Category Archives: British baseball

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British Baseball Beat

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The British Baseball Beat continues apace with plenty of action around the leagues, Great Britain U15’s playing in Germany and a successful new tournament in Scotland.

AAU Collegiate win the first Bobby Thomson Invitational Tournament

Up in Scotland, the three main independent leagues in British baseball came together for a new tournament this past weekend in Edinburgh.

The British Baseball League, South West Baseball League and home Scotland Baseball each fielded an All-Star team taking on the touring party of AAU Collegiate.

The collegiate summer team from the States came out on top, winning the final 6-1 against the BBL’s Northern Knights, but reports from the event show that whilst the ‘home’ players didn’t come away with the trophy, they took plenty from the tournament and plan to host it again next year.

It’s great to see another new event added to the British Baseball calendar and hopefully it will be even bigger and better in twelve months’ time.

NBL: Mets stay top but lose their unbeaten run

The London Mets (15-1), London Capitals (10-10) and Herts Falcons (7-11) shared out the wins at Grovehill Ballpark on Sunday in the National Baseball League.

The Capitals started the day with a 9-1 victory over the Falcons, but were then blanked by the seemingly impenetrable Mets’ pitching staff 8-0. However, Herts were able to beat the odds and secure a 5-4 win over the Mets, in part thanks to a home run by the always-dangerous Jarrod Pretorius.

London Mets still have a healthy lead in the standings and remain favourites to make it three national championships in a row, but the Falcons at least showed an upset against them is possible.

The Mets will have an immediate chance to gain some revenge this Sunday as the two teams meet as part of another trifecta of games, this time hosted by the Essex Arrows.

German Detour

Reading of Pretorius’s latest home run reminded me to check in on the all-time NBL home-run leader Maikel Azcuy. He’s in his second year in Germany playing and coaching for Berlin Flamingos (who sadly don’t play in pink uniforms).

Azcuy wasn’t able to prevent Berlin from being relegated last year, but he’s more than doing his bit to try to get them promoted again.

I’m not sure quite what the mercy rules are in the German leagues, but on 6 July the Flamingos won by the score of 44-1 against Leipzig Wallbreakers (presumably the wall breaking being done by Leipzig’s pitching coach’s head). Azcuy went 5-for-7, with his first 5 plate appearances resulting in a single, three doubles and a home run. This came after he went 4-for-6 with a home run against them in a 35-0 victory earlier in the season.

Berlin had the good grace to bench him for the second half of the double-header, which was called after five innings with the Flamingos up 10-0.

Azcuy went 1-for-5 and 2-for-3 this past Saturday as Berlin defeated Hannover Regents twice. He’s hitting .442 on the season and whilst there’s no official word yet on whether he will be part of Great Britain’s European Championship roster, he’s certainly showing that the hitting conditions in Germany suit him.

Bears Remain Unbeaten

With the Mets losing their proud 0, that leaves Double-A Bournemouth Bears (12-0) as the only team in the BBF leagues yet to taste defeat this season. They defeated the Brighton Jets (1-10) 20-4 to make it 12 wins in a row.

Elsewhere, Richmond Dragons (4-9) earned a 25-15 over Guildford Mavericks (6-10). Twitter updates show London Sidewinders beat London Marauders 14-12 whilst Norwich Iceni picked up a 19-14 win away to the Brentwood Stags, although these are still to be added to the BBF website.

Showing the men how it’s done!

Cambridge is no stranger to being home to historic moments. The city’s baseball teams are doing their best to uphold this reputation by making a bit of history of their own at Coldham’s Common.

Meanwhile Molly Willcox and Tsz Yan Chan of the South West Baseball League’s Bristol Buccaneers will be among the players taking part in the Women’s Baseball UK (WB-UK) event in Bristol on Saturday.

Single-A Central results

The Cambridge Royals’ (4-14) female infield efforts couldn’t hold back the division-leading Leicester Blue Sox (16-4) this time, however, as the visitors took both games of the double-header by scores of 13-7 and 14-1.

Meanwhile the Cambridge Lancers (1-21) also took two defeats at the hands of Northants Centurions (6-12). In fact, it was sweeps all around in A-Central as Birmingham Outlaws (12-4) also picked up two home wins against Long Eaton Storm (13-3). The Outlaws and Bandits will be staging a Birmingham derby double-header this Sunday.

Single-A South: Herts bragging rights for the Eagles

Speaking of derbies, in Single-A South the first Herts derby since 2016 went the way of the Eagles as they earned two victories against the Raptors. The latter are already eyeing the re-match:

South Coast Pirates (12-4) swept a double-header in Guildford against the Millers (7-11).

Great Britain U-15s playing Hardball

Four Herts players are among the Great Britain U15 squad in Germany this week competing in the Hardball City Cup.

The Young Lions are flying so far with a perfect 3-0 record. Follow all the news on the GB Baseball Twitter account.

