Category Archives: British baseball

Read about the National Baseball League, the latest British Baseball Federation developments and news from the domestic scene

Spring arrives in Herts (spring weather not guaranteed)

Leave a reply

We’re all used to the haphazard nature of the ‘Great’ British weather.  Two weekends ago many of us were battling with snow, last weekend was relatively mild for most, and the forecast for this coming weekend for some parts of the country is to revert back to freezing temperatures.

Such conditions rarely blunt the enthusiasm of those in British baseball and this will be put on show this weekend as the Herts Spring League gets underway.

Grovehill ballpark in Hemel Hempstead has been the home of the HSL since 2008, providing an opportunity for teams to get some game practice under their belts before their league campaigns begin in April.

This year’s edition includes 19 teams from different league levels and age groups. Foremost among them will be the Birmingham Bandits who are stepping up into the top-tier of British baseball: the National Baseball League.  As with MLB Spring Training, we should not draw any conclusions from the stats and game results at this time of year, but it will still be interesting to see the Bandits going up against some of their NBL competitors.

One big question has been raised on Twitter in the lead up to this year’s event: what should the league be called? Florida’s league is represented by a grapefruit and Arizona’s by a cactus, so the search is on to find a suitable Herts-related item to name the league after. The Watercress League, Chalk League and Cereal League are among those that have already been thrown into the virtual hat. Send suggestions Herts’ way via Twitter.

There are 41 games scheduled over the next three weekends, so there will be plenty of opportunities for those in the local area to catch some baseball action. Check the weather forecast to see if you need woolly hat, scarf and gloves or a jacket and some suntan lotion.

British Baseball 2017 Review

Leave a reply

As Christmas starts to approach, thoughts turn reflective on the year that’s been.

Whilst the hardy souls in University baseball and softball are still braving the elements, for most of the other teams the season has long since been over and plans for indoor winter training are being put in place.

The 2018 season is already in mind, but we shouldn’t let all that happened this year pass by without comment.  Here’s a round-up of the key developments from the British domestic leagues in 2017.

National Baseball League – London Mets win fourth national title

The London Mets and Southampton Mustangs contested the top-tier National Baseball Championships final for the third consecutive year.  The Mets prevailed by wining the best-of-three series 2-0, the first game being an amazing comeback from 14-6 behind to win 15-14 and the second game a 6-0 triumph.

The London Mets’ performances in recent years speak for themselves. Over the past five regular seasons, the Mets have a combined 103-24 win-loss record, good for an .811 winning percentage. They’ve contested the last four NBC’s, winning two of them (2017 and 2015), and have now put themselves on the brink of history.

London now have four national championships to their name, including their back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.  This puts the Mets in exclusive company as being one of only five teams to have four top-tier championships, the others being the Cobham Yankees (1983, 1986, 1987, 1988), Hull Aces (1963, 1965, 1968, 1972) Liverpool Tigers (1948, 1962, 1971, 1975) and the London Warriors (1981, 1982, 1997, 2000).

They will enter the 2018 season not simply with the aim of retaining their title, but becoming the first club in British baseball history to win five sanctioned amateur national championships.

Azcuy and Collins

Although the Southampton Mustangs had a tough end to the season, they can be proud of two of their players furthering their account in the record books.

Maikel Azcuy (5) trailed the Mets’ Carlos Dominguez (8) in the season home run totals, but he increased his lead as the all-time leader in NBL home runs.  Azcuy now has 45 long-balls to his name, 10 ahead of the second-placed Simon Pole.

Former Bracknell Blazers stand-out pitcher Henry Collins returned to NBL action for the first time since 2014 (2013 in a full-time capacity) with the Mustangs and he led the league with 7 pitching wins.  That increases his career tally to 39, pushing him up into third place.

Collins trails Michael Osborne (45 wins over 17 seasons between 1998-2015 with the London Warriors, Richmond Flames and Herts Falcons) and the all-time leader Alan Smith (59 wins over 17 seasons between 1985-2007 with the London Warriors, Cobham Yankees, Sutton Braves, London Athletics and London Mets – noting that the total doesn’t include wins collected in independent league competition).

European competition

The Mets and the Mustangs once again represented British baseball in Europe, with both teams competing in the CEB Federations Cup Qualifiers.

The two teams had similar experiences, finishing their respective pools with 2-2 records and narrowly missing out on making their pool finals.

The London Mets’ Pool 3 in Stockholm, Sweden, was won by Spain’s Sant Boi, whilst Southampton Mustangs Pool 2 in Belgrade, Seriba was won by Austria’s Diving Ducks W.Neustadt.

