A sport with deep Ohio roots. The Cincinnati Reds is the oldest major league club. Cleveland's major league team dates before the turn of the century. Most large Ohio cities currently have or have had minor league clubs. Little leagues and adult leagues can be found state-wide from Ashtabula to Zenia.
Baseball has deep roots in Ohio.
But the ball used in the game also has deep roots in another place, one with many problems caused or worsened by the U.S. wanting to ensure the steady flow of baseballs and other products to Ohio and elsewhere. That place is Haiti. The United Nation's Human Development Index, a device designed to measure overall living standards, ranks Haiti at the equivalent level of poor African and Asian nations. The roots of Haiti's poverty and misery can be traced, in large part, to its colonial history. Columbus landed there in 1492.