30 greatest one-time sports in Summer Olympics history
By Nick Villano
29. Pesäpallo
1952 Helsinki Olympics
There are a few one-time Olympic sports that happened because of the host city. We’ve seen cities change the sports options before, and we’re going to see a lot of them debut/return in Los Angeles in 2028 to match the American sports landscape. Sports like lacrosse, flag football, and squash are hoping to make an impact and become long-time sports. One sport that is returning in LA is baseball/softball. And that brings us to Pesäpallo.
Pesäpallo is the Swiss version of baseball. Like baseball and softball, it has four bases, including a home plate. The two teams switch sides once per inning, and when both teams play both “roles,” the inning is over. There are balls and strikes, walks and outs, and there’s a bat and a ball. There are some big differences, like the bases are not built like a diamond at all and have increased length between home and first, first and second, second and third, and the longest distance is between third and home.
However, this was just a “demonstration sport.” It was almost like a favor to Switzerland as the Olympics were in Helsinki. It was a match between the Finnish Baseball Federation and the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation.
There are quite a few demonstration sports, but this was a fun exhibition between countrymen to introduce a sport to the world.