Although also very popular in East Asia and in other parts of the American continent, baseball is the quintessential North American sport, early in the 20th century even labelled the ‘national pastime’ of the USA. It remains so today: in the US, the words ‘ballgame’ and ‘ballpark’ automatically refer to baseball, not to any other sport.
To the disinterested outsider, baseball shares some vague similarities with cricket – not a coincidence, since baseball is an 18th-century development out of earlier bat-and-ball games popular with British immigrants, such as ‘rounders’. This origin is somewhat disputed: some evidence exists for a British game also called ‘base-ball’, as in British novelist Jane Austen’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ (written circa 1800), where some children play it on a village green.
Nowadays, professional baseball in North America is organized in Major League Baseball, composed of the National league (°1876) and the American league (°1901). Both are divided in to Eastern, Central and Western divisions. The game has – or had – a mainly eastern following: the first major league teams on the West Coast were ‘transplants’ from Back East: the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA and the New York Giants to San Francisco in 1958. In 1961, the first ‘original’ West Coast team was founded: the LA Angels.
This map, indicating all teams in the National and American sub-leagues of Major League Baseball, translates some of the American obsession with baseball into a representation of the supposed ‘countries’ of baseball. As with many other team sports, the fan base of baseball teams is to a large extent regional. Unless you’re of a contrary nature, you support the local team – barring of course that you move, and continue to support your home team as a kind of sentimental link with your place of origin.
Here’s an overview of the ‘countries of baseball’, first of the National League:
1. The Atlanta Braves (based at Turner Field in Atlanta, GA): Rule a large swathe of the Southeast.
2. The Florida Marlins (based at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL): Most of Florida, including the Panhandle, but excluding the area around Jacksonville (Braves territory) and the Rays’ country.
3. The New York Mets (based at Shea Stadium in NYC, NY): As far as I can tell, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
4. Philadelphia Phillies (based at Citizens’ Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA): Southern New Jersey, chunks of Maryland and only a limited amount of the Pennsyvlvanian hinterland.
5. The Washington Nationals (based at RFK Memorial Stadium, Washington DC): Most of the DC-surrounding area, and a surprisingly large part of the eastern seaboard to the south of DC.
6. The Chicago Cubs (based at Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL): A large country to the east and west of Chicago, completely surrounding the Chicago Sox’s land.
7. The Cincinnati Reds (based at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, OH): A medium-sized nation, hemmed in by the Cardinals, Cubs, Tigers, Indians, Pirates and Braves.
8. The Houston Astros (based at Minute Maid Park in Houston, TX): All of Louisiana and most of southeastern Texas, including of course Houston itself.
9. The Arizona Diamondbacks (based at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ): Most of Arizona, parts of New Mexico, bits of southern California.
10. The San Francisco Giants (based at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA): A small coastal strip below San Francisco Bay, a large one north of it, all the way through Oregon to Seattle Mariners country.
11. The Colorado Rockies (based at Coors Field in Denver, CO): The only team in Rocky Mountain territory, therefore has a lot of expansion potential.
12. The San Diego Padres (based at PETCO Park in San Diego, CA): Occupies the small strip of southern California hugging the Mexican border.
13. The St. Louis Cardinals (based at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO): Rule a big part of the Midwest and South, including Arkansas and parts of Mississippi, Illinois and Tennessee.
14. The Pittsburgh Pirates (based at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA): Western Pennsylvania, through West Virginia into western Virginia.
15. The LA Dodgers (based at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA): Mid-California, from the coast into southern Nevada.
16. The Milwaukee Brewers (based at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI): Wisconsin, the whole of Wisconsin and nothing but Wisconsin.
These teams play in the American League:
1. The Baltimore Orioles (based at Oriole Park in Baltimore, MD): The Delmarva peninsula and central Maryland.
2. The Toronto Blue Jays (based at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario – Canada): Southern and central Ontario.
3. The Boston Red Sox (based at Fenway Park in Boston, MA): The map doesn’t show the extreme northeast of the US; one presumes the Red Sox rule the whole of New England.
4. The New York Yankees (based at Yankee Stadium in NYC, NY): Upstate New York and northern Pennsylvania.
5. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays (based at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL): A relatively small strip of Florida’s Gulf Coast, dipping into the interior.
6. The Chicago White Sox (based at US Cellular Field in Chicago, IL): No more than an enclave in Cubs country.
7. The Cleveland Indians (based at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OH): Ohio, with a southern tail.
8. The Detroit Tigers (based at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI): The whole of Michigan, some of it ‘dripping’ out south of the state line.
9. The Kansas City Royals (based at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO): A good chunk of the geographical centre of the Lower 48.
10. The Minnesota Twins: (based at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN) Minnesota and most of the Dakotas.
11. The LA Angels of Anaheim (based at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA): Squeezed small by the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks.
12. The Oakland Athletics (based at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, CA): Almost denied coastal access by the Giants, this land surrounds the Bay and fans out further inland.
13. The Seattle Mariners (based at Safeco Field in Seattle, WA): Washington State, plus parts of Oregon.
14. The Texas Rangers (based at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX): Oklahoma and Texas, minus Astros country.
I presume these countries of baseball are more parts fiction than fact. But it would be interesting to hear from fans which borders run true, which are false. This map was sent to me by Lee I. Garnett and can be found here on Flickr. No further information was provided. It looks like the picture was taken in a shop or in a museum. Any additional info on the map, including its location, is very welcome.
Based on the sweatshirt in the foreground and the rest of the pictures in the Flickr set, I’d say this map is in the Niketown store at Union Square in San Francisco.
Comment by The Good Reverend — August 3, 2007 @ 11:03 am
Re: “Boston, MS”: the state code for Massachusetts is “MA”, not “MS”.
Comment by TJIC — August 3, 2007 @ 11:27 am
The New York Times had a reporter try to trace the exact boundary between Yankees country and Red Sox country, literally driving across New York and Connecticut going town by town. From what I remember, SW Connecticut was largely Yankees fans, but virtually nothing else. (There were small parts of upstate NY near the MA border that did go for the Red Sox, though.)
Comment by Jed Christiansen — August 3, 2007 @ 11:42 am
The Orioles/Phillies border in Delaware is almost certainly at the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal dividing Delaware’s lower counties from New Castle county. NCCo is essentially a Philadelphia suburb, and the NCCo newspapers report on Philadelphia teams as though they were the hometown team. Kent and Sussex counties are more agricultural and share a strong link with Maryland’s eastern shore counties (which view Baltimore as the nearest major city, because it was a port city where farmers and watermen took their catch). Residents of the Delmarva Peninsula south of the canal are far more likely to root for the Orioles.
Comment by J.R. — August 3, 2007 @ 11:46 am
Its is actually quite possible that these borders refer to the areas of exclusive rights that MLB grants to each team. This is the exclusive right to own a team within the given region.
Comment by sam — August 3, 2007 @ 11:49 am
“1. The Atlanta Braves (based at Turner Field in Atlanta, GA): Rule a large swathe of the Southwest.”
That should be Southeast
Comment by Kip — August 3, 2007 @ 11:56 am
Well, here’s the map of the same idea based on survey data:
http://www.commoncensus.org/sports_map.php?sport=2
They have other sports as well as their original project, showing the perceived geographical sphere of influence of U.S. cities.
Comment by Kelly — August 3, 2007 @ 11:58 am
[...] Link - via Strange Maps [...]
Pingback by Neatorama by TheGoodReverend: The United Countries map of Baseball « Identity Unknown — August 3, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Careful: though some of the Tiger’s sway drips into Ohio and Indiana, Michigan can’t claim 100% allegiance. In the far western bits of the Upper Peninsula, people are liable to identify with the much nearer Milwaukee Brewers.
Comment by Dan Ray — August 3, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Also note the Nike logo to the right of the map’s title.
Comment by Tom — August 3, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
I’ve heard that it might make sense to lump in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the state of Wisconsin for purposes like this; thus the Brewers get the UP, not the Tigers.
And the Nationals probably don’t have as much territory as that map shows, because they’ve only been in DC for three years; I’d suspect there are still a lot of Orioles fans towards the northern end of their area and Braves fans towards the southern end.