Tie-breaker brings an end to Great Britain U18’s Euro Qualifier

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Great Britain U18’s bowed out of the European Championship U18 Qualifier in Sundbyberg, Sweden, on Friday.

After Belgium mounted a 5-run final inning comeback to beat Israel, Great Britain entered their game on Friday evening against Sweden knowing that a win would send them through to Saturday’s final, but a defeat would leave their fate in the hands of the CEB’s dreaded Teams Quality Balance equation.

Unfortunately a 6-2 defeat, including a lengthy delay in the bottom of the sixth inning due to a problem with the floodlights, meant the latter did come into play and brought an end to their tournament.

Will Lintern’s team mounted a typically spirited final-inning fightback, plating one run and then having the bases loaded when Sweden were able to get a ground-out to end the threat.

Despite getting the victory, it turned out to be a frustrating night for the home team. Had Israel held onto their lead in the earlier game then Sweden’s 2-0 record against GB and Belgium would have sent them through to the final. Instead, the TQB tie-breaker was needed to separate Sweden, Britain and Israel’s 2-2 records and the Swede’s fell one run short of bettering Israel’s TQB score.

Positives to take

Every tournament gives players the opportunity to develop and there were plenty of signs of that on display for Great Britain.

Jack Seppings went 6-for-14, led the team in runs scored (7) and stolen bases (4 from 4 attempts, including 3 in the game against Switzerland) whilst also pitching 6.1 innings across three appearances.

Michael Flaherty went 6-for-13 with 3 doubles and James Warren proved to be an RBI machine, leading the team with 8 runs batted in.

William Baranello will surely learn a lot from his two starts in the event, showing a real ability to miss bats with 12 strike-outs over 8 innings pitched. If he can pair that with developing his control (11 walks and 3 wild pitches) then he could prove to be an exciting prospect.

Aside from what shows up in the stats, every inning pitched, every inning in the field and every plate appearance would have been valuable learning experience for the young Lions. The future looks bright even though the team didn’t quite go as far as they might have hoped this time around.

Full tournament details can be found on the CEB website.

Up next …

Great Britain’s U23 team are in tournament action next, heading to Prague in the Czech Republic for the U23 Euros. The competition begins on 7 August.

Great Britain U18s look to secure qualification for the 2020 U18 European Championships

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UPDATE: I’ve updated this post to correct it (rather than leave it up and post a new one that might get overlooked). The CEB competition rules state two teams go through but I overlooked that there are two qualifying pools! So, only the first placed-team will advance.

Great Britain U18’s staged a sensational comeback against Israel in Sundyberg, Sweden, on Thursday to give themselves a great chance of qualifying for the U18 European Championships next year.

Will Lintern’s team conceded 4 runs in the bottom of the first inning to be in an early hole against an Israel team that had won its first two games of the tournament. However this just set the stage for the Young Lions to roar back later on. They trailed 6-4 heading into the top of the sixth inning (the games here only lasting 7 innings rather than the usual 9) before turning the game on its head.

Great Britain scored 2 two-out runs in the sixth inning to draw level and then took the lead in the top of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by catcher Aidan Pearce that brought home Nathan Simmons. Jack Seppings had minimal margin for error in the bottom of the seventh inning but a 1-run lead was all he needed as he pitched around a hit-by-pitch to close the game out.

Where does that leave us?

Friday is the last day of the preliminary round before the qualifier final on Saturday.

Here are the standings heading into the final day.

PosTeamWL
1Belgium21
2Great Britain21
3Israel21
4Sweden12
5Switzerland13

Belgium and Israel will face each other at 13.00 UK time before Great Britain take to the field against Sweden at 17.30 UK time.

If Great Britain win their game they will be guaranteed a spot in the Qualifier final on Saturday. If Sweden win it then they alongside GB and the loser of the Belgium-Israel game will all be tied on 2-2 (the winner of that game will move to a 3-1 record and make the final). How that plays out depends on which of Belgium or Israel are left in the tie-breaker conundrum.

If Israel defeat Belgium

In this scenario the Great Britain and Sweden game will essentially become a semi-final. If GB win they go through with Israel, both on 3-1 records. If Sweden win then they would come out on top on the first tie-breaker rule, results between the teams tied, as they would hold a win against both of the teams they are tied with (whereas Belgium and Great Britain would both be 1-1).

If Belgium defeat Israel

It becomes more complicated in this scenario as Great Britain, Israel and Sweden would all be 1-1 in results against each other. That means it would go on to the second tie-breaker, CEB’s dreaded Teams Quality Balance (TQB) equation.

Teams Quality Balance (TQB) is the sum of runs scored divided by the number of innings played on offense minus the number of runs allowed divided by the number of innings played on defense. (RS/IPO)-(RA/IPD)=TQB.


The TQB is calculated with four decimal places. The fifth decimal place is used to round up or down

Currently, if my sums are correct (warning: that is not a given!), Israel have a decent lead (0.43095) ahead of GB (0.05) and then Sweden (-0.23333); however those figures could change substantially depending on the results of the final games. And it won’t just be a simple calculation either: a 1-run loss for GB would affect things differently depending on it being 0-1 or 5-6 etc.

