‘Glorious Rounders’: The American Baseball Invasion of England in Two World Wars – Unappealing American Exceptionalism

During the two world wars of the twentieth century, American cultural wares were spread far and wide, and the global pervasiveness of US troops contributed significantly toward this development. One major aspect of an American serviceman's spare time was his involvement with sporting pursuits and, where possible, baseball matches were played, and even formalized, in the guise of exhibition matches played for war charities. Little, if anything, has been written about the matches that were played by the American military outside the USA from the perspective of the indigenous population. This paper examines the English response to the ‘friendly’ American invasion: the invasion of allied troops and their favourite pastime, baseball. In doing so, it is evident that even though, on the whole, the troops were welcome, there was a less than positive reception for the American national game.