Comment by Isabel — August 3, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
I think they’ve got the White Sox wrong as well. People in Northwest Indiana rather than central Illinois tend to be Sox fans… I doubt there are many areas of majority cubs fans in Indiana at all, probably Sox, Cards, and a little Indians and Reds.
Comment by JZ — August 3, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
[...] United Countries of Baseball (click the image to see the whole map without the surrounding text/menus). I’m guessing this [...]
Pingback by The Boar’s Head Tavern » — August 3, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
actually about half of Connecticut (the southern half unsurprisingly) are very loyal yanks fans. we here in mass and northern CT find it very distressing to have so many crazy people so close to us.
Comment by Morlock — August 3, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
[...] strangemaps gives us the U.S. baseball map. [...]
Pingback by Compensatory Links « The Extrapolater — August 3, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
I have to disagree with this map. Being a Yankee fan (please hold the cheers and jeers) I can confidently say that the Yanks OWN most of NYC as well as pretty much all of Jersey.
On a side note, they really are a nationwide team. I have been in alot of places in this great country of ours and I have NEVER EVER been anywhere where I have not seen at least one Yankees cap in my travels (that includes Boston). It’s a nice feeling. I think whoever created this map should amend it to give the Bombers their due.
Comment by Gecko — August 3, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
I visit your blog so often. maybe i should introduce my self? i am just a loner named sofia
http://sofiawinterborn.wordpress.com/2007/08/03/sofiamy-i-introduce-my-self-to-you-i-am-a-loner-and-starwalker-i-walk-from-star-to-star/
Comment by A Woman — August 3, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
Having grown up in London Ontario, I’d have to say that the Tigers’ domain extends into Southwestern Ontario a fair ways. There were a lot of Tigers fans in London, which also was home to a farm team (of some sort, not THE farm team) of theirs.
Comment by elbie — August 3, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Eric Gagne was quoted a few days ago saying that Red Sox country extends all the way to Montreal now that the Expos have left town.
Comment by Mike — August 3, 2007 @ 2:32 pm
[...] Hat tip to my buddy Dave and Strangemaps. [...]
Pingback by This is awesome at River Ave. Blues — August 3, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
I was born and raised right outside of New Orleans, LA. Not only did i dispise the Astros, everyone I ever knew down there was a Braves fan….
Comment by BravesFan — August 3, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
The UP of Michigan tends to ID with Michigan teams. It’s not exclusive of course, and like all borders, it’s organic and less true the closer you to Wisconsin.
Comment by Stevis — August 3, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
I love this; this is great.
However, it’s not very accurate. Like someone else already mentioned, the Braves dominate most of Florida. I went to school at UF (North Central), and no natives really cared about the Devil Rays (or baseball for that matter). And most of the South Florida kids I went to school with either liked the Braves of Marlins.
Red Sox also creeps further into upstate NY and CNY than the maps shows. Syracuse and Rochester skew Yankees, barely. The Catskills are more Red Sox.
Comment by Mike G — August 3, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
People in Northwest Indiana rather than central Illinois tend to be Sox fans… I doubt there are many areas of majority cubs fans in Indiana at all, probably Sox, Cards, and a little Indians and Reds.
Northeast Indiana is almost entirely Cubs country. :) Southeastern Indiana has been Reds country, as far as I’ve experienced. (Further into Indiana than is shown on the map.)
west central Ohio is almost a 50/50 split between Reds and Indians fans in my experience (with a few Cubs fans near the Indiana border, and a few Tigers fans the further north you go), but I’ll concede the area as Reds country. Only barely, though.
Comment by Ang — August 3, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
Not to quibble, but in the panhandle of Florida I know of absolutely no Marlins fans. The Braves own the area of Florida extending South to about Ocala. The I-4 corridor, Tampa to Orlando, is Rays country and below that is the property of the Marlins.
Comment by Steven — August 3, 2007 @ 3:08 pm
It’s been my experience in that southeastern connecticut is very much disputed territory. I’d estimate half and half yankee-red sox loyalty there. This, at least, is how it seemed to me as a largely disinterested kid growing up there.
Comment by Arturus — August 3, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
The reach of the Cardinals does not end at the missouri border. Oklahoma has had a long history with the organization, especially b/c Tulsa was a minor league affiliate for more than half a century.
Comment by ockness — August 3, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
Re: the UP. It’s true that the western UP (Marquette westward) strongly identifies with the Packers in NFL football. In the old days, the TV and radio feeds for the NFL were strictly Packers.
But that’s pretty much where the line crossing ends. College sports, pro basketball, hockey and baseball–Yoopers remain firmly tied to Michigan teams. Even when the Tigers were bad, they were the UP team, not the Brewers.
Comment by Dale Price — August 3, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
The NY Times did a story last year which created this map of Yankees/Red Sox loyalties in Connecticut. I don’t think anyone can dispute that CT is significantly Yankee.
http://www.jessekb.com/2006/08/19/nyt-ponders-red-sox-yankees-border/
Comment by Josh — August 3, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
And Toledo is firmly in the Detroit orbit, at least with respect to the pro side. Sports coverage on the local news starts with the Detroit teams.
I’d go so far as to push the Tigers a little into western Ontario, too. Big Detroit fans in Windsor and Sarnia. If it were hockey, you’d have to push it halfway to Toronto.
Comment by Dale Price — August 3, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
I’d love to see the maps that MLB uses to dictate what teams are “local” to those open areas. When I lived in Las Vegas, we were blacked out of games in throughout California, Arizona & Colorado. I believe Hawaii receives the “local” blackout on all West Coast games.
Comment by Deb — August 3, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
A few things to note:
1. There really isn’t much of a geographic split between the Yankees and the Mets in the New York metropolitan area. Some people are Yankees fans, some (not quite as many) are Mets fans, and location is not particularly relevant.
2. Until 10 years ago I lived in Waterbury, Connecticut, about 90 miles northeast of New York. It was one of those Yankees/Red Sox “dividing line” places mentioned in a prior comment. I would disagree with the Times map as that puts Waterbury clearly on the Yankees side of the line. Interestingly, and I suppose in contradiction to my first point, there never were many Mets fans in Waterbury.
3. Many Atlanta Braves games are televised nationwide on the TBS cable/satellite network. As a result, the team has a bigger following outside its geographic area than any others, with the possible exception of the Yankees (long storied tradition) and the Chicago Cubs (nationwide TV on the WGN “superstation,” plus a lovable-losers image).
Comment by Peter — August 3, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
There is no way that the Giants territory in Oregon is accurate, that is Mariners country or unincorporated
Comment by Garth — August 3, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
I think the New York Mets/Yankees split is close to 50/50 throughout the state. NJ definitely belongs to Yankee fans. And there are parts of Virginia (see Norfolk) that have a strong Mets fanbase due to their former AAA affiliate, the Tides.
Comment by JWise — August 3, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
I would say that Twins Country does indeed extend well into the Dakotas, but also extends into Western Wisconsin, particularly communities such as Hudson, Eau Claire, and River Falls, all communities much closer to Minneapolis than they are to Milwaukee. It’s probably easier to pick up Twins radio broadcasts there than Brewers as well.
Comment by Ben — August 3, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
[...] It’s fairly obvious that Utah, Oregon, and Nevada have no love for the hardball. [...]
Pingback by bobbysketch » Map of The U.S. of Baseball — August 3, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
[...] I saw the photo below on this site and being a sports/geography fan, I was tickled and thought I would [...]
Pingback by Play Ball « A Natural Deficiency Of Moral Fiber — August 3, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
Just to be accurate, the NY Giants moved west to SF the same time the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA, in 1958, not 1961 as the text states.
Comment by Matt D — August 3, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
Reds should go much further into Indiana, up to Indianapolis really. And the Cards are not as big in Indiana as the map implies.
Comment by jason — August 3, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
actually, ALL of North Dakota sides with the Twins, all the way to the border. Don’t know about South Dakota, but it would be safe to put the Twins all the way to the N.D. border. (I’m a sports writer in that area by the way, so trust me when I tell you that). I’m sure some of Western South Dakota and Nebraska sides with the Rockies. (That’s all I’ve ever seen on TV when I’m down there).
Comment by 19 — August 3, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
If this map reflects reality and you think of the owners as royalty, you can see why King Angelos (of the Orioles) was so petty toward the arrival of the Nationals. Before the Nationals, O’s local games were broadcast all the way down into the Carolinas.
