Peru’s national baseball team got outscored 50-0 in a regional tournament a couple of years ago. They’re counting on Venezuelan ringers to save them.
By Ryan Dube July 26, 2019 10:48 am ET LIMA, Peru—Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic collapse have brought an export that is baffling this soccer-mad nation: baseball.
Nearly 800,000 Venezuelans have settled in Peru, part of a wider migration of some 4 million Venezuelans in recent years. The new arrivals have brought Caribbean culture, their arepa corncakes and a passion for baseball, a sport with some history in Peru but a tiny following. Here, as in all of South America except for Venezuela, soccer is king.
They’ll need the help. In a 2017 regional tournament, the Bolivarian Games, Venezuela defeated Peru 16 to 0. Peru also lost 17-0 to Panama, 8-0 to Colombia and 9-0 to tiny El Salvador. “It’s the answer to our prayers,” said Juan Fernández, the national team’s hitting coach. “They’ve changed pretty much the whole atmosphere of Peruvian baseball.”
“These kids, the Venezuelans, want to train and get better,” he said. “They motivate the Peruvian players.”
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