So, what result do we want from the Belgium-Israel game?

From an odds point of view I guess Belgium winning is preferable because that would at least give Great Britain a second chance even if they lost against Sweden; however the clear-cut, winner-goes-through scenario that would follow an Israel victory in the opening game would be less of a brain-scrambler.

Of course, the best result would be for Great Britain to beat Sweden and make the earlier Belgium-Israel result irrelevant (other than in deciding who GB will face in the final). That would make everyone happy.

Other than Sweden.

But then they gave us Abba which ultimately led to the film Mamma Mia (and Mamma Mia 2), so they’d just have to accept that karma was on our side.

How to follow the games

You can follow along either by using the classic CEB ‘Gameday’ scoring system on their website or watch via the Sundbyberg Heat YouTube channel.

British Baseball Beat: Back to it

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“Hey, Matt, why haven’t you been writing about the British leagues much this year?”.

I was asked variations of this question quite a few times over the MLB London Series weekend and I have to say I was flattered that people had noticed!

The truth is I’ve been busy with other projects and have always worked on the basis of wanting to write things I had put time into rather than just quickly putting stuff up on the website for the sake of regular content.

One of the ongoing projects is a redesign for this site, as I look to focus it much more on covering the British leagues and British baseball history and related video content, and I was going to wait until that was done before getting going again. However, striking whilst the (West Ham?) iron is hot, let’s get back into the swing of things by casting a glance around the British scene.

National teams making us proud

Firstly, Great Britain U-12s recently qualified for the 2020 European Championships by finishing second in their qualifying tournament in Trebic, Czech Republic.

The Young Lions fought back from 4-1 down against Austria to earn a crucial win 5-4 with Erik Gustafson starring, driving in two runs and then pitching 2.2 score-less relief innings. The final game against Slovakia didn’t go GB’s way, but even in this contest they showed great heart by making it close (13-9 final score) despite their opponents scoring eight runs in the second inning. All in all, a great achievement for Eric Anderson and his team.

Next up are Will Lintern’s U18 squad. They started their Euro qualifier in Sundbyberg, Sweden today with a 10-8 victory over Switzerland. Jack Seppings was doing it all for the team, going 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in 4 runs, stealing 3 bases and pitching two innings in relief.

The team have an off-day on Tuesday before getting back to it on Wednesday with a game against Belgium. First pitch will be at 13.00 BST. Coverage is available on the good-old CEB website ‘Gameday live’ system and streamed live on the Sundbyberg Heat YouTube channel.

National Baseball League

In the top-tier, the London Mets were clearly inspired by the recent visit of some New York Yankee legends to Finsbury Park. They improved their season win-loss record to 14-0 with two victories over the London Capitals (9-9) by scores of 8-1 and 5-1. The Mets’ pitching staff is completely handcuffing the rest of the NBL, with the team having allowed only 25 runs across their 14 games played.

Herts Falcons were looking for two wins to separate themselves from the Essex Arrows in the standings.

They got them, only not quite in the way they would have wanted. The Falcons were awarded two forfeit wins, improving their record to 6-10.

Double-A

Bournemouth Bears (11-0) continued their unbeaten start to the season by picking up wins 10 and 11 against the Herts Hawks (7-5), whilst Bristol Badgers (8-5) kept their good form up with two wins against Richmond Dragons (3-9).

In Pool B, London Marauders (11-2) swept a double-header against Cambridge Monarchs (5-7). In the opener, Billy Atkinson Warne gave up just 3 hits across seven innings of one-run ball, striking out 11 Monarchs in the process as the Marauders prevailed 9-1. The second game then quickly got out of hand for Cambridge as London put nine runs on the board in the first inning, with the game eventually being called 12-0 after four innings.

In Norwich, the Iceni (5-6) split a double-header with London Sidewinders (8-5).

Single-A

In the Central, Long Eaton Storm and Birmingham Outlaws are the form teams.

Long Eaton swept a double-header over Cambridge Lancers on Sunday to make it a perfect 10 wins in a row, improving their season record to 13-1. As for the Outlaws, since they lost two games against Long Eaton on 19 May they have won eight straight, the most recent successes being two wins against Northants Centurians.

Meanwhile in Single-A Pool B the Kent Buccaneers collected two wins at the expense of Tonbridge.

Baseball Scotland

North of the border, there were inter-city derbies to enjoy (or endure, depending on which end you were on). Glasgow Galaxy got the better of Glasgow Comets 16-5, whilst Edinburgh Cannons defeated the Edinburgh Diamond Devils 5-1.

This coming weekend is going to be a big one in Scotland as the Bobby Thomson Invitational event will be staged in Edinburgh. Talent from the three main independent leagues – Scotland, British Baseball League and South West Baseball League – will be joined by the AAU USA International Collegiate Baseball Team. If you’re in the area, make sure to head along.