Key BBF reports

SOUTHAMPTON SURVIVES THE NBL PLAYOFFS TO FACE THE METS FOR THE NATIONAL TITLE

LONDON METS WIN WALK-OFF THRILLER TO GRAB GAME ONE IN THE NBL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

LONDON METS REGAIN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WITH A SECOND STRAIGHT WIN OVER SOUTHAMPTON

AAA – Richmond Retain

The Richmond Knights followed up on their 2016 AAA championship by retaining their title in 2017.

The Knights started their regular season with twelve consecutive wins before a 10-9 loss to Taunton on 11 June.  The London Mammoths were the only other team able to inflict a defeat on Richmond (13-5 on 2 July), meaning the reigning champions headed into the play-offs on the back of a 22-2 regular season campaign.

Once there, the Knights won their quarter-final against the London Meteorites 11-7 and then beat Northern representatives Cartmel Valley Lions 11-2 in the semi-final to set up a championship decider against the unbeaten Birmingham Bandits, playing-up in the play-offs from the AA-Central division.

It looked like Birmingham were going to live up to their nickname and end the Knights’ hold on the AAA crown as they took a 10-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, only for Richmond to mount an epic comeback that included an eight-run top of the ninth inning to win 15-10.

Having won back-to-back AAA titles, the question over the off-season will be whether Richmond will make the step up to the NBL in 2018?  Richmond, as the Flames, have won the top-tier national championship twice (2006 and 2010) and last competed in the premier class in 2011.  Based on their performances over the past two seasons, a return to the NBL would be well deserved.

AA – Third national title for Leicester

The story of the AA season has to begin with the Birmingham Bandits.  They put together an unbeaten 22-0 regular season campaign to win the AA-Central division and earn the right to compete in the Triple-A play-offs, only for Richmond to end their season for the second straight year in heart-breaking fashion.

Birmingham previously competed in the AAA-Central division before this became the AA-Central in 2016.  Geography inevitably plays a part in the way the amateur British leagues are constructed, but James Moran’s team has shown that they are certainly a AAA calibre group, regardless of what level their regular season division may be called next year.

With the Bandits out of the AA play-off picture, the Leicester Blue Sox took on the challenge of representing the AA-Central in that level’s post-season and they did so with distinction by capturing the national championship.

Leicester made short work of the AA-South Latin Boys, who won their AA-South Pool A with an 18-3 regular season, in the semi-final with a 17-3 seven-inning victory. That set up a final against Tonbridge, the Pool B winners with a 17-4 regular season, who earned their appearance in the final with a 10-5 win over Sidewinders.  Leicester’s Rikson Martina was the hero for the Blue Sox on the mound and in the batter’s box, as the Blue Sox prevailed 9-4.

It was the first time Leicester had won the AA crown and the third national championship in the club’s history, following two Single-A titles in 2009 and 2012.

A – The Perfect First Season for Norwich

Whilst the other 2017 national champions added titles to their previous triumphs, the Single-A victors captured their first trophy at their first attempt.

Norwich Iceni produced a perfect season in their BBF league debut.  They won the Single-A regular season with a 14-0 record to put their unbeaten run on the line in the play-offs.

If they felt any pressure of completing the job, they didn’t show it.  They made it 15 out of 15 with a semi-final victory over Cambridge Monarchs by a score of 11-4 (called after 4.5 innings due to bad light at the end of a long day of play at Farnham Park) and then made it the sweetest of sixteens by defeating Guildford Millers 16-12 in the final.

You simply couldn’t do better than what Norwich achieved in their first year and Mike Smith’s team will no doubt be eyeing up a potential new challenge in 2018 at a higher level of competition.

The same may also apply to beaten finalists Guildford Millers.  The Millers pushed Iceni all the way in the final, as they did throughout the year.  Guildford went 12-2 during the regular season, losing their second and third games (against Norwich and Forest Glade Redbacks) before reeling off 11 straight wins to finish second in the division.  They edged a close extra-innings semi-final with Northants Centurians 16-13 (10 innings) to end up with a 13-3 record combining the regular season and play-offs.

Key BBF reports

FINALISTS SETS FOR SINGLE-A, DOUBLE-A AND TRIPLE-A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

RICHMOND, LEICESTER AND NORWICH CAPTURE NATIONAL BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES

Looking across the BBF leagues

Whilst the trend in MLB has been an increase in run-scoring of late, the opposite happened in British baseball in 2017.

The two situations are very different, of course, and what we saw in 2017 was perhaps a welcome adjustment in the leagues that meant a more level playing field – with some exceptions, as always – across teams within each league.

As is expected, Single-A was by far the highest run-scoring environment when looking at average runs scored per game.

