Alert Cooperstown! Baseball Was Born in Şırnak

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 8 May 2018)

//Ed. note: Once again, an important item slipped below
TNT's radar screen but confidential source "MELEK"
(full disclosure: the CEO of TUVAŞ Ltd.) has saved the
day.//

american football click here for a TNT report about
another American sport getting popular in Turkey.

guhşeği video click here to see guhşeği in action.


    Batting champ Ahmet Şırnakoğlu shows how it's done.

The sport of 'guhşeği' is well known by young and old in Şırnak, where
it has been played for centuries, and it bears a striking resemblance to
the popular American sport 'baseball'.  With a ball made of horsehair,
'guhşeği' is played by two 6-person teams on a field with no limits -
the only real difference with 'baseball'. 

Lately, though, Şırnak University (ŞU) and the local sports directorate
have teamed up to give 'guhşeği' a more modern look, with a point
system and field-dimension limits. ŞU has established a 14-player
'guhşeği' team, while the Şırnak municipality had organized a
tournament aimed at keeping the game from being forgotten.



                                         "Who's on first?"

ŞU Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Emin Erkan came out to see the ŞU team
training and even hit some balls himself.  He noted that he played the
game in his childhood, as did his grandfathers and their grandfathers.
Prof. Dr. Erkan explained that "Guhşeği is our heritage sport and the
father of 'baseball'.  We're trying to revive it.  Our ŞU guhşeği team
has started to play in tournaments." 

"In some books it is written that guhşeği was brought by Şırnak
immigrants to Europe and from there to America.  The start of baseball
in America coincides with this time frame.  I remember playing guhşeği
when I was a kid.  Last year we tried to revive it but without success.
God willing, this year we will."

Youth Services and Provincial Sports Directorate's representative for
traditional sports, Veysi Üstek, provided some related information:

"Guhşeği is a sport that moves quickly by batting a ball, played by
teams of 6 or 7 players.  The field is 50 meters long and 40-50 meters
wide. Teams play offense and defense and each player has a chance at
bat, with the last player getting three batting chances.  After a player
hits the ball, he goes to the other half of the field and if he gets back to
his own side, he gets another batting chance and his team gets a point."


"Hey brother, are you from Şırnak?" - "Nope, I'm from LA
brother."

"The team with the most point wins.  It used to be that, rather than by
points, the team that made the most attacks (hits) won.  But with
guhşeği's transition to a modern sport, the point system became
necessary.  Similarly, whereas before there were no referees and time
periods, now there are two half-hour periods."

"Guhşeği is known as the father of American baseball. It is thought that
the game migrated there (from Şırnak).  Because of the regional
problems around here, this game began to die out but we young people
of Şırnak want to revive it.  Guhşeği is our traditional game.  We aim
to develop it in a federation structure."


                                 Rough neighborhood