Great Britain Baseball Funding Boost

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$300m is an eye-catching figure, there’s no doubt about that.

Manny Machado’s impending payday with the San Diego Padres has received UK online media coverage today and you can understand why.

However, from a British perspective news of a much smaller sum will have a much larger impact.

It was announced at the end of last week that Great Britain Baseball will receive £30,500 from the UK Sport Aspiration Fund as part of the team’s preparations for the 2019 European Championships and associated Olympic qualification attempt. This came after the incredibly disappointing news from early December in which it was announced that baseball would receive no such funding, although GB Softball was awarded £62,500.

The hard work put in since that point, not least by BaseballSoftballUK, to gain some baseline funding for baseball should be applauded.

It’s easy to look at £30,500 and think it’s not a great deal of money in the general scheme of things, and it’s certainly true that this is far from a transformative sum. But for a programme that has become accustomed to doing all it can to build Great Britain baseball, from the juniors up to the seniors, with no national funding, any financial help is a bonus and can be used to good effect.

No one is underestimating the challenge Great Britain will face in finishing in the top five at the Euros and thereby making it through to the Africa/Europe qualifier.

The Netherlands will be prohibitive favourites to win the event, with Italy, Spain and the hosts Germany at good odds to join them in the top four, before a keen battle for the fifth spot, likely led by Belgium.

Liam Carroll’s team finished ninth overall at the most recent event (2016) and GB have only finished in the top five twice in the history of the tournament (silver medal finishes in 1967 and 2007), so it will be a big ask to break into that group. However, no one should be in any doubt as to the commitment and fight that the team and coaching staff will show to give their best and to make it happen.

The provisional schedule has handed GB the toughest start possible in opening up with games against the Netherlands and Germany, yet you kind of think that may be how the team will like it. We saw the same situation back in 2007 when Great Britain, led by Stephan Rapaglia, spoiled Spain’s Opening Day party and then rode a wave of confidence all the way to a final against the Dutch.

Great Britain heads into 2019 on the back of an encouraging bronze medal performance by the U23s in the European Championship Qualifier in Slovakia.

The U23s will be part of the European Championship U23 in Prague, Czech Republic in early August, with the U18s heading to the European Championship Qualifier Juniors U18 held in Sundbyberg, Sweden in July, a week after the U12s will have been in European action in Trebic, Czech Republic.

All worth noting for the next time someone hears about the MLB London Series and tries to tell you no one plays baseball here.

It’s also worth noting more generally in regard to the promotional impact that the Yankees and Red Sox coming to London will have. Understandably, MLB is coming to these shores to promote MLB, but there’s a great opportunity for us to use it as a way to promote British baseball too and in particular the Great Britain programme.

What better way for our teams to head into European competition starting in July than on the back of a late June MLB London Series that makes many more people aware (even among MLB fans based here) of our national team set-up.

And maybe even with a few fundraising events and initiatives to add to the £30,500 already in the pot.

British Baseball Beat: 2019 Preparations

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As MLB teams look ahead to starting Spring Training games this week, so baseball clubs across the British Isles continue with their 2019 season preparations on and off the field.

Here are a few notes from around the leagues (I’ll write a separate blog about the recent GB baseball funding news in the next few days).

Irish British Baseball Cup

Pretty much every comment about British baseball this year can be framed in the context of the publicty benefits that the MLB London Series will bring. The more events that can be put on the better and the BBF have started well with the inaugural Irish British Baseball Cup.

The event will see reigning Irish Baseball champions the Dublin City Hurricanes travelling to Farnham Park to take on the reigning NBL champions the London Mets to open the season on Saturday 6 April.

https://youtu.be/jwflIYBlEW0

Those unable to make it to Farnham can watch live (or on-demand) via the impressive BBF YouTube live stream game coverage. It will be interesting to see how the two teams stack up against each other, albeit for practical reasons just in a single nine-inning game.

The fact that the game will come barely a week after our supposed Brexit date may add a little more to the mix, hopefully in a positive publicity way in a British/EU coming-together rather than negative publicity in it being called off with our beloved Government not letting EU nationals in!

BBF Leagues

We can be certain that the London Mets will be defending their NBL crown once again, but we’ll be waiting a little while longer to see how the rest of the clubs and leagues will shape up as plans and fixture lists are put together following the 31 January BBF registration deadline.

We do know that the ever-progressive Herts Baseball Club took a Luniz approach to their submission by putting five on it.

(Pop culture aside: I remember that song coming out in 1995 and in looking it up for this reference realise that, in all my youthful naivety, I was completely oblivious to what the song was about!).

We knew Herts had plans to launch a new club in North West London and it turns out that not only will the Herts Londoners be bringing Triple-A baseball to their Basing Hill Ballpark, but the Herts Eagles name will be back in British baseball and offering Single-A baseball there too. That’s great news and provide yet another route for people in the capital inspired by the London Series to give baseball a go.