1. London Musketeers (A) 20
2. Guildford Millers (A) 19.7
=3. Herts Raptors (A) 17.6
=3. Essex Archers (A) 17.6
5. Norwich Iceni (A) 16.9
6. Kent Mariners (A) 15.8
7. Cambridge Monarchs (A) 15.7
8. Herts Hawks (AA-SA) 15
9. Forest Glade Redbacks (A) 14.5
10. Cambridge Royals (A) 14.1

Nine of the top ten teams were from that level of play, with London Musketeers taking top honours by averaging 20 runs scored per game.  Double-A Herts Hawks deserve a mention for being the only non-Single-A team in the top ten, sitting in eighth with 15 runs scored per game.

Keeping runs off the board is always important, but it’s especially significant at amateur levels where extra runs can often be gained through errors and relative freedom on the basepads. Looking at average runs allowed per game:

1. Birmingham Bandits (AA-C) 2.5
2. London Mets (NBL) 3.7
3. Richmond Knights (AAA) 3.9
4. Southampton Mustangs (NBL) 4.3
5. Norwich Iceni (A) 5.1

It’s no surprise that four of the top five teams in the average runs-against stakes won their division, with the NBL’s Southampton Mustangs also getting in on the act.  Southampton also had the biggest run difference of any team in the BBF regular season, scoring 200 more runs than they allowed across their 30 games.

Birmingham were the stingiest pitching and fielding outfit, allowing an average of only 2.5 runs per game.  You could reasonably peg Norwich Iceni right there alongside the Bandits based on comparing their runs-allowed with the average from their division. Norwich’s 5.1 runs allowed per game mark was 36% of the average from Single-A (14.3), exactly as Birmingham’s 2.5 runs allowed was 36% of the average 7 runs allowed per game in AA-Central.

We can also get a basic idea of the inter-league competitions by comparing the best and worst run differentials (the difference between the runs scored by a team and the runs they allowed).

DivisionBest run diffWorst run diffDiff between two
AAA154-134288
A164-141305
AA-SA145-177322
AA-C196-162358
AA-SB148-210358
NBL200-186386

On that basis, the AAA division was the closest, with the NBL seeing the biggest gap. In the latter case, that involves comparing the Southampton Mustangs’ +200 mark with the Brighton Jets’ -186; however, what plays into that is the Jets being handed a series of 9-0 and 7-0 defeats due to forfeitting games.

Elsewhere – Titles for Bristol Badgers, Liverpool Trojans and Glasgow Galaxy

The Bristol Badgers won the first ever SWBL Championship game over South Conference winners Exeter Sptifires 9-3 to take the SWBL title.

The club announced in November that the Badgers will join the BBF Double-A league in 2018, with the Bristol Bats ensuring the club will retain a presence in the SWBL.

Liverpool Trojans took the Northern AAA championship for the second straight year with an emphatic 19-0 victory over Hull Scorpions.

Glasgow Galaxy finished top of the Scottish Baseball League with an 11-1 record, their only loss coming at the hands of Edinburgh Cannons in their third game of the season.

2017 British Baseball Hall of Fame class announced

Leave a reply

Carter, Young and Smallwood join the British Baseball Hall of Fame

The 2017 elections to the British Baseball Hall of Fame have introduced three new inductees, increasing the class to 32.

Nick Carter and Ian Young were inducted from the modern ballot, with Don Smallwood MBE being elected by the historical vetting panel that was introduced in 2016.

Carter and Young are two of the most decorated Great Britain national team players of the past thirty years. The former was a mainstay on the GB team between 1996 and 2005, competing in six European Championships, whilst twice being the starting and winning pitcher in a decisive national championship game for the Brighton Buccaneers (1999 and 2001).

Young’s Great Britain career lasted 13 years between 2000 and 2013, the highlight of which being his ‘All-Tournament’ team performances for the side that won a silver medal at the 2007 European Championship.

Smallwood’s involvement in British baseball spanned six decades, during which he achieved considerable success as a player, most notably on the formidable Hull Aces teams of the 1960s and 1970s, and even more in a wide variety of administrative roles.  Upon passing on the news of his election, sadly I learned that he passed away earlier this year at the age of 84.

Full details about the three new members of the Hall, alongside bios for the other 29 already elected, can be found on the BBHoF website: http://www.bbhof.org.uk/

I’ve been involved in the BBHoF for several years and have now stepped up to the role of Chair. I’m taking over from Joe Gray who has done a huge amount of invaluable work over the past decade, both directly on the Hall of Fame and the wider Project for the Chronicling of British Baseball (Project COBB).

Thankfully Joe’s still involved as Secretary and I’m indebted to all his support and help provided.  I’ve got a list of research topics and Hall of Fame work ready for the off-season, so keep an eye out for those here on this website and at Project COBB.

