Baseball is constantly bridging the gap between different cultures and countries. With the language barriers that sometimes exist between Spanish speaking players and English speaking ones, it’s important for the two to find a common ground.
Language barriers in sports are real, and baseball is certainly emblematic of this; earlier this year, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Adrián González spoke about being a bridge between his Latino and American teammates. While sport can cross barriers with on-the-field communication in the language that everyone understands, it’s still important to find common ground whenever possible.
For two Little Leaguers this week, that common ground was technology. An image was captured by former ESPN anchor Bob Holtzman showed a South Dakotan player and a Dominican player communicating with each other through the magic of Google Translate.
The image looks at first like your run-of-the-mill photo of two kids engulfed in the screens in front of them–those dang kids ruining everything!–but with the backstory, it’s become a sign of unity that can be achieved through the same things that usually divide us.
The Little League World Series brings children from all over the globe together to compete against one another and now, they can carry their bonding over from the field into the lines of communication; one could only imagine what two kids from opposite ends of the hemisphere could share.
On the field, the two teams were a bit more separate, however. South Dakota is heading home after catching the elimination bug this weekend, while the Dominican Republic must overcome Venezuela in their next game, or join their American counterparts in going home.