3 is a magic number for Bristol

Bristol are another club expanding for 2019

Bristol Badgers made it to the Double-A BBF final last year as well as fielding the Bats team in the indepenent South West Baseball League. The latter will be joined by Bristol Buccaneers in 2019 after a successful winter recruitment campaign.

Leeds Rams

Elsewhere we’re seeing some new baseball clubs forming. Leeds has hosted some excellent teams over the years and a new one is now being born as the Leeds Rams. They made an announcement a few weeks ago that they would be holding off from entering full league play in 2019 to build up for 2020.

It’s an approach that worked really well for Norwich Iceni Baseball, who registered with the BBF in 2016 to play friendly games before entering the league competition in 2017 and having a perfect season whilst capturing the Single-A title.

We’ve all seen many promising baseball clubs come and go over the years and there can be a lot of value in having some fixture flexibility in your first year as you build the foundations for a new team. Here’s hoping 2019 goes well for Leeds Rams and they charge into full league competition in 2020.

Sponsorship news

Funding and publicity is always such a big part of amateur sport so we should all be supportive of teams and leagues trying to increase both as part of our community.

Hull Scorpions are currently seeking sponsorship for their field:

Whilst Baseball Scotland have added a sponsor for 2019.

Kent’s Field of Dreams

Baseball facility improvements are also a vital part of growing our sport, benefitting both the local community and all teams that get to vist and share the facilities too.

Based on their Twitter updates, teams visiting Kent’s will enjoy their day out regardless of the game result.

News to share?

If your club any news to highlight, or wants to take part in some potential YouTube livestream chats during the upcoming season, let me know on Twitter (@mattbaseballgb) or using the Get In Contact form.


British Baseball Federation AGM this Saturday

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The BBF’s Annual General Meeting takes place in London this Saturday (15 December). 

The AGM pack is available on the BBF website, revealing that alongside the usual AGM points of order there will be discussions on the format of competitions (such as the national championships) and 2019 operations more generally, including preparations for the 2019 MLB London Series.

As stated on Monday, the London Series offers a unique opportunity for British clubs to benefit from some rare baseball publicity in the mainstream media, so pooling ideas and resources on how to capitalise on this is a good idea.

The rules proposal from Guildford Baseball Club within the AGM pack isn’t directly tied to this, but it could be. 

It’s the perennial question for British baseball: what’s the best playing format to attract and retain newcomers in a landscape with a relatively small number of clubs (affecting how easily you can play regularly without significant travel commitments) and where the core skills learnt as kids Stateside can’t be taken for granted from young – and not so young – adults?

Guildford’s proposal is based on their belief that the current format (essentially standard rules baseball) isn’t proving to be conducive to growing the game and that whilst it would be preferable to stay as true to the MLB version of the game as possible, compromises to this are worth making if it makes for a more enjoyable experience for those new to the sport.

The proposal is not so much a definitive new structure and rule book but a group of well-considered ideas to prompt debate.  Plenty of clubs across Britain put great effort into attracting new players with taster sessions and they are precisely the sort of thing that might get a small boost from the London Series. However, having opportunities for those newcomers to build on their initial interest is vital. 

That makes it a good time to think carefully about the way in which Single-A baseball works in Britain, so it will be interesting to see how the conversation develops following Guildford’s proposal.

Looking forward to 2019 in British Baseball

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As we head towards the Christmas period and the end of the year, it’s always a time to reflect on what’s happened over the past twelve months and what the new year may bring. Various bits of news last week made it a good time to do just that for baseball in Britain.

MLB London Series

Tickets went on sale last week, and quickly sold out, for the MLB London Series taking place at the London Stadium on 29-30 June 2019.  Relatively high prices, frustrating online sales process and exploitation by re-sellers and touts were all sadly to be expected and left plenty of dedicated baseball fans ticket-less and disappointed.

The unfortunate truth is that the prices are precisely why MLB is coming to London ahead of other European cities.  Although MLB will say the right things about growing the game, in truth if the primary focus was on the wider benefits of developing baseball through International Series events then their first foray into Europe may have been staged in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, a temporary venue in Rome, Italy, or in Regensburg, Germany instead. 

They are coming to London, using a multi-purpose stadium with all the compromises that brings for playing field dimensions and viewing points, because that’s where the money is and where they’ll get the most publicity.  That’s the compromise we have to accept for MLB deciding to bring games here. It’s a slightly cynical point of view, and no comfort to those who hoped to attend and found themselves priced-out, but is probably the reality.

That isn’t to take away from the potential benefits there will be for British baseball, just that this isn’t MLB’s goal and shouldn’t be expected to be. If the 2019 London Series, and the proposed follow-up in 2020, is to help grow the game on these shores then it’s up to us in the British baseball community to make that happen.  How can we use the publicity of the Yankees and Red Sox coming to London to make more people aware of the baseball that’s already here?