If you’re interested in getting involved in looking at the game’s history on these shores, please do get in contact either via the comments below or using the contact details on the Project COBB website.

The British review: MLB is coming to London

Leave a reply

I’ve had a plan for a few months to start a regular, hopefully weekly, British baseball review column looking at the key domestic news as well as international and MLB.

And now seems a pretty good time to launch it …!

Confirmed – MLB coming to the UK in 2019 and 2020

It’s been rumoured for several years, and there has been some false dawns along the way, but now we can confidently say that MLB games are going to be played in London in the near future.

The initial plan was for games to be played in 2016, which then got pushed to 2017 and then put on hold. Thankfully the delay was simply in MLB and the Players Union coming to an agreed process on how the next round of international ventures would be organised.

MLB has consistently had a strong vision of coming to London – arguably a little unfairly on the Netherlands who have invested heavily in trying to be the first country to tempt MLB to Europe, fingers crossed their time will come in the next round of international series – and the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was ratified over the off-season has placed a firm commitment to make that a reality.

There are plans for June series in 2019 and 2020 in London alongside a further 11 series taking place across Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Asia between 2018 and 2021.

Tom on Batflips has looked at some potential series already. The rumours over the recent years have, unsurprisingly, focused on East coast teams heading this way and within that especially the Tampa Bay Rays, who have consistently been at the bottom of the home attendance rankings (currently averaging less than 16,000 per home game so far the season).

Their Florida counterparts the Miami Marlins have similar attendance issues (3rd-lowest so far this season with just under 21,000 average per home game) so might be a National League option to give up a couple of home games, although their relatively new ballpark and impending ownership change may complicate things.

The 2nd-lowest in home attendance this season are the Oakland A’s. They don’t tick the East coast box, of course, but would certainly be very welcome with this A’s fan and the Moneyball link that non-baseball fans are still likely to have heard of over here.

MLB Hall of Fame and Trade Deadline

This weekend is the Hall of Fame weekend for MLB, with Jeff Bagwell, Ivan Rodriguez and Tim Raines the 2017 player inductees, and we also have the excitement of the trade deadline on Monday.

That’s not quite the farce that the football transfer deadline has become, and all the better for it, not least as it is still possible to trade players after 31 July if they can clear waivers as part of the process (further details on that are explained in the MLB Trade Deadline FAQ).

It is still an exciting process as teams seek to make an addition or two as part of their play-off-place push or as part of a rebuilding effort. The deadline is 21.00 BST on Monday, so a convenient time for us to enjoy all of the last-hour rumours and then the immediate fall-out and instant reaction on winners and losers.

MLB UK supporters meet-up

Such is the rumour mill as the deadline approaches that the games can almost seem like a back-drop sometimes. There are five pre-midnight UK time starts on Saturday, including a Rays-Yankees contest (18.05) with New York seemingly primed to make another splash on the trade market just one year after taking the opposite approach and dealing players away.

Every team is then playing a day-game on Sunday other than the San Francisco Giants and LA Dodgers who will be the ESPN Sunday Night game.

The Blue Jays-Angels and Yankees-Rays games are going to be featured in an MLB UK fan meet-up in London on Sunday. It’s being held at the Victoria Sports Bar & Grill from 17.30, so go along and meet up with some fellow baseball nuts (as Jonny Gould used to call us).

Great Britain’s roster announced for U23 championships

In British news, Thursday saw the announcement of Great Britain’s Under-23 roster for the inaugural U23 European Championship.

The event replaces the previous U21 tournament on the international calendar and gives teams the chance to win World Baseball & Softball Confederation (WBSC) ranking points for their nation as well as a place at the 2018 U23 Baseball World Cup.

GB will be in Wels, Austria, to start the event playing against Austria on Monday 8 August, then Poland and Spain on the following two days. A top two finish in the group is needed to qualify for the quarter-final stage that will be held in the Czech Republic.

Full details on the roster and tournament ahead are available on the BBF website.

London Little League does GB proud

There’s no doubt that momentum is growing in British baseball and that was on display this past week in the Europe/Africa Little League Majors Division (U13) tournament.

Great Britain’s representatives, The London Youth Baseball League team (LYBL Bulldogs), made it all the way to the final where they were defeated by Italy’s representative’s Emilia Romagna by a score of 12-2.

Had they won they would have been jetting off to the famous Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I know some UK MLB fans grumble at BT Sport’s MLB coverage being taken over by the Little League event for a week or so every August, but I’m sure everyone would have been delighted and hugely proud to watch the Bulldogs on our screens.

