BASEBALL’S WORLD SERIES gets under way tonight as the Kansas City Royals host the New York Mets in game one of the, potentially, seven game series.

A big part of the reason the Mets are there has been the hitting of Daniel Murphy who, as the name suggests, is an Irish American.

Murphy was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) during the Mets National League Championship Series (NLCS) sweep of the Chicago Cubs because of his .529 batting average and four home runs.

And US fans are being given a chance to support baseball in Ireland if Murphy continues to blast the ball in the World Series as they can pledge a donation for each base hit he makes against the Royals.

The Florida Native already has 16 this postseason and pledge amounts are being accepted from $1 to $20 per base hit at the foundation’s website, SupportIrishBaseball.org and will be accepted until the final out of the World Series.

“John Fitzgerald, the man behind Support Irish Baseball, has been involved with the sport here for years and made a movie about the first Irish international team,” Peter Kavanagh of Baseball Ireland told The42.

“When Daniel Murphy went on his record-breaking run of consecutive home runs, John realised there was a lot of good feeling about this guy who is a proud Irish American so his thinking was ‘why don’t we put the fun back into fund-raising.

“It’s a bit a craic too for baseball people in the US who aren’t fans of either the Mets or Royals because it gives them a dog in the fight so to speak, especially other Irish Americans who are interested in growing the sport back here.”

As for Murphy himself, despite being proud of his heritage and going under the nickname ‘the Irish Hammer’, he is not eligible to play for the Irish national team according to Kavanagh.

“Sadly, Daniel’s roots are quite a way back. A supporter of Baseball Ireland met him at an event and popped the question we always ask when we meet the baseball-playing diaspora, ‘do you have an Irish grandparent?’.

“Murphy admitted he didn’t so would not be eligible to play for the Irish team, even though he’d love to. I think his connections go back to his great-grandparents.”

Irish teenager Paul Carey recently travelled to the US to train at a Nike baseball camp. Baseball United Foundation Baseball United Foundation

All funds raised by the Irish Hammer’s World Series fireworks will go towards youth baseball in Ireland says Kavanagh.

“The money raised will go to the development and maintenance of youth facilities here. One of the biggest challenges of playing the sport here is that the equipment isn’t sold in Elverys so it’s not as if kids can just pop in, buy the stuff and start playing.

“It’s an expensive pursuit so one of biggest priorities for youth baseball is getting that equipment in, the bats, the balls and, in particular, the safety equipment — catcher’s gear, padding, etc.

“We’ve up to 200 kids playing baseball in Ireland at the moment but, ever since the sport came out of the Oympic programme, we don’t receive any state funding so initiatives like this really help.

“It’ll also going towards maintaining the two purpose built baseball facilities in Ireland, one at Corkagh Park in Dublin and the other in Ashbourne Co. Meath.”

And who does Kavanagh think will win the World Series?

“It’s a real clash of styles.

“Outside of Murphy the Mets haven’t been hitting the ball particularly well so they’ve been really relying on him but their pitching rotation is unbelievable and have possibly three of the best pitchers all year in Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey so I’m really looking forward to seeing the battle between them and the Royals hitters.

“And, of course, we’ll be backing Daniel Murphy and the Mets to go all the way.”

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