Ubiratan Leal is a Brazilian of Japanese descent and a member of the ESPN Brazil broadcast team for the World Baseball Classic. ESPN Brazil was the first country-speciic version of ESPN outside the United States, and its primary focus is football, or soccer as we know it in the United States. Ubiratan shares his insights about how the game of baseball was brought to Brazil in the late 1800’s, originally by Americans and how the game developed a stronger foundation with an influx of Japanese immigrants in the early 1900’s. It has resulted in a style of play in Brazil, strongly influenced by Japan’s focus on “small ball” rather than the power game that defines modern baseball in the United State. His insights include the influence of American sports throughout Brazil, as well as that of Japan, including martial arts and what we know today as Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
As a broadcaster, sometimes you have to analyze the game, but at other times you have to explain it, because part of the audience is made up of curious people just changing channels. They see Brazil is playing baseball and think, 'Let me watch that,' so you have to explain the rules (…) and try to help people understand the game.
Ubiratan Leal Soccer and MBL analyst in ESPN Brazil