Nonetheless, making the final was a fantastic achievement by the team. It goes to show the potential that there is in this country and should be an inspiration for the kids, coaches and volunteers involved in Little League events in the UK.

BBF this weekend

As for the adult leagues, the London Capitals (14-9) are on a high after defeating the Essex Arrows and Southampton Mustangs last Sunday to move within one game of the latter for second-place in the National Baseball League standings.

The Capitals travel to Grovehill Ballpark, Hemel Hempstead, on Sunday for a double-header against the Herts Falcons (7-15).

The Mustangs (14-7) will hope to show some bounce-back-ability as they travel to Town Mead Ballpark, Waltham Abbey, to face the Essex Arrows (9-11), who they defeated 16-5 at Farnham Park last week. The other top-tier double-header is scheduled to be the league-leading London Mets (16-4) taking on the bottom-placed Brighton Jets (3-17), although this will be subject to the Finsbury Park field being fit for play after a recent flood and the Jets being able to raise a team.

In Triple-A, the league-leading Richmond Knights (17-2) are in Oxford taking on the Kings (4-14), with the second-placed London Mammoths (12-7) squaring off against the third-placed Taunton Tigers (11-9) in Somerset.

In Double-A, the 18-0 Birmingham Bandits are on the road facing Milton Keynes Bucks (2-14), whilst in Single-A the 11-0 Norwich Iceni are travelling to Westmorland Park to take on Bracknell Inferno (3-8).

When Joe Maddon came to Milton Keynes

Leave a reply

The enthusiasm and attention created by MLB Battlegrounds last Tuesday has been wonderful to witness.

We’ll have to wait and see what else MLB UK has planned to build on the momentum created by that event, but in any case it was great that there was a direct immediate benefit of the event in GB youngsters getting the chance to pick the brains of Cliff Floyd and Carlos Pena.

This is far from the first time that MLB – and those based this end – has played a part in bringing players and coaches across the pond to share their wisdom.

When Joe Maddon runs out of the dug-out at the All-Star Game in Miami on Tuesday night, many Brits watching might not realise that 22 years ago he was in Milton Keynes helping British baseball coaches.

The MLB International Coaching Clinic

There were a range of initiatives run by MLB International in the 1990s, but one of the most important was the Coaching Clinic series. These ran from 1993 to 1997 (as far as I can tell) and offered a weekend indoor course in January with a panel of MLB organisation coaches (and some umpires).

There were some good names among them, including:

  • Jim Lefebvre in 1997, who had managed the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs before then and went on to manage the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999
  • Buck Rodgers in 1994, who was the California Angels’ manager at the time
  • Bert Blyleven, also in 1994, who was part of the Angels’ coaching staff and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.
  • Terry Collins in 1996, who was managing the Houston Astros at that point and is currently the New York Mets’ manager.

The 1995 edition

The 1995 three-day MLB International Coaching Clinic was held at Cranfield University, Milton Keynes, from Friday 20th January to Sunday 22nd.

It was led by then Oakland A’s pitching Coach Dave Duncan, the long-term right-hand man of Tony La Russa, and the group included the California Angels’ Minor League Director of Player Development.

That was Joe Maddon.

The November 1994 edition of the Brit-Ball publication proclaimed that “the 1995 clinic crew are probably the most experienced baseball people to come to Britain”. It further explained what would be in store for attendees:

“The clinic will cover all aspects of the game, catering for all coaches from beginner to advanced. This year’s clinic will be practical in nature. Based in a sports hall setting the emphasis will be on drills and practices, providing opportunities for our coaches to see the big leaguers at work, and learn through direct experience of their sessions.

Running alongside the main sessions will be a junior clinic aimed directly at junior players and coaches. This will provide first class coaching for the junior players, and the opportunity for junior coaches to observe other coaches in action”.

The February 1995 edition of Brit-Ball included a review of the event and interviews with the coaches. Understandably, the hot topic of conversation at the event was the ongoing MLB player strike, but plenty of other matters were discussed too.

When asked what the best advice he could give to managers and players starting out, Maddon replied: “If you could develop the ability to scout players then you can break players down to their grass roots, in terms of all their physical talents, and be able to correct any fundamentals”.

That sounds just as relevant to coaches today – if not even more so – than it was at the time.

Prescient British baseball minds

Joe Maddon has earned a reputation as a bright, innovative coach and someone who connects with his players. He clearly made a strong impression with the attendees in 1995 too.

The same Brit-Ball edition included a couple of letters from attendees of the event, including one from Dean Davidson of Leeds City Royals. Davidson described the event as “the best yet”, stating that all the speakers “were able to break the game down to a level where a complete novice could understand but there was enough information so that an experienced player/coach could go away knowing he had learnt something”.

