Sliding into home plate to beat Verizon by a mammoth two full days, a Japanese cable TV company has announced it'll be broadcasting the world’s first live baseball match in 3D next week.

The July 8 match between Tokyo's Yakult Swallows and Hanshin Tigers from Kansai in west Japan will go out with the added dimension at 6 p.m. on cable company Hikari TV.

Coming live from Hanshin's storied Koshien Stadium - home to surely the world's most-watched high school baseball tourney - the game will be free to anyone with a Hikari subscription and, of course, a suitable 3D TV set.

And there's the rub. Both the U.S. and Japanese broadcasts are supported by Panasonic, one of the few firms already selling the necessary gear, such as the 152-inch 3D TV set we looked at recently.

While that costs US$100,000-plus, more 'normal' screens for the living room start at around US$1,500, with the likes of Samsung, Sharp and, of course, Panasonic already in the game.

Compared to the price of continuously going to the ballpark in either the United States or Japan (usually around US$100 for a ticket, food, beer, parking, etc), you're looking at a pretty good deal - if you aren't turned insane by those 3D glasses.

And at least viewers able to afford the hardware won't get stared down by the likes of Randy Johnnson (luckily for viewers he's retired) coming out of the screen or winked at by Japanese stickball heartthrob Yu Darvish.

Instead, they'll be treated to the likes of Casey Fossum up against Yasushi Iihara. Not big names, but hey they'll be the first pitchers in history to truly pop out of the TV.