonial first pitch is a staple of baseball games, where a well-known face \u2013 sometimes a pop star, sometimes a politician, sometimes a local celebrity \u2013 takes the mound to toss the first throw. Several of soccer\u2019s biggest names have done the honors in the last month, from England manager Thomas Tuchel with a looping fastball in Kansas City to Barcelona star Aitana Bonmat\u00ed with a wind-up and strike in San Diego.<\/p>\n Before the United States\u2019 last-16 game in Seattle, head coach Mauricio Pochettino threw out the first pitch at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners have had their share of World Cup visitors: their highest home crowds this season coincided with the weekend of the USA v Australia group-stage game, and their game honoring the USMNT on 3 July drew their fifth-largest attendance this year at 45,391.<\/p>\n Pochettino put in his practice at a training session earlier in the day with goalkeeper Matt Turner, a former high school baseball player, and performed admirably.<\/p>\n USA coach Mauricio Pochettino throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Blue Jays and Mariners in Seattle. Photograph: Lindsey Wasson\/AP<\/p>\n And baseball is showing the love back. Players and coaches alike have used<\/a> their off-days \u2013 rarities in the 162-game regular season \u2013 to cross the World Cup off their bucket lists. Stars Juan Soto, Julio Rodr\u00edguez and Salvador Perez appeared at games in their local markets.<\/p>\n