But then went on to add:

“I would like to end by thanking all the clinicians involved, especially Joe Maddon, who I feel was the most comprehensive clinician we have had to date”.

Few could have guessed at the time that Maddon would go on to become the man to lead the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series in over 100 years, but I like to think that Dean Davidson’s comments showed that – even back then – Maddon’s exceptional qualities shone through.

Recent years

BaseballSoftballUK, British Baseball Federation and the Great Britain set-up have brought some Major Leaguers over during the off-season in more recent times.

Most notable was the 2012 European Big League Tour led by Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk, who was joined by fellow Netherlands player Roger Bernadina, Chris Dickerson and Jeremy Guthrie (who would go on to pitch in a World Series for the Kansas City Royals). GB players such as Michael Roth and Jake Esch have also spent time in the UK in recent off-seasons.

With MLB clearly keen to bring games across to London at some point, and the hope for more MLB UK events too, it would be great if these MLB promotion events (which are certainly beneficial to British baseball in themselves) are joined by more opportunities for British players and coaches to learn from MLB players and coaches.

Brit-Ball publications on Project COBB

Brit-Ball was a newsletter described as “The Official Voice of the British Baseball Federation” and was published between 1993 and 1998. All but one of the volumes of the newsletters have been scanned and are available to access on the Project COBB (Chronicling of British Baseball) website.

They are one of a range of brilliant materials and resources available. If browsing the materials inspires you to take an active interest in British baseball history and research, or if you have any materials you are willing to share, please get in touch by using the contact details on the Project COBB website.

British Baseball Beat: 2017 so far

2 Replies

The British baseball season doesn’t stop for an All-Star break, but with the North American version rapidly approaching it’s a good time to take a step back and reflect on which teams are catching the eye in our domestic leagues.

Full standings, results, fixtures and reports can be found on the British Baseball Federation website.

All details included in this article are as they were recorded on the BBF website on the morning of Tuesday 4 July.

Birmingham and Norwich remain unbeaten

Team Div GP W L Pct
Birmingham Bandits AA-C 16 16 0 1.000
Norwich Iceni A-S 9 9 0 1.000
Richmond Knights AAA-S 17 15 2 0.882
Essex Archers A-S 8 7 1 0.875
East London Latin Boys AA-SA 14 12 2 0.857

There are two teams that remain unbeaten in the BBF leagues.

Birmingham Bandits won both games of a double-header against Leicester Blue Sox on 25 June to improve their Double-A Central win-loss record to 16-0 before going into two free weekends. They’ll resume their league campaign on 16 July with a home double-header against Stourbridge Titans, who they have deafeated four times so far at a combined score of 46-6. If they come through that unscathed they will have two away double-headers against Long Eaton Storm and Milton Keynes Bucks respectively before a final home twin-set against the Blue Sox.

Norwich Iceni, newcomers to the BBF leagues this year, won 15-3 on Sunday at Finsbury Park against London Musketeers to make it nine in a row. They will be favourites to make it a perfect 10 this Sunday in a home game against the 1-7 Tonbridge Bobcats, with four league games to follow in an attempt to go 14-0 in their debut season.

Elsewhere, Richmond Knights started the Triple-A season 12-0 before losing their unbeaten record on 11 June in a narrow 10-9 loss to Taunton Tigers. They avenged that straight away by winning the second game of the double-header 21-11 and whilst London Mammoths also got the better of them this past Sunday, the Knights are clearly a force to be reckoned with this season.

The most dominant teams

So far this season Single-A games have averaged approximately 32 combined runs, Double-A South 24 runs, Double-A Central and NBL 18 runs and Triple-A South 16 runs.

If we want to compare teams across the leagues one of the best simple measures is run differential, that is the team stat that looks at offence and defence by subtracting the total runs allowed from the total runs scored.

Team Div Run diff. RS/G RA/G
Birmingham Bandits AA-C 156 12.81 3.06
Norwich Iceni A-S 112 16.78 4.33
London Mets NBL 108 11.88 5.13
Richmond Knights AAA-S 102 11.06 5.06
Tonbridge Wildcats AA-SB 96 14.31 6.92
East London Latin Boys AA-SA 93 14.64 8.00

It’s quite possible, and not uncommon, for a team to be ahead of another in the standings despite having a worse run differential (take a look at the Minnesota Twins in MLB who, prior to Wednesday’s games, were posting a winning record of 43-40 despite having a minus 54 run differential). That generally means they are not blowing the opposition away, and often winning an unusually high number of close games.

