When you think of Bermuda -- a lush British Caribbean island off in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean -- you're likely not also thinking about baseball.
Maybe your mind goes to its pink sand beaches, its posh resorts, its rich scuba-diving culture. Maybe it makes you think of the infamous Bermuda triangle and the sea monsters that may or may not lurk there.
Even the country's sports and rec Wikipedia page has no mention of the sport -- listing soccer, cricket, golf, tennis and something called "futsal" ahead of it.
But don't tell that to Adam Hall, member of the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers and the one, and only, professional baseball player from the place Mark Twain once ranked above Heaven.
"I honestly just played as many sports as I could as a kid," Hall told me in a recent phone call. "We were fortunate enough, my Dad and I, to kind of have access to the baseball field. It wasn't too busy."
The history of baseball in Bermuda could probably be summarized on the back of one index card.
The very first glimpses of the game likely date back to 1913 -- when the Yankees decided to hold Spring Training there, playing games on local cricket grounds against the Minor League Jersey City Skeeters. Life, during that spring, sounded pretty ideal according to the New York Times.
“With few cars on the island, the ballplayers rode bicycles to and from practice at the pristine Hamilton Cricket Grounds. At the hotel, they dined in style with provisions, including drinking water, shipped in twice a week from New York.”
Although players raved of the pristine conditions, a poor start to the 1913 season was blamed on the rocky, seasick-inducing voyage back to the States. The Yanks never went back and neither did any other team.
But baseball would pop up again thanks to U.S. military bases being built near the airport in the 1940s. American soldiers, as they would in many places around the world, constructed fields and leagues to pass the time. Their kids would play, Bermudians became interested and the sport grew from there.
"Americans came down, they had this massive part of the island and they built a bunch of baseball fields," Youth Athletic Organization (YAO) commissioner Adam Champion told me. "They started a youth baseball program and opened it up to Bermudians and folks living in Bermuda. The base closed, they all left, the fields remain and we now run it as a pretty traditional youth baseball league."
As traditional as a baseball league can be on a Caribbean isle with just six fields.
But Champion, who moved to Bermuda from Boston for work in 2011 and has been involved with baseball on the island for more than half-a-decade, says interest in the sport has been strong. There are about 250 kids in five divisions -- aged 4-14 years old. Coaches try to get between 4-6 teams per division. Players are generally American, Canadian, British or Bermudian. Some have baseball backgrounds, some are just curious about trying a new activity and some play a very similar sport that's a bit more popular in Bermuda.
"Yeah I've coached a few cricket kids over the years," Champion said. "And you know what, they've never picked up a baseball bat in their lives and then they make contact every time because they're so used to hitting."
Either way, it's sort of an ideal place to learn the game.
"It's an amazing thing, yeah," Champion told me. "You look out and you're looking at Cooper's Island, you're out there near St. George's, all this beautiful stuff around you, we definitely all share that feeling."
Hall, whose late father was Canadian and his mother, Bermudian, says baseball -- among the many other sports he played -- was just the one he was really good at from a very early age.
"My dad was not a baseball guy, he grew up in Canada, he was hockey," Hall told me. "If I had grown up somewhere near an ice rink, I'm sure I would've followed suit. I was fortunate to have a pretty good group of guys that were two or three years older than me that I was kind of able to mix into."
Hall's parents immediately supported their son -- his dad, Ty, practicing with him on the field, the beach or empty plots of grass. The family even installed a batting cage and rebound net in their backyard. Hall, a super athlete with multiple tools and abilities to play different positions, looked like he could go far -- even after playing about seven games a season on island.
"Oh yeah, if you're a coach in the league, you know the stories of Adam Hall," Champion said. "Super well-known. People will say it was crazy how good he was. Like freakishly good."
“To be honest, he was such an amazing athlete, my main goal was not doing anything to screw him up,” Joel Czember, Hall's coach on the island, said. “It’s really hard to describe how good he already was at 11 years old.”
One problem Hall ran into: Bermuda baseball leagues don't really go past age 11-12.
"The biggest negative we have is that [baseball in Bermuda] really ends at age 12," Champion said. "We do offer baseball, we have a field -- like a high school size field. We have a league that we call Babe Ruth which is basically 13-plus. We do get some diehard kids that love baseball, but we typically don't have enough to run a league at that age. You're kind of like sandlot. There are coaches there, and eight kids, or 15 kids, but it's more like, 'Let's do a scrimmage, let's do some drills.'"
"Yeah, it pretty much tapers off at that point," Hall told me. "There is a league, but people just show up and scrimmage. It's just for fun."
So the Halls, wanting some more serious competition for their son, moved to Ontario. Once there -- Adam's talents took off. He was playing against 18-year-olds at 14, he made the junior national team at 15, he was drafted by the Orioles with the 60th overall pick in 2017, a month after turning 18.
The first pro ballplayer from one of the smallest countries on Earth.
Hall was a top 15 prospect for the O's at different points during his time in the organization -- showing off exceptional speed, fielding and hitting abilities. But, still, he never got above Triple-A. After a year with Winnipeg in an Indy League in 2024, Hall latched on with the Brewers' Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds. He was recently assigned to Double-A Biloxi. Earlier this season, he made a catch that was aired on SportsCenter's Top 10.
He also accomplished another first for Bermudian base-ballers.
And Bermuda has been closely watching their native baseball son.
The Bernews reports on nearly every game -- whether Hall did something notable or not.
The main newspaper, the Royal Gazette, has countless updates on the 26-year-old's odyssey.
"I'm always looking up to see how he's doing and telling my son about it," Champion said.
"It's neat, you know," Hall said. "I've been pretty removed from the country for 13 years, 14 years at this point. But to know that they still recognize you and still have your back -- it's a good feeling for sure."
It's, of course, been hard for baseball to break through ahead of cricket or soccer in Bermuda -- Champion and everyone involved in the sport on-island acknowledges that. But participation has increased to pre-Covid levels, there's a female player, Zoe Muir, who played at the beachside Kindley Field and recently won a Silver Medal in Japan and well, imagine the interest if Hall gets a shot in the spotlight of the Major Leagues? A dream of his, and his late father's.
Still, Champion knows his adopted home will never get mistaken for some of the other baseball-loving Caribbean countries. He's reminded of that fact during his team's travel ball trips to the U.S. East Coast -- his squads go by the pink uniform-adorned Bermuda Longtails and bring island-made rum for opposing coaches. It's a fun program that's expanding this season.
"There's this expectation that we're this Caribbean baseball team flying in to destroy them," Champion laughed. "Don't confuse Bermuda for the Dominican Republic."