It will need their support, of course, and primarily in respect of what they can achieve with media coverage. We’ve seen positive reports of BBC’s interest in broadcasting the two London games and that BT Sport are working to extend their TV deal.  What we ideally need is some wider free-to-air coverage of MLB games for the 2019 season more generally, be that on TV or radio, and that’s a difficult problem to solve as we all know. We’ve not had any such coverage since the end of the BBC 5 Live Sports Extra show several years ago.  The London Series at least gives broadcasters a reason to think about adding MLB rights to capitalise on some new-found wider interest.

Great Britain Baseball misses out on funding

The standing of baseball on these shores was shown by the announcement on Thursday that the Great Britain set-up was unsuccessful in their bid to receive money from the UK Sport Aspiration Fund. 

The GB Women’s Fastpitch Team programme did receive an award of £62,500 at least, but the hope that baseball’s Olympic return for the 2020 Tokyo Games might at last end the long-running situation of our national programme receiving no such direct funding were dashed.

In the BSUK press release, GB Head Coach Liam Carroll was typically pragmatic about the development (“This is, however, a story with which we’re familiar”).  Focus will shift to the London Series and any publicity and fund raising the GB set-up can achieve alongside MLB’s event.  Even the ability to sell some GB merchandise around the stadium would be a benefit, so we’ll see how co-operative the MLB Office will be.

Next year will be an important one for the the senior national team as they are heading to Germany in September for the 2019 European Championships. GB finished ninth in the 2016 event, so we all know making the top five to qualify for the Africa/European Olympic qualifier will be a big challenge.

That was highlighted by the new Super 6 tournament staged for the first time by the Confederation of European Baseball this past September.  Featuring the widely-recognised current leading nations – tournament winners the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Czech Republic – it produced some very well-played baseball from what I saw via the online broadcasts. Co-operation between different national federations in Europe has long been a delicate process, yet staging events like the Super 6 is surely in the interests of all, pooling the best European teams for the highest standard of competition to further player development and to provide a great showcase for the sport.

The Great Britain baseball programme is working to get into that top group in future and the Under 23’s bronze-medal finish in the 2018 European Championship Qualifier shows what could be possible.

British teams in Europe

Easily overlooked alongside the London Series ticket launch was the BBF announcement on Monday that the 2018 National Baseball Championship finalists, the London Mets and Herts Falcons, had both accepted the CEB invitation to participate in the 2019 Federations Cup qualifiers.  These are currently scheduled to take place in Moscow, Russia, in June just a couple of weeks before the MLB London Series.

It will be a debut European tour for the Herts Baseball Club, whilst the London Mets have been earning frequent flyer points representing British baseball in recent years. The Mets put up a good showing in Bulgaria in June, finishing third in their group with a 2-2 record, whilst the Southampton Mustangs went 1-3 in their group in Poland.

The State of the British Leagues?

Ahead of the publicity that baseball will receive in Britain in 2019, how would we sum up the state of the British leagues?

As an onlooker rather than a direct participant, things seem as frustratingly disjointed as they have been for a number of years. Nothing summed that up better (not really the word to use) than the situation at the start of the season when a dispute between the British Baseball Federation (BBF) and Baseball Softball UK resulted in the BBF launching a new website at
www.britishbaseballfederation.com. 

Unsurprisingly that became a work in progress and core details such as fixtures, results and league tables were much harder to come by. We can see that the Long Eaton Storm (Single-A), East London Latin Boys (Double-A), Richmond Knights (Triple-A) and London Mets (NBL) all won their respective levels, but decent details about the seasons in each league are not so easy to find.

The biggest shame from a personal point of view is that the London Mets achieved a historic feat of capturing a record fifth top-tier title (the first team to do so in the modern era) during what is currently going to go down in the annals of British baseball history as a lost season. 2018 marked the first time in many years that even basic statistical details of the top-tier in British baseball have not been available to the national hub for baseball records at Project COBB (something that I of course declare a strong vested interest in).

Whilst developments such as the live streaming of national championship games on YouTube are greatly welcome, it’s incredibly disappointing that fixtures, results, league tables and stats are absent from the national federation’s website.

The BBF is still joined by several independent leagues in the British Baseball League, the South West Baseball League and Baseball Scotland that, from the outside at least, all seem to be fairing well. Having independent leagues is not necessarily a bad thing in an amateur sport relying on volunteers – if the independence gives an area better scope to tailor competitions that help the clubs grow and get more people playing regularly then so be it – but ideally in the context of constructive working relations between all where possible.

What’s clear is that 2019 is going to provide opportunities for British baseball to promote our sport and encourage more people to join the community, beyond taking a cursory interest in a couple of MLB games. Hopefully it will prove to be a positive year for us all that have an interest in British baseball.


British Baseball Hall of Fame 2018 Elections

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Marcelino and Marshall join the British Baseball Hall of Fame

The 2018 elections to the British Baseball Hall of Fame have introduced two new inductees, increasing the class to 34.