Teams with the highest positive run differentials are generally those that are consistently winning well and so the fact that the top six teams are the current six BBF division leaders suggests all are worthy of their lofty positions (accepting, as always with British baseball stats, that we’re only dealing with a small number of games).

You can see that Birmingham’s pitching is being incredibly stingy in allowing just a touch above 3 runs per game, whilst Norwich’s batting lineup is dishing out plenty of punishment on Single-A hurlers.

Honourable mentions should go to Double-A Herts Hawks who have scored the most runs so far of any team (206) and Single-A London Musketeers who have the highest runs scored per game mark at 22 (note that the top 9 teams, and 11 of the top 13, in this category are in Single-A, reflecting the free-scoring nature of games at that level).

Teams looking to improve

Much as we should avoid being negative, it’s only fair to look at the bottom end of the run differential chart too.

Team Div Run diff. RS/G RA/G
Brentwood Stags AA-SA -144 6.69 17.77
Guildford Mavericks AA-SB -117 8.83 18.58
Herts Falcons NBL -110 5.22 11.33
Bracknell Inferno A-S -91 8.67 18.78
Tonbridge Bobcats A-S -84 15.00 25.50

There are a few unsightly runs allowed per game figures among this group and it likely will contain some newcomer pitchers and more than a few liberties being taken on the bases.

The line that stands out for me is the NBL’s Herts Falcons. Clearly they are up against the toughest competition and the NBL can be a harsh environment when things aren’t going your way. The Falcons are 5-13 and whilst they are certainly conceding more runs than they’d like, what’s really hurting them so far is the relatively low number of runs they are scoring.

Close competition

Another thing that we can look at when comparing the leagues is how competitive each division is based on the gap between the best run differential and the worst.  The idea being, the smaller the difference, the closer the competition is.

Div Best run diff Worst run diff Difference
AAA-S 102 -77 179
A-S 112 -91 203
AA-SB 96 -117 213
NBL 108 -110 228
AA-SA 93 -144 237
AA-C 156 -83 239
AA Combined 156 -144 300

This is only a quick guide and far from the full story, but nonetheless it’s interesting to see Triple-A coming out as the closest using this measure. I’ve added Double-A combined (as the other divisions all represent a single level of play) and they produce the widest difference, suggesting there’s a broader range of ability in this level of play, which would make sense with it being the level up from the lowest rank.

The NBL

Finally, let’s take a closer look at the top-tier of British baseball.

Team W L Pct GB GP RF RA Run Diff RS/g RA/g
London Mets 13 3 0.81 – 16 190 82 108 11.875 5.125
London Capitals 10 7 0.59 4 17 160 127 33 9.412 7.471
Southampton Mustangs 7 6 0.54 5 13 116 79 37 8.923 6.077
Essex Arrows 8 7 0.53 5 15 144 164 -20 9.600 10.933
Brighton Jets 3 10 0.23 9 13 112 160 -48 8.615 12.308
Herts Falcons 5 13 0.28 9 18 94 204 -110 5.222 11.333

The Mets are once again proving to be a formidable side and they are doing so by leading the way on both sides of the ball.

Reigning NBL champions the Mustangs have been close to them when it comes to keeping runs off the board though, with their 6.08 runs allowed per game being the fifth best mark in the BBF, one behind the Mets. Southampton have some games in hand on both the Mets and the Capitals so we’ll see if they can keep that up, whilst improving their run scoring, over the next few weeks.

Mets and Mustangs just fall short in Europe

Leave a reply

The potential fantastic Friday for our two British representatives in Europe didn’t turn out the way we hoped, with both suffering defeats and therefore missing out on making their respective pool final.

London left rueing their Stockholm slip

London Mets knew they had a difficult task in facing Sant Boi in their last pool game, knowing they either needed a win or a close loss to get a chance to face them again in the final of their Federations Cup Qualifier Pool 3.

A four-run first inning for the Spanish team immediately put the Mets on the back foot. A five-run third, followed by a seven-run fifth meant that Sant Boi ran out comfortable winners by a score of 16-1 in five innings.

Sant Boi went on to win the final on Saturday in a close encounter with Kaunas County B.C. by a score of 4-1. The Mets had beaten Kaunas in their opening fixture 12-4 to show that on another day London may have been able to run Sant Boi much closer than the 16-1 loss might suggest.

London’s frustration probably will come from the 2-1 defeat to Stockholm in their second game as that narrow loss in an evenly-matched contest proved the difference between making the pool final and finishing third.

Pool details on the CEB website.

Southampton fight-back falls short

There was more British frustration in Pool 2 where the Southampton Mustangs put up an almighty fight against the hometown Beograd in Serbia in what was effectively a semi-final, with the winner heading on to face Diving Ducks W.Neustadt.