(I’m not saying he _should_ have been a jerk.)
Comment by taleswapper — August 3, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
Other people have already mentioned the Braves, but I wanted to point out that North Florida (I can specifically speak to the panhandle, where I live) is Braves country, not Marlins.
Comment by Ben — August 3, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
Here’s the MLB blackout map: http://stategis.blogspot.com/2006/07/major-league-baseball-blackout-map.html
Comment by hober — August 3, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
The Pirates definitely capture a great part of West Virginia, but the Northwestern part (Parkersburg - Huntington) of the state seems to pull more for the Reds - I can’t tell exactly where the border is on the map, but I don’t think anyone in that part pulls for the Indians.
Comment by Justin — August 3, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
being a native of new mexico and
a longtime former resident of
albuquerque, I would have to say
that the colorado rockie’s territory
does extend deep into new mexico
at least as far south as Truth or
Consequences, the southern part
of the state roots for the D-Backs
or Dodgers
Comment by Augie — August 3, 2007 @ 4:54 pm
Love it. But San Antonio and Austin are contested territory between Astros and Rangers fans.
Comment by Trebor — August 3, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
As stated in a comment above, the Giants moved west in 1958. I think the confusion might have come from the fact that they started playing at Candlestick Park, ever the home of the Giants in my heart, in 1961. They played at Seals Stadium up until then.
Comment by Wilhelm2451 — August 3, 2007 @ 5:07 pm
The Giants actually moved to Candlestick Park in 1960 from Seals Stadium, not 1961.
http://quinnmedia.blogspot.com
Comment by theomnipotentq — August 3, 2007 @ 5:27 pm
The Braves hold a bigger piece of North Florida that this map shows, I expect. and the cajun above opined, I suspect they cover more of the Gulf Coast than the ’stros.
Cool map though. Anything that opens up this much debate must be good ;-)
Comment by paulbeard — August 3, 2007 @ 5:29 pm
Upstate NY is really “open territory” and not dominated by the Yankees. You’ll find TONS of Red Sox and Mets fans, as well as Blue Jays, Indians, Phillies, and Pirates fans.
http://quinnmedia.blogspot.com
Comment by theomnipotentq — August 3, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
[...] the Strange Maps blog, which is cool enough in itself, check out this map of the United Countries of Baseball. (If the navigation bar on the right-hand side obscures part of the map, click on the map image to [...]
Pingback by What I’ve Learned So Far » Blog Archive » The United Countries of Baseball. — August 3, 2007 @ 5:34 pm
Not shown, but SW British Columbia (Vancouver and suburbs, and Vancouver Island) have many Mariner fans as well as season-ticket holders.
Comment by pollister — August 3, 2007 @ 5:34 pm
I would love to see a map like this for football.
Comment by neato — August 3, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
Agree with a previous poster, Cards area should extend well into Oklahoma.
Comment by Doug — August 3, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
I would love to see a map like this for football.
The site that has the baseball map also has ones for the NFL, NBA, NHL and NCAA-F.
I would say that the NBA map doesn’t really reflect the true state of affairs. NBA fan loyalties are driven by superstars as much as by teams, and therefore are less geographically bound than with other sports.
Comment by Peter — August 3, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
Brewer fan from Wisconsin here. I go to school in the UP and trust me, they are all Tigers fans. It might have to do a bit with the WS and all, but they also only broadcast Tigers games (which sucks for me). Also, they broadcast Packer games over Lions games leaving me to think that they are still mostly Packer fans up there!
Comment by Nate — August 3, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
In addition to geography, success (or lack thereof) can play a big factor in determining what your favorite team is.
George Will, a huge baseball fan as well as a political commentator (he often talks about baseball rather than politics), grew up in central Illinois, an area about halfway between the Cubs base and the Cardinals base. At this time (the 1960’s), the Cardinal were a much better team. So most of them became Cardinal fans, while Will chose the Cubs instead. Will later noted (wryly, perhaps) that his chilhood Cardinal-loving friends became optomistic and liberal, while his Cubbie-loving self grew pessimistic and conservative.
This year, the Cubs are doing much better, so I wouldn’t be surprised if folks in Springfield were urging Chicago on.
Comment by Darrel Jones — August 3, 2007 @ 6:28 pm
[...] saw this at a ballpark the other day: Nike has created a “United Countries of Baseball” map depicting the United States as a collection of countries each supporting a baseball team. As [...]
Pingback by Fish@Bat » Blogging the Florida Marlins » We Own Florida — August 3, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
The map is somewhat inaccurate concerning the Mets/Yankees split. In general, Yankees territory is Manhattan, the Bronx, North Jersey, Westchester, Rockland, and Southern Connecticut, while Mets territory is Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island (and of course there are lots of Yankees fans in Brooklyn, Mets fans in Jersey, etc.)
Upstate NY is a hodgepode. I guess it’s generally Yankees territory, but I’ve met people from up there who are Mets fans, Red Sox fans, Indians fans, Blue Jays fans, Cubs fans, even Expos fans until 2004 (way up by the Quebec border).
Disclaimer: I’m a Mets fan who lives in Brooklyn but grew up in Yankee territory north of the city.
Comment by Ian — August 3, 2007 @ 6:45 pm
Check out http://www.commoncensus.com, or something like that for other interesting sports maps.
Comment by Corey — August 3, 2007 @ 7:00 pm
Mapping the radio stations that carry each team’s games would be interesting. Add in radiation patterns to get areas.
Comment by Walter Underwood — August 3, 2007 @ 7:03 pm
I’d agree with Justin. That ’southern tail’ of Indian’s fans is fictional. It’s Reds or Pirates, and the Indian souther “border” is about I-70.
Comment by Jack — August 3, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
The Giants moved to SF for the 1958 season. The same year Da Bums moved. You’d probably find a bit of Brooklyn that still roots for the Dodgers and a bit of Upper Manhattan still allied with the Jints.
Comment by Russ — August 3, 2007 @ 7:23 pm
Can you imagine if this map had been made pre-Nats? Baltimore and Philly would have way more territory and the Expos would probably just have their star and no territory around it.
Also a friend of mine grew up in Southern Ontario and is a die-hard Tigers fan. They should probably get the very tip in the Windsor/North Bay area.
Comment by Ben — August 3, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
I’ve never met anyone in Oklahoma who claims to be a Rangers fan. Color that state Cardinal Red. Might want to research Kansas too. Outside of the KC area you might find more Cards fans than Royals fans. Some Cards influence in Iowa too.
Comment by holt — August 3, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
the common census map is also misleading in my opinion. I don’t deny that people in Oklahoma are subjected to Rangers radio. that doesn’t mean any great number of people root for them.
all the whiting out of rural areas is enough to show you that the common census map also doesn’t have any real information to work with other than radio/tv saturation stats.
Comment by holt — August 3, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
This is great, even if it’s imperfect. Would be nice to see one for the other leagues.
Comment by Mark — August 3, 2007 @ 8:00 pm
They’ve probably overstated the domain of the Nationals. Before the team moved from Montreal, just about everyone in that area was an Orioles fan by default. I doubt all of them suddenly threw their allegiance behind a massively underachieving transplant that quickly.
But I guess the map would look stupid otherwise.
Comment by Extra P. — August 3, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
In all honesty, the size of the area given as white sox country can be reduced by 75% to 80%. The only area really dominated by the white sox is the south side of Chicago and it’s immediate south suburbs. Also, Cub country could easily be spread into part of South Dakota where the Cubs have a minor league team and radio broadcasting of their games.
Comment by Will — August 3, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
Upstate NY is solidly Yankee country with a smattering of Mets and Red Sox fans. Last year the local Syracuse paper touched off an uproar by including the Red Sox in their upcoming week’s schedule sidebar. They aren’t included this year.
Blue Jays haven’t done well up here, despite having their AAA farm team in Syracuse.
I am a Red Sox fan, but only because of summer trips to New England relatives as a kid.
Comment by organizer — August 3, 2007 @ 8:35 pm
In all honesty, the size of the area given as white sox country can be reduced by 75% to 80%. The only area really dominated by the white sox is the south side of Chicago and it’s immediate south suburbs
Nice try. Northwest Indiana is more Sox turf. Think of Jean Shepard (A Christmas Story), a Hammond resident, and life-long Sox fan.