Brad Marcelino was inducted from the modern ballot, with Ron Marshall being elected by the historical vetting panel that was introduced in 2016.

The elections of Marcelino and Marshall have produced two family pairings in the British Hall of Fame.  Brad Marcelino’s father, Oscar, was elected in 2016 and Ron Marshall’s grandson, Gavin, was elected in 2010.

Hall of Fame Chair Matt Smith commented:

“It’s always exciting to see the ballots coming in and the stories that unfold when any of the candidates reach the majority threshold to be elected.

This year’s elections highlight something that we all know is true: baseball is truly a great family sport.  Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters all enjoy this sport and from Little League competitions to GB Junior teams the support and encouragement of actual families mirrors the wider relationships forged in the overall baseball family that we are all part of.

The Marcelino and Marshall families have left an indelible mark on British baseball and continue to do so to this day. Seeing Brad and Ron join Oscar and Gavin in the Hall is a great story.

As we announce our 2018 elections, I can’t help but look ahead to 2019 and the excitement and interest that will be generated by the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees playing regular season MLB games in London. Whilst the initial narrative understandably will focus on American teams bringing their game across the pond, it will be a great opportunity for all areas of British baseball to promote and celebrate our own past, present and future.

With that in mind, we’re keen for anyone interested to get involved in looking at the game’s history, from helping with research to becoming a regional expert or a role as an elector. Further details can be found on the Hall of Fame website”.

Brad Marcelino

When Brad Marcelino hung up his cleats as a national team member in 2012, no British player had appeared in more top-tier European Championships (7) than the left-handed hitting outfielder. Marcelino, who made his GB debut as a 17-year-old in 1999, also represented Great Britain in a World Cup and a World Baseball Classic qualifier. Not only that, but Marcelino did so with distinction, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team at the 2001 Euros thanks to his stellar performance at the plate where he posted a .346 batting average with 6 runs in 7 games played.

Other impressive showings included batting .333 at the 1999 Euros, .389 at the 2010 Euros and .462 at the 2011 European Championship Qualifiers. Marcelino’s British baseball roots run deep. He was born in Essex and is the son of British Baseball Hall of Famer, Oscar Marcelino. He played as a junior in Britain until he was 11 before moving to the United States. He would go on to play college baseball at Occidental and California Lutheran and work as a top-tier collegiate coach at the University of San Diego, also serving on the Great Britain national team coaching staff.

Ron Marshall

Ron Marshall’s considerable British baseball legacy comes from a combination of accomplishments. He was a long-time GB manager, whose seven-year tenure from 1980 to 1986 represents one of the most extensive runs as head of the national team. He would helm Humberside teams in the 1970s before taking the reins of the national team in 1980. In both 1984 and 1986, he led GB to third-place performances at the European B-Pool Championship. He also skippered Great Britain to a victory over Belgium in a 1980 friendly.

Before joining the coaching ranks, he was also a top-notch pitcher in the Hull area. In 1950, a young Marshall was describe as an “[a]ce right-hander” by the British publication Baseball and Basket Ball Monthly. Marshall proved the title was deserving that year. By late August, he’d pitched 63 innings and struck out 109 batters. (His best single-game performance that year: an impressive 19 punch-outs.) He remained a stalwart performer on the mound throughout the decade as evidenced by being chosen as the starting pitcher in numerous representative games, including ones against the US Navy in 1958 and an American Air Force squad in 1959.

Finally, Marshall probably proved his great coaching acumen within his family. His sons Keith and Barry were both stand-out players, representing GB on numerous occasions between them, including in European competition. Barry was also a coach for GB, while Keith had a spell as manager of the dominant Hull Mets. In addition, Marshall’s grandson, Gavin, is a British Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, who was the first born-and-bred British player to earn a professional contract in the United States.

British Baseball Beat: Ready for the 2018 season

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MLB had their Opening Day last Thursday.  For the top-tier of British baseball, that day will come this Sunday at Farnham Park (as always in Britain, weather permitting).

The London Mets and Southampton Mustangs have been the class acts of the National Baseball League over the past few years, maintaining a stranglehold on the National Baseball Championship final for the past three seasons.

The Mets won the final in 2017 to take their team tally to four and to equal the highest number of national championships won by a team in British baseball history.

In 2018 they will attempt to become the all-time leaders with five national championships and you would have to rank them as the favourites to win the title again this year and to complete that historic achievement.

The Mustangs will be intent on scuppering that story and will have their first chance to put a marker down on Opening Day when they face the Mets in a double-header at Farnham Park near Slough.  First pitch for the opener is set for 11.30.

Azcuy to the Flamingos

Mister-Baseball broke the news back in January that Maikel Azcuy, the modern era home run career record holder in British Baseball, will be leaving the National Baseball League in 2018 and joining the Berlin Flamingos in the German Baseball-Bundesliga.

Azcuy has played in 12 seasons in the NBL, starting with the Croydon Pirates before enjoying success with the Southern/Harlow Nationals, Essex Arrows, Herts Falcons and latterly with the Southampton Mustangs.  Stats from his NBL career can be found on the Project COBB website.