Comment by DJ — August 3, 2007 @ 10:03 pm
there’s only one way to settle these disputes!
WAR!
;-)
Comment by holt — August 3, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
I hope that the Nats’ territory is what you show. If not, it will be. If not, it is only because of what Angelos has done to keep us down. The o’s can have Baltimore; we’ll take the rest. Once Angelos is gone, we will consider sharing again. I’d love to root for the O’s again.
Comment by Iron Fan — August 3, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
BTW- Can we buy a full-size version of this map? That is office-worthy.
Comment by Iron Fan — August 3, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
[...] found at Strange Maps [...]
Pingback by bonkos.com » Blog Archive » United Countries of Baseball — August 3, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
I have to disagree with the yankees fan’s comments.
I’ve noticed a sharp rise in Brooklyn in Met’s fans, in fact, at least 2:1 as far as just wearing team gear. With the advent of the Brooklyn Cyclones (mets farm team), and the fact that the Mets are actually doing well, I expect this number to rise.
Also, almost all of Queens are Mets fans. So it’s not fair to say all of NY are Yankee’s fans.
Secondly it’s oddly true that almost all of Louisiana are astro’s fans. I was born and raised there, and i can’t really figure out why. (I’m guessing it’s because we have no one else to root for.
Comment by Brandon Sonnier — August 3, 2007 @ 11:57 pm
[...] 160 - The United Countries of Baseball [image] Although also very popular in East Asia and in other parts of the American continent, baseball is the […] [...]
Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — August 3, 2007 @ 11:58 pm
[...] of baseball, I just found this U.S. Map of Baseball, which displays what team(s) are cheered based on area (in the blogger’s opinion). It’s [...]
Pingback by Friday Follies « Slices from the PearLady — August 4, 2007 @ 12:21 am
[...] From Strangemaps.wordpress.com, a blog that considers, well, strange maps, I guess, this geography lesson. [...]
Pingback by Cartology: The country as baseball fans like to see it « Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf — August 4, 2007 @ 1:04 am
The map give way to much area to the rangers. Many on OK are Cards or Royals fans. Much more of central, west and south TX pulls for the stros.
Comment by sportsconversation — August 4, 2007 @ 2:32 am
That is brilliant, nice to see a healthy sized Phillies section :) Can we get an NFL one?
Comment by Miami Party Boats — August 4, 2007 @ 3:34 am
[...] Link - via Strange Maps“ [...]
Pingback by The United Countries of Baseball « Tomfoolery — August 4, 2007 @ 4:03 am
In New York City, generally speaking, Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx tend to be Yankees country, while Brooklyn and Queens are Mets country.
Of course, there are Mets fans in the “Yankee” area, and Yankee fans in the “Mets” area.
But, there are a LOT of Red Sox fans in Upper Manhattan and the Southern Bronx.
That’s an ethnic loyalty thing - that area of the city is heavily populated by immigrants from the Dominican Republic, and there happen to be a lot of Dominicans who play for the Red Sox.
There really aren’t that many Giants fans in Manhattan or Dodgers fans in Brooklyn - except for folks who moved here from California, of course!
Those teams left this city almost 50 years ago, before most New Yorkers, myself included, were even born, so they didn’t leave a legacy behind (except for a bit of resentment from some old folks who remember when the teams abandoned us)
Comment by gangbox — August 4, 2007 @ 4:17 am
I would say all of Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii are Mariners territory.
Additionally, almost all of Oregon, if not all of it, is Mariners territory; as is large portions of Montana.
Lastly, the Mariners have for sure the greatest geographical coverage of any team.
Comment by MRB — August 4, 2007 @ 4:40 am
[...] be sure to also check out the separate “United Countries of Baseball” map discussed on Strange Maps and [...]
Pingback by The Sports Census Maps « FRANK THE TANK’S SLANT — August 4, 2007 @ 5:30 am
“I have to disagree with this map. Being a Yankee fan (please hold the cheers and jeers) I can confidently say that the Yanks OWN most of NYC as well as pretty much all of Jersey.
On a side note, they really are a nationwide team. I have been in alot of places in this great country of ours and I have NEVER EVER been anywhere where I have not seen at least one Yankees cap in my travels (that includes Boston). It’s a nice feeling. I think whoever created this map should amend it to give the Bombers their due.”
I think of the Yankees “NY” logo as more of a clothing brand than anything else. There are tons of people who wear Yankees hats and shirts but aren’t baseball fans, just like people who wear “AC/DC” shirts but can’t name five songs by the band. It’s just a popular brand name.
I grew up in Queens, and virtually everyone I knew was a Mets fan and an Islanders fan. But this was also the 80’s, when the Yankees and Rangers were terrible and the Mets and Islanders were good.
I live in North Carolina now, and this state definitely belongs to the Braves. The Braves are “the” team of the south: GA/MS/AL/SC/NC/TN.
Comment by John — August 4, 2007 @ 5:56 am
[...] The United Countries of Baseball [...]
Pingback by Good to Go after Most Volatile week in over 5 years. « Trading for the Masses — August 4, 2007 @ 6:06 am
The Marlins have fans? Who knew?
Comment by Kellynch — August 4, 2007 @ 9:34 am
I think you give the Marlins too much credit in the way of popularity. The Braves have a HUGE fan base throughout the panhandle of Florida and south.
Comment by Art Rawspine — August 4, 2007 @ 10:36 am
You can’t fool me. Everybody knows that the Pirates are no longer a Major League team.
Comment by Daniel Berczik — August 4, 2007 @ 11:57 am
As a Red Sox fan in Upstate New York, I’ve found, to my delight, the division to be nearly 50-50 Red Sox and Yankees.
Comment by durgan — August 4, 2007 @ 12:42 pm
NY Mets territory is New York City (specifically Queens and Brooklyn) as well as Long Island. The Yankees clearly dominate Northern and Central NJ, the Bronx, all of Upstate NY as well as a significant portion of Western Connecticut.
Comment by Ian A. — August 4, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
To add to the ethnic loyalty mentioned above in post 83, my sister teaches middle school in the Bronx, and most of her students are Puerto Rican or Dominican, and many are Mets fans because of players like Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, and Pedro Martinez.
A friend who lives in Philadelphia says that a lot of Latinos in Philly are Mets fans for similar reasons.
And there are no Dodgers or Giants fans left in NYC. The 70 and 80 year olds who rooted for the Dodgers and Giants hate both teams, and either gave up on baseball, or started following the Mets or Yankees.
Comment by Ian — August 4, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
[...] just love the strange maps blog. Yesterday’s feature was a map of baseball “countries.” A few surprises: that the Nationals have caught on so far south and that pseudopods of Indians [...]
Pingback by Sporting Maps « Catholic Sensibility — August 4, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
Nice choice, I like this map a lot. It seems that with the exception of a few exceptions (noted above in other comments) the map is fairly accurate. Like another poster said, I have to point out that although most people forget we exist, the state of Delaware is shown on the map as red for the Phils through the northern county and orange for the O’s through the lower counties. This is traditionally correct- below the C & D canal our state is more bucolic and most of the cable broadcasts come from Salisbury, MD. However, in the past decade the lower counties have seen a huge population growth and more and more Wilmingtonians are living below the canal and commuting for work. With the availability of virtually any ballgame with the proper cable package, DirecTV, etc. the makeup of Phils/O’s fans is changing.
Comment by rosiebell — August 4, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
Mets have some parts of Upstate NY like Binghamton, as the AA Mets play there.
Comment by John — August 4, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
Louisiana goes to the Braves, thanks to consistent playoff runs and a massive radio/TV network.
Comment by Seth — August 4, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
Congratulations for blog!
Very good!
http://www.acordabrasil.wordpress.com
I hug and I have access mine blog if it will be able…
debtor.
Comment by acordabrasil — August 4, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
Another explanation for one of the areas-
I was surprised at how many Cardinals fans I found in Arkansas…I figured if anything, they’d be Houston fans. It turns out Little Rock used to be a minor league affiliate of the Cardinals for quite a long time, and the allegiance never faded.