The Flamingo’s website includes a news story about the signing too, including a photo of Maikel in his new uniform. His comments on the move, according to Google translate at least …

“With the change to the Berlin Flamingos I say the 1st League in the UK after 12 years, Good bye ‘. I am very excited and would like to support the flamingos in their great success story. They are the only club in eastern Germany playing in the first Bundesliga, and are currently building something great in the German capital. I have been training with the team for a few weeks and have been able to get a very good impression of the players and the club management. The boys are all highly motivated and full of energy. I would like to support the flamingos with all my know-how in order to master the league season goal preservation in the 1. Bundesliga. Baseball always happens to me at the highest level – preferably every day. It’s an honor to give the flamingos 100 percent for our common goal, “said Maikel Azcuy.

The Flamingos came through the play-offs in 2017 to earn promotion to the Bundesliga 1 and clearly the hope is that Maikel and other new recruits can work with the existing players to retain their place in the top-tier of German league baseball.

It looks like a wonderful opportunity for Azcuy and whilst it’s always a shame to see good players leave the NBL, at the same time it’s great to see British players furthering their baseball careers in other European leagues.  The Flamingos will have a few more British fans following their progress in 2018.

Birmingham Bandits join the NBL

Since the turn of the millenium the top-tier of British baseball has had a strong southern England flavour. Following Menwith Hill capturing three titles in four years between 1995 and 1998, all of the national champions have come from greater London, Essex and the south coast.

A Midlands threat to that dominance has now arrived in the form of the Birmingham Bandits. They last competed in the top-tier back in 1998 and having dominated at Double-A last year (a 22-0 regular season) their application to join the NBL was accepted by the BBF over the off-season.

The BBF news article about the move highlighted the importance of getting top-tier baseball into the UK’s second largest city and the hopes of widening the reach and appeal of the NBL. It will be something of a leap for Birmingham this year, but their successes of recent seasons show that there is a lot of potential at the club and hopefully they will be able to grow even more over the next few years in attracting more players and onlookers.

The club will also be fielding the Birmingham Outlaws in Single-A this year to give newcomers and less-experienced players that chance to develop their baseball skills.

Six-team top-tier

London Mets, Southampton Mustangs and Birmingham will be joined by hold-overs the Essex Arrows, Herts Falcons and London Capitals for a six-team top-tier this year.  The Arrows have started the year off in a positive way by winning the NBL division of the Herts Spring League.

Last year’s wooden spoon winners the Brighton Jets will take that team name to Single-A for 2018, with the club also fielding the Brighton Brewers in Double-A.

Up to Double-A

There will be 48 teams competing across four levels of play in the BBF leagues this year. Among them, three teams will be making the step up from Single-A to Double-A.

Norwich Iceni had the perfect debut BBF season last year in going unbeaten and capturing the Single-A title at their first attempt. They’ll be looking for back-to-back titles as they move up to Double-A South, being joined there by Bracknell Inferno.

Cambridge will also take a team up to Double-A, with the Monarchs going to AA-Central and the Royals staying in Single-A.  The Monarchs will be joined in the AA-Central by Bristol Badgers who are returning to the BBF fold having won the South West Baseball League title last year. Bristol will maintain a presence in the SWBL with their Bristol Bats team.

South West Baseball League

On the independent scene, the SWBL will welcome the Weston Jets to their league for the first time this year.

The SWBL will be competed by seven teams this year:

  • Bristol Bats
  • Taunton Muskets
  • Exeter Spitfires
  • Newton Brewers
  • Plymouth Mariners
  • St Austell Claycutters
  • Weston Jets

Their league will get going on 22 April.

Northern Baseball League

The independent Northern League will consist of 13 teams this year, including the newly-merged Robots of Doom outfit that brings together the former Bolton team and Halton Jaguars.

  • Cartmel Valley Lions
  • County Durham Spartans
  • Harrogate Tigers
  • Hull Scorpions
  • (Hull) Scorpions 2
  • Liverpool Trojans
  • Liverpool Twojans
  • Manchester A’s
  • Manchester Torrent
  • Nottingham Rebels
  • Robots of Doom
  • Sheffield Bladerunners
  • Sheffield Bruins

Their season gets underway this Sunday with five double-headers. The Liverpool Trojans were the odd team out on the original fixture list and the games between Torrent and Bruins have had to be postponed due to the condition of the former’s field following recent weather.

Scotland League already started

They’re not hanging around in Scotland though as their league began last Sunday with an Edinburgh clash between the Giants and Diamond Devils.

It will be a six-team league this year:

  • Edinburgh Cannons
  • Edinburgh Diamond Devils
  • Edinburgh Giants
  • Glasgow Comets
  • Glasgow Galaxy
  • Granite City Oilers.

The Oilers in Aberdeen lodged an early contender for photo of the season with this view of their field.