Comment by ubermensch — August 5, 2007 @ 12:16 am
I’ll ditto what some others said; being all alone up here in the northwest, the Mariners territory spreads out in all directions and eventually peters out in the various hinterlands, instead of coming up hard against other “borders”.
Comment by Geoduck — August 5, 2007 @ 1:23 am
having grown up (born in 1962) in york county PA (nonKKK, i promise!), with dad a phillies fan and mom and orioles fan; and with the pirates most accessible on radio when i was a student at PSU, i’d say as with politics and transportation and religion, the commonealth of PA is more complicated than what the map shows. but i still dig the map. bring in a cultural geographer who can map history as well as media. when TBS went nationwide, so many undergrad students became braves fans …; but they couldn’t say why. still love ya, chuck thompson, brooks, bobby, davey, boog
Comment by rx — August 5, 2007 @ 2:15 am
Thought I’d add my geographic experiences. I am from West Lafayette, IN and go to Purdue(between Chicago and Indianapolis), and am a die hard White Sox fan. I would agree with the comments earlier about the Sox with the majority of NW Indiana and the Cubs with the NE. Where I’m from, Cubs are definitely the most popular, (except when all the bandwagoners came out for the Sox 2005 championship). The local news will show highlights from the Cubs, Sox, Cards, and Reds. I don’t know any Reds fans, the Cards come in probably close to the Sox for second and the Cubs unfortunately hold the majority. I can’t even imagine how many Cubs fans there will be on campus come September if their still in the race. Basically if you don’t follow baseball at all, you become a Cubs fan when they start to win because it’s cool.
Comment by smart guy — August 5, 2007 @ 3:11 am
nationals? people in maryland don’t like the nationals, and certainly not the pirates…
Comment by killerclaw — August 5, 2007 @ 4:54 am
Great maps.
Comment by Srinivas — August 5, 2007 @ 7:46 am
@ TJIC, Kip, Matt D, Wilhelm2451:
Thanks, correcting…
@ everyone:
Thanks for all your insights!
Comment by strangemaps — August 5, 2007 @ 10:22 am
How about an 1880 map of railroads in the U.S.? I can’t find one and want one bad, also 1860,1870, and 1890 would be good.
suppose.wordpress.com
Comment by suppose — August 5, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
The map doesn’t seem to take into account minor league loyalty.
for many years, Rochester, NY had the AAA Farm Team for the Baltimore Orioles, and the area around Rochester has some of the most loyal Orioles fans in the country. Rochesterians still consider Cal Ripken, Jr., Boog Powell, Frank Robinson, Don Baylor and Bobby Grich to be our own.
Similarly, Norfolk, Va formerly had the Mets’ AAA farm Team, and David Wright, who grew up in Norfolk and is now playing third for the Mets, was a Mets fan growing up.
Comment by Brendan — August 5, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
I don’t know if the Nationals territory extends as far south as the map shows. But even at less than 3 years old, the Nats definitely have a lock on most of Virginia and on the Maryland counties surrounding DC. Most people in this area (I’m in Northern VA) were never Baltimore Orioles fans to begin with, but the behavior of Peter Angelos toward Washington-area fans virtually guaranteed the complete destruction of the Orioles brand in this market.
The Oakland Athletics’ territory is greatly exaggerated. The Giants do dominate the coast, but they probably have the edge inland as well. I think the A’s “country” is limited to about a 10 mile radius of their ballpark.
Same is true of the White Sox. They hold their own within the city limits of Chicago (though even there the Cubs probably have an edge), but everything beyond is Cubs Land.
Comment by Simon — August 6, 2007 @ 2:35 am
Nobody asked/answered for Expos fans? Not in the upstate hinterlands of NY and VT (home of the last team named the Expos ever, in the NY/Penn league)?
Grew up in CT on the front line of the border war. (Opted out.) Note that northwestern CT, Mass’s Berkshires, and southwestern VT (aka places Manhattanites spend weekends) have enclaves of Yankee fans.
Comment by ThresherK — August 6, 2007 @ 3:04 am
>>
Might want to research Kansas too. Outside of the KC area you might find more Cards fans than Royals fans…
>>
Kansans mostly root for the Royals. But the truth is that people care a lot more about college basketball than pro baseball.
Comment by House of Payne — August 6, 2007 @ 5:50 am
While I’d agree with the couple of folks who said the Braves are the most popular team in Louisiana (and the south in general), the Astros do have a sizeable following in the state, especially in the southwestern part near Houston itself. They usually get the “home team” treatment by the local media, but of course, that doesn’t decide loyalties.
Comment by B — August 6, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
I just love the bias of a couple of the Yankees/Mets who have posted when it comes to NJ. Having grown up in South Jersey (yes folks, the state is not culturally homogenous), I can assue you that nearly all of it is Phillies territory. You can get the NY stations on some of the cable systems, but you see comparitively few NY fans down there.
Comment by The Talking Moose — August 6, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
“Rochester, NY had the AAA Farm Team for the Baltimore Orioles …”
That positive development was wrecked under the fiefdom of Peter Angelos. Lots of hatred was sent Balto’s way in the last years of that minor league agreement.
Comment by catholicsensibility — August 6, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
I made my own version of this map for a wallpaper. Damned Nike wouldn’t let me buy a print:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/61583567/
Comment by Tyler — August 6, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
Nationals: The map has a pretty fair read on their territory. I agree with the poster above who notes that there are few, if any, Baltimore Oriole fans left in Virginia, and only a small, dwindling minority in the heavily populated parts of Maryland closest to DC. Peter Angelos: Public Relations Genius.
The Nats haven’t given people in the DC area much to cheer about yet, but there’s no doubt most of the Washington Redskins’ football region has embraced them as the home team.
Brewers: As another poster pointed out, parts of the lightly-populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan are more Brewer territory than Tiger land. On the other hand, much of Western Wisconsin is oriented more toward the Minnesota Twins than to Milwaukee.
White Sox: C’mon! Even with a World Championship under their belt, they don’t dominate any territory beyond the South Side of Chicago. The north half of the city, all of the burbs and the larger region for miles around are Cubs-only.
Athletics: Same as White Sox. There are a lot more Giants fans in California’s central valley (and almost everywhere else in Northern California) than A’s fans.
Braves: If anything, the Map understates their geographic reach. The really are the Team of the South, and I have a hard time believing the Florida panhandle has more Marlins fans than Braves fans.
Comment by Baseball Bob — August 6, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
Nationals/Orioles: Agree with posters above that there are few, if any, Baltimore Orioles fans left in Virginia and only a dwindling minority in Maryland’s suburban DC areas. The Nats haven’t given the region much to cheer about on the field yet, but most people who live in Redskins’ football country have embraced the Nationals as their home baseball team. The Orioles have essentially been relegated to Baltimore city and its immediate environs, thanks to Peter G. Angelos, Public Relations Genius.
Cubs/White Sox: C’mon!! There’s no region beyond the South Side of Chicago that the Sox dominate. They have fans scattered throughout Chicagoland, but the Cubbies dominate almost everywhere.
Giants/Athletics: Same as above. Most of the inland region shown on the map as “Athletics country” has far more Giants fans than A’s fans. The A’s dominate the East Bay district. All the rest of Northern California is Giants Country.
Brewers/Twins/Tigers: Agree with poster above that the Brewers probably have more fans in parts of the Michigan U.P. than Detroit does. But by the same token, Western Wisconsin should be shaded as Twins Country. You’ll find a lot more Twinkies fans in Eau Claire, Wisc., than Brewers fans.
Braves: The map actually understates their geographic reach. The southern parts of the Nationals region is probably more Braves-oriented. And the Florida panhandle is a real whopper: There are way more Braves fans there than Marlins fans. The Braves are really the Team of the South.
Comment by Baseball Bob — August 6, 2007 @ 7:45 pm
The Braves’ territory basically goes from Richmond (AAA farm team) to Tampa’s territory.
Comment by Andre Rousimoff — August 6, 2007 @ 8:49 pm
The last two comments concerning the Tigers/Twins/Brew Crew might be right, except that I know that a lot of people go to the UP from southern Michigan because they have family that’s retired up there so they might sway the borders towards the Tigers. I’m pretty sure that Northern Ohio around Toledo and the areas directly south of the Michigan border are Tiger fans, while the futher southwest you get in MI the more Cubs fans you’ll find. For example, I know a bunch of people from K-zoo who are Cubs fans, while everyone I know from Grand Rapids are Tigers fans. And you might as well just give us WIndsor/ Sarnia/ London.
Oh, and I think that Omaha and most of Eastern Nebraska is firmly Royals territory, since the Omaha Royals have been the fam club for them ever since both club’s inceptions in the late 60s.
Comment by Jack — August 6, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
Basically an accurate map would have almost no geographic territory labelled “Mets,” “Athletics” or “White Sox.” Each of those teams (especially the Mets) has millions of fans, but they are outnumbered throughout their respective regions by their cross-town rivals, the Yankees, Giants, and Cubs, respectively.
The Angels really do have a geographic area (Orange County) in which they are number 1, though plenty of Dodger fans are to be found there.
Comment by Baseball Bob — August 6, 2007 @ 9:21 pm
Connecticut is roughly split in half, though the Mets do have fans scattered throughout (mainly old time Giants and Dodgers fans and their descendants who still despise the Yankees. New Haven is roughly the dividing point between Yanks/Red Sox, however. The Yanks also have a huge following in Florida, and I would imagine the Chicago teams do also, because of migration south.
Too bad the map doesn’t show defunct “countries.” The Expos had a large following in upstate New York, as well in northern New England, especially among the French there. And presently the Jays do have fans around Buffalo and Rochester.
Comment by Dan — August 6, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
Anyone else think the Blue Jays should have a larger swath of Canada? Mariners and Red Sox loyalties may spill over into Vancouver and the Maritime Provinces, but I just have a notion (however uneducated) that baseball fans in Calgary and Winnipeg would lean Blue Jays.
Comment by Not the same Dan — August 7, 2007 @ 1:14 am
I find this map very new-centric. As mentioned earlier in these posts, the newer teams (Nationals, Marlins…) are given a lot more territory than they really have. Being a long-suffering cubs fan, I’ve got to tell you that their influence west is less than it appears (though, like the Yankees or Red Sox, have quite a bit of national presence) but goes a lot farther north. I know of a few folks who still consider the brewers an expansion team. I would say that the White Sox go south from Chicago and NW Indiana, but beyond that their influence is limited. The cubs should extend farther north, most of the way to milwaukee. Especially given its change of leagues in the last expansion, they are still a “young” less influential ball-club. However, a few more years like this one, they will gain ground.
Actually, THAT’S a map I’d like to see. They growing a receeding of this (or, a slightly more accurate map, not done by merchandiceing promotors) map, which can be shown in a video style, or perhaps, to go old shool, like those of battlegrounds from the field trips and diaramas of my youth.
Comment by bob — August 7, 2007 @ 4:23 am
This would be a lot easier if the US Census bureau included pro team preference in its survey. :)
Comment by chris — August 7, 2007 @ 8:50 am
[...] saw the coolest thing via the UniWatch blog via some blog called Strange Maps. Well, not the coolest thing, I guess. Not really cool at all. But I was fascinated. The comments [...]
Pingback by Dan Loney Says It All » Blog Archive » Terra incogneato — August 8, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
I don’t think the Rangers are that popular. There are plenty of Cards fans in Oklahoma. I would expand the Astros reach (I like in Texas, I know).
Also I would expand the Braves territory and reduce the Marlins (having spent the rest of my life in Atlanta and Florida. :-)
Comment by John — August 8, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
Interesting to me that this map pretty much conforms with the CommonCensus map that was based on (unscientific) survey data that someone posted up above.
I would guess MLB or sports marketing people have tried to do scientific versions of the survey, and obviously this map was based on some of that data, approximately.
Comment by David — August 8, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
[...] in this country, I like baseball the best, both minor and major leagues. Here is an interesting map I came [...]
Pingback by Baseball « blog.mayson.us — August 8, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
We also publish baseball maps… maybe not as much fun as this, but somewhat less controversial. See the 2007 Baseball Travel Map at http://www.baseballmaps.com.
Now, a couple issues:
1. It seems clear that territories overlap. It would be interesting to see the sum of broadcast reaches of team affiliate stations.
2. Boundaries of legend: I grew up near Princeton NJ and remember 30 years ago reading in New Jersey Magazine of how (supposedly) you could stand in the middle of Province Line Road and hear the Yankees broadcast on one side and the Phillies on the other. Makes a nice story anyway.
3. The Twins do a goodwill tour every year into the Dakotas. Maybe another way of “marking the bounds” of their territory… I just had this really unfortunate image of the entire team pissing onto the western border of North Dakota.
4. I would love to see a motion graphic showing how this has changed over time. I remember hearing from a colleague as we were working on our World of Baseball title about how before the Braves moved to Atlanta, the Cards basically owned the South. That’s a lot of territory…
Comment by Nat Case — August 9, 2007 @ 3:02 am
[...] (via http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/03/160-the-united-countries-of-baseball/) [...]
Pingback by The United Countries of Baseball « diagrammar — August 9, 2007 @ 6:35 pm
Excellent post. Interesting to compare the “United Countries of Baseball” map with the “Commoncensus MLB Fan Map” and also with all comments above.
My comments:
–the Cleveland Indians territory shown extending south of I-70 from SE Ohio deep into West Virginia is indeed mythical.
–Seattle Mariners fan region definitely extends east to northern Idaho and western Montana as well as south into Oregon and north into British Columbia and Alaska; also west across Pacific to Hawaii and Japan.
–Toronto Blue Jays have LOTS of fans across Ontario and western Canada; when Seattle Mariners play Blue Jays in Seattle, plenty of Blue Jay fans travel south.
–back in the old days (pre-1970s) there used to be significant, even dominante number of NY Yankee fans in eastern North Carolina, thanks to radio broadcasts
–relatives used to straddle the line through Pennsylvania separating Philadelphia Phillies turf from Pittsburgh Pirates fandom. Lewiston (not to be confused with Lewistown further east) was & I’m guessing still is in the Phillies orbit (and also Philadephia Inquirer subscription area) whereas Huntingdon a few miles west in the next county was & propably still is Pirates country due to Pittsburgh papers.
Comment by Sea Shanty Irish — August 10, 2007 @ 1:30 am
Excelente nota y blog
Algunos comentarios
1. La discrepancia que experimenta el lector del mapa entre la percepción que posee de la realidad y el mapa, es la fuerza conductora que da origen a estas cuestiones.
Frente a una posición de autoridad característica de la cartografía física se genera un nuevo mediador o autoridad, el propio usuario. En la cartografía de la percepción, lo subjetivo no sólo es su objeto de estudio sino también, la técnica o medio de construcción cartográfica y la técnica de control de la bondad del mapa.
2.- La geografía de la percepción es por definición borrosa o difusa, frente a un cartografía de fronteras o limites exactos es necesario recurrir a un cartografía borrosa de limites imprecisos que no son líneas sino polígonos de transacción entre dos realidad distintas.
3.- La escala, mejor dicho, la resolución del píxel o de la unidad mínima cartografiada sobre la que se tiene datos, es la clave para fijar el objetivo del análisis que oscila entre la heterogeneidad o la homogeneidad social
4.- No basta con conocer donde esta la afición, cuales son sus fronteras o el objetivo del análisis. Es completamente imprescindible conocer cual es el grado de compromiso de los elementos del individuo con ese área. La afición a un equipo así como otras muchas actividades humanas no son discretas sino cuestión de grado. La lógica borrosa vuelve a ser la técnica matemática que nos define las funciones de pertenencia, medidas de 0 a 1 de un elemento, a un determinado conjunto.
5.- La variable temporal, las modas, las olas fluctuaciones en el tiempo son una variable básica a tener en cuenta en este tipo de cartografía.
6.- Una cuestión crucial es la visibilidad de lo que se quiere percibir cartográficamente. Las encuestas y la participación 2.0 es clave para dotar de una visibilidad a la percepción del territorio.
Una sociedad, un grupo social, una red o una afición involucrados y activos son una sociedad cartográficamente visible. Una sociedad anodina o “pasota” es una sociedad sin imagen.
Comment by El mundo de los mapas — August 11, 2007 @ 3:51 am
Great site!!
I would add that yes, the Rangers
have way too much credit. I’d say Texas is probably more divided evenly, between the Astros and the Rangers.
Also, Idaho and the “Intermountain West” as it were, seem to fall into the camp of the Rockies, and even Kansas City. Especially since one of the Royals’ farm teams was there.
Cheers!!
Comment by Turbo — August 14, 2007 @ 6:03 am
I can only see this a brief overview. Come on, The Braves?I dont see it that way. A large part of NY once played out their loyalties either at Ebbetts or the Polo Grounds and for any true fan those loyalties live on.Dodgers & Giants must be shown in NY! Also I being from Nor Cal and raised on Tommy Lasorda I have seen many rivalry games at the Giants parks and I can tell you that when the Dodgers do well, its hard to tell from roaring crowd that its a road game.Boy oh boy! when the Giants prevail its as if they’ve won the pennant.P S Giants lots and lots of homers in SF but no world titles?TROY GLAUS…..
Comment by tomba — August 14, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
Fun map. Some thoughts about problems, much of it already said.
1) Southwestern Connecticut would seem to be Yankees country.
2) North Jersey should definitely be for the Yankees, I think. The Mets should get Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens), and that’s it.
3) The Nationals’ territory in eastern North Carolina has got to be wholly phantasmic. I might give that area to the Redskins, but it’s almost certainly Braves territory for baseball.
4) What’s with the map showing not only northern Florida, but even parts of southern Georgia for the Marlins? The whole state of Georgia is surely Braves territory, no?
Comment by John — August 14, 2007 @ 9:58 pm
The town I live in is right on the Cards/Cubs border, and this map nailed it precisely. I don’t know what scientific method you used, but you got my area right on.
Comment by Mike P. — August 15, 2007 @ 7:04 am
Great map, some modifications:
1. Indians - don’t have any land south of I-70.
2. Mets - Long Island, Staten, Queens only.
3. Braves - from Mid-Virginia to Orlando and from Arkansas to the Ocean. They OWN the south.
Finally…
Where I live in Western New York there is no clear majority. I’d say in order of popularity (though its roughly split) it goes Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Mets, Indians. Again… it’s really close.
Comment by jgor — August 15, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
Thank you, MRB (#84)!! I am an Alaskan, a lifelong Mariners fan, and I completely agree with your post!
Comment by alaskanMsfan — August 16, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
I essentially agree with Augie on comment #45. Since entering the Major Leagues in the 1990’s, the Rockies and Diamondbacks have expanded into New Mexico. However, the Albuquerque Metropolitan area is still a Dodger enclave. The Dodgers’ AAA team was in Albuquerque for over 30 years and there is still a lot of loyalty. A recent poll in the Albuquerque Journal confirmed this.
Comment by Brian F — August 16, 2007 @ 11:19 pm
I agree with BravesFan. I’ve lived in New Orleans my entire life and haven’t met too many Astros fans. MLB and Fox SportsNet thinks we’re Houston fans and show us games but we mostly despise them. Most people are Braves fans or even Cubs fans because of the far-reaching WGN superstation.
Comment by Em-El — August 18, 2007 @ 8:41 am
I guess I should add that New Orleans is very different than Louisiana, so perhaps the Astros thing holds true for the rest of the state.
Comment by Em-El — August 18, 2007 @ 8:42 am
ockness is right: Cardinals territory extends into northeast Oklahoma. Especially older people there remain Cards fans. There *is* some Texas Rangers support in Oklahoma, but it’s particularly in the southern part of the state. I grew up in northeast Oklahoma as a KC Royals fan, but that seems to have become less feasible now (it’s hard to find the Royals on TV in the Tulsa markets these days).
Comment by Jay — August 18, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
thank u & with my best wishes for you
Comment by Software — August 19, 2007 @ 4:03 am
As a Met fan; the whole concept of territories is vastly exaggerated. I live in the Bronx and usually make trips to Westchester and Rockland counties upstate and I see a lot of Mets fans up there, as well as the Bronx. Same goes if you go the Brooklyn or Nassau counties; you will see Yankee fans there as well. I will agree with it to a certain degree that those areas probably lean a little more to that team. But in the end, the team that’s winning will have the more fans. You couldn’t find a Yankee fan anywhere in the mid- late 1980’s or a Met fan in the mid 90’s…until 98. I hate to say it but most New York fans hop on the bandwagon on whoever is better. Just look at how close the attendance are between the two teams this year…with the Mets actually avg more road fans then the Yankees this year.
Folks, it always comes down on who is better…the Yankees 26 championships don’t mean anything if the Mets are world champions. Now, I don’t understand the psychology in Chicago, because those people obsesses more about the Cubs then the White Sox for some reason.
Comment by Ed — August 20, 2007 @ 5:57 am
If one is just doing a territorial split among the Yankees and the Mets. Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island is DEFINITELY Mets territory. Brooklyn was home to the Brooklyn Dodgers for crying out loud. When the Dodgers left and the Mets came; they ALL become Mets fans. A very small minority stopped following baseball after the bums departure. The Bronx obviously belongs to the Yankees; but one forgets that the Bronx was once split in half between Yankees fans and Giants fans (packets of Dodgers fans as well). When the Giants left, who did those fans begin to follow? The Mets of course. Manhattan is always seen as “open territory” because most of those people tend to be bandwagon hoppers…although that tag applies to the majority of my fellow New Yorkers as well.
As far as southern Connecticut being Yankee land. That’s not entirely true either. If one wants to trace the origins of where the term “Red Sox Nation” really came from, was because of the split allegiances of Conn among Mets and Red Sox fans. Most of those Met fans probably hopped on the Yankee bandwagon after 96 and nowadays are probably waiting for the right moment to hop on the Mets bandwagon again.
New York will always be a National League town.
Comment by DYI Now — August 20, 2007 @ 6:22 am
Now I understand why Peter Golenbock called the Mets, “New York’s most Beloved Baseball team” in the book “Amazin”.
Comment by The Dude — August 20, 2007 @ 6:26 am
I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s in the far Western end of the U.P. of Michigan and it is definitely Tiger territory, I believe one other poster noted as well that the U.P. also trends strongly toward Michigan and Michigan State in NCAA football and basketball. It is mostly Packers territory in football. There are smatterings of Twins, Brewers, and Vikings and Lions fans around the U.P. but they are definitely a minority. I live now in Mpls/St Paul, I would include the North Central and North East portions of Iowa in Twins country, they also support the Vikings…Iowa divides after that geographically between the Cubs/Bears regions and the Cards/Rams regions.
Comment by leftymn — August 20, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
More Maps and Mapping Tools
And, reminding me of an earlier map we saw of soft-drink naming conventions, here’s a map that divides the country by fans of professional baseball teams.
Trackback by Community Indicators Blog — August 21, 2007 @ 9:45 am
Cubs territory should definitely be invading Wisco and why is Cubland red? I know there is red in the Cub’s unis but out color is definitely blue. We don’t say “Bleed Cubbie Blue” and “The Boys in Blue” for nothin. And anything that even resembles cardinal red is a travesty. Boo.
Comment by VinceJose — August 23, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
[...] 160 - The United Countries of Baseball « strange maps : [...]
Pingback by Present Tensed » Interesting Links/Articles between August 20th and August 24th — August 25, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Phillies territory in South Jersey is way too large on that map. All of Monmouth County is Yankees/Mets. Almost all of Ocean County is also, with the few southernmost towns gaining Yankees fans (and losing Phillies fans) every day.
Comment by John — August 25, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
New Orleans is Cubs country. The Astros made a dumb decision when they took their AAA out of New Orleans that they had for 6 years.
Mark Prior came here for a rehab start and it drew three times the normal Tuesday night crowd, most of whom had Cubs jerseys.
Comment by Robert — August 26, 2007 @ 4:10 am
Great idea, but some input is necessary concerning the Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, and Florida Marlins.
There are large numbers of Toronto Blue Jay fans who converge upon Seattle whenever the Mariners host Toronto. Much like that annoying NY Jets contingent that routinely shows up whenever that team visits the Dolphins in Miami, although, being Canadian, and not Jets fans, the Toronto baseball fans are much less obnoxious… CBUT, a CBC affiliate in Vancouver available on Seattle cable, regularly carries Blue Jay games (or at least formerly did). British Columbia, then, is mixed Mariners/Blue Jays at best, with PLENTY of the latter.
In fact, it was my casual observation in Vancouver, BC of the curious proliferation of people sporting Toronto Blue Jay caps and other paraphernalia, representing a team over 2000 miles distant, in a city only two hours north of Seattle, which would form the kernel of my Master’s thesis in geography concerning transborder cultural differences in “Cascadia” (Pacific NW).
On the other hand, the breadth of Mariner Nation is great. I have been in Alaska, Montana, and other points in the NW and watched Mariner games on the regional sportsnet cable station. These and other states (Oregon, Idaho) are firmly in Seattle Mariner nation. And with Ichiro (and now Johjima) on the roster, along with the city’s location as closest major U.S. city to Japan, Seattle can lay claim to that nation as well!
As an undergraduate at the University of Florida (where all of this “… Nation” phrasing originated decades ago), and then graduate school at FSU, I noticed that the only baseball fans in North Florida who were not Atlanta Braves supporters generally were from South Florida or the Tampa Bay area (or the odd Yankee hanger-on). Even Orlando is split. Much/most of Florida, then, certainly the northern part, is Atlanta Braves territory, unfortunately.
Again, great idea, but ripe for tweaks/elaboration.
Comment by Torque — August 28, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
Growing up with Detroit right across the river from Windsor, I can say that Essex, Kent and Lambton counties in Ontario are owned by the Tigers, many die-hard fans. Jays fans pop up here and there, but don’t really come in swarms until London. Pretty much all Michigan teams have big fanbases in those three counties.
Comment by Bryson — August 29, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
Madiso9n
This was one time where I have to agree to disagree
Trackback by Madiso9n — September 5, 2007 @ 8:42 am
this is similar to the maps i’ve made at http://billsportsmaps.com
Comment by billssportsmapscom — September 6, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
Well, the Royals/Rangers split is about right, though there is some Rangers bleedover as far north as Salina, KS.
Comment by Sam — September 11, 2007 @ 2:23 am
アメリカの地図-「野球チーム」版
160 - The United Countries of Baseball [via strange maps]
…
Trackback by soheicube linkpost — September 19, 2007 @ 6:59 am
I am located in Ada, Oklahoma (88 miles southeast from OKC) and in Tulsa, Oklahoma City (even with Rangers AAA affiliate there) and even here in Ada, I have seen more Cardinals fans than anyone. I’ve even seen more Cubs fans than Rangers fans.
Comment by Andrew — September 25, 2007 @ 2:01 am
[...] United Countries of Baseball 160 - The United Countries of Baseball strange maps __________________ Go Green, Go White, GO STATE!! "GDG, I’ve always respected your [...]
Pingback by The United Countries of Baseball - SpartanTailgate.com - Michigan State Spartans Forums — September 26, 2007 @ 12:35 am
Three notes:
1) A couple of years ago, probably in relation to the new stadiums, The NYC Deputy Mayor’s office did an economic impact study about where Mets and Yankees fans traveled from to attend games. the found that Yankees fans came from Manhattan, the Bronx(naturally), Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Orange counties in New York, and Fairfield County, CT. Mets fans hailed from Brooklyn, Queens(again, naturally), Staten Island and Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. Fans from New Jersey were about equal for both, with a slight north/Yankees central/Mets split. Reflects the geography, if you ask me, as the Yankees play slightly further north and to the west, while the Mets are a bit further south and east.
These were, of course, generalizations, and fans for both can be found throughout the region.
2) The impact on TBS on the Braves fan base can’t be undersold, nor can the fact that until the Marlins came along in 1993, they were the only team in that part of the country, so it makes sense for them to have a huge swath of the country.
3) Similarly, from the beginning of the 20th century until 50 years later, St. Louis was easily the furthest south and west of all baseball cities. And no one really cared about the St. Louis Browns (which is why they’re now in Baltimore) A _huge_ portion of the Midwest and Plains states was simply in Cardinal territory for half a century. And while Milwaukee, Minnesota, Colorado and KC are now around, their impact has been more local, and many parts of the country are still Cardinals country almost by default.
Comment by Zanko — October 4, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
Red Sox Nation!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sox_Nation
Comment by Steve_MacD — October 6, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
I know the Rockies nation is much larger. That map hardly includes any of colorado. Most of wyoming is represented there, but what about the state that actually harbors the rockies? basically all the way from montana to northern new mexico should be rockies, as well as most of utah, but whatever.
Comment by brian — October 12, 2007 @ 9:59 pm
If this map included bandwagon fans, then the entire map would be Yankeeland, although with the crumbling of the evil empire, that should change quick. Ironically, the NY Metropolitan area prefers the Mets, but because of the marketing behemoth of the Yankees brand, they are more popular outside of the NY Metro area. Ironic isnt it. Kind of like Michael Jackson… Popular outside of the US but not inside.
Comment by mike — October 19, 2007 @ 6:02 pm
[...] from unknown [...]
Pingback by darace » 160 - The United Countries of Baseball — October 21, 2007 @ 4:24 am
I would agree with Brian; ALL of Colorado should be considered a part of “Rockies Nation.” A large portion to the South and West (through Grand Junction, Co and beyond)must be included. And after a World Series appearence I suspect this area will expand rapidly throughout the Rocky Mountain West.
Comment by Jer — November 2, 2007 @ 8:10 pm
This map is horrible concerning Yankees presence in CT. First of all, virtually no one in Fairfield County OR New Haven County (Which extands far to the east of New Haven) likes the Red Sox. These people are primarily suburban New Yorkers. People in lower Faifield are only like 30 miles from the city… there is absolutely no way the sox exert influence over them. Furthermore, even in northern CT, albeit only west of the CT River, the fanbase is still over 50% New York. This map is an embarrassment to CT and needs to amended!
Comment by mark — November 16, 2007 @ 12:40 am
“the common census map also doesn’t have any real information to work with other than radio/tv saturation stats”
I didn’t spot anyone else’s response to this comment; it’s misinformed. The Commoncensus map doesn’t use ANY broadcast-related data; it’s strictly a map of responses to their own online survey. Go to their site and take it yourself, if you haven’t yet, to be included in the map.
Also, part of the site allows you to click on map locations, with a circle of a specified size, and see how many actual responses for each team appear in that area. Doing this reveals some telling information about, for example, the surprising apparent Nationals territory. Try clicking on, say, the Virginia/Carolina coastal area that’s shown as a Nats area; you’ll see that, indeed, the Nationals were the leading response, but that total votes are pretty sparse, so it’s not indicative of much. A circle centered on DC itself, while tallying hundreds of times more total votes, and also showing the Nats leading, ALSO shows a huge remaining Orioles bloc in and around DC. So while the map isn’t “wrong” on its own terms; the colors you see ARE representative of the “predominant” team actually receiving online votes in the area, the overall picture can be misleading if you don’t fully understand what you’re looking at.
What we REALLY need, in addition to a more detailed/refined geographic map, is a “cartogram” map, in which big cities and more populous regions are proportionately enlarged. Thus, even teams whose territory is geographically small (South Side Chicago, or whatever) will still show up in proportion to their actual support.
Comment by Erik — November 16, 2007 @ 1:15 am
As A lifelong Massachusetts resident and Red Sox fan I gotta say that Fairfield Co. Connecticut is mostly Yankees fans as shameful as it may be. You’ll find more Sox fans in upstate new york than sw ct. And it’s tough to see on the map but Manhattan is more Yankees than Mets too. Mostly because New Yorkers are heartless bastards who root for the team that wins more.
Comment by Pat — November 20, 2007 @ 11:04 pm
Diamondbacks have fans in So. CA?? Hmmmmm. Go to Phoenix and see a Dodger/Dback game.. There are TONS of Dodger fans in attendance. The Dodgers also have a “large” fan following in Hawaii. San Diego is Padre-land but, when the Dodgers come to town the crowd is split about 50-50. Padre fans hate us, it’s great! Maybe Dodger fans just follow the our boys where ever they go.
Comment by Lori — December 2, 2007 @ 9:59 am
Sam
Trackback by Sam — December 23, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
Hello all;
This map was a marketing tool created by Nike for the All Star Game in the 2007 season. The boundaries are a loose interpetation of the jersey sales around the country. As a life-long Giants fan, I feel the boundaries are for the most part well i