Southampton looked out of it heading into the top of the eighth inning, trailing 11-4, only to put up a six-spot to bring them within one run. A clean top of the ninth meant that the Mustangs had the chance to get a walk-off victory, but a three-up, three-down inning saw Southampton out of the competition despite battling to the end.

As in Pool 3, the Pool 2 favourites prevailed in the final as Diving Ducks beat Beograd 9-3.

Pool details on the CEB website.

Concentrate on the league

Despite missing out on their pool finals, it was great to see British teams continuing to take part in European competitions once again.

Their attention will now return to the domestic season next Sunday (25th).

The London Mets host a double-header against Essex Arrows at Finsbury Park, whilst Southampton welcome the Brighton Jets to Mustangs Field

Big Friday for British baseball teams in Europe

Leave a reply

The CEB (Confederation of European Baseball) tournament website is a little dated, but it doesn’t matter what the graphics look like when they’re showing a victory for a British baseball team.

Just a few minutes ago, this was the site on the live feed from Stockholm:

(N.B. ignore the 10 inning reference, it automatically goes to the next inning after the previous one – such as the ninth – ends).

The London Mets secured a 7-0 victory over UKS Deby Osielsko to give themselves a chance to make it through to the Federations Cup Qualifier Pool 3 final.

Their final group game takes place at 11.00 GMT tomorrow (Friday) and it’s going to be a tough one against the Pool favourites, Sant Boi. The Spanish team are 3-0 and already guaranteed a place in the final, which might mean they take their eye off the ball. If they do, the Mets are sure to be ready to take advantage. London’s victory tonight means they are 2-1 in the Pool knowing a win on Friday will be enough to get a final berth.

If Sant Boi come out on top, that would probably result in a three-way tie for second place with Kaunas County B.C. (who are 2-2) and the hosts Stockholm who are 1-2 and strong favourites to beat UKS Deby tomorrow to even up their record. CEB tournament rules mean that the first tie-breaker (result against the other tied team) won’t separate the teams (they are all 1-1 in games against each other) so it moves on to the second tie-breaker: Teams Quality Balance (TQB). As explained in the rules:

“*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”.

Here is how things stand with Kaunas having played their four games, and London and Stockholm still to play their final games tomorrow.

GP RS OIP RS/OIP RA DIP RA/DIP TQB
London 3 20 26 0.769230769 6 26 0.230769231 0.5385
Kaunas 4 25 33 0.757575758 13 32 0.40625 0.3513
Stockholm 3 5 23 0.217391304 27 23 1.173913043 -0.9565

* This is my quick calculation, not an official tally (i.e. subject to error!).

If I’ve calculated that all correctly, at this stage the Mets are in the cat-bird seat; however the key difference is that the other two teams have already played the strongest team in the Pool.  Kaunas lost 8-0 to Sant Boi earlier today, whilst Stockholm lost 11-3 to them in their pool opener. So, if the Mets can’t quite get the better of Sant Boi tomorrow, they’ll need to work hard to keep the score close to stay ahead of Kanuas.

Southampton’s semi-final

It was a good day for the Southampton Mustangs too, competing in Pool B in Serbia. They defeated Atletico Alexandria 13-7 to make it two wins on the spin after losing their opener against pool favourites Diving Ducks W.Neustadt from Austria.

That victory sets up what is effectively a semi-final on Friday (15.00 GMT) against the home team Beograd ’96. Both teams have a 2-1 record and whoever wins the game will go on to face the Diving Ducks on Saturday. The Ducks are 3-0 and guaranteed a place in the final even if they lose against Athletic Sofia tomorrow lunchtime.

The Mustangs, reigning NBL champions, made it to their pool final last year where they were beaten by Sant Boi.

British baseball fans would really get that ‘Friday feeling’ if we end up with two teams in the final, with the Mets getting some British revenge on the Spanish team in the process.

You can follow the action live on the CEB website, with updates on their Twitter accounts (@LondonMets and @SotonMustangs) as well.

London Mets and Southampton Mustangs head out on another European tour

Leave a reply

Next week will be an exciting one in the British baseball calendar as two of our teams will be heading abroad to once again show the rest of Europe that – Brexit be damned – we’re still a part of European baseball and a good part of it at that.

Off to Serbia and Sweden

The reigning NBL champion Southampton Mustangs are in Belgrade, Serbia, for the Federations Cup Pool 2 qualifier. They will compete in a group alongside Athletic Sofia (Bulgaria), Atletico Alexandria (Romania), Beograd ’96 (Serbia) and Diving Ducks W.Neustadt (Austria).

The London Mets, currently riding high in the NBL after sweeping a double-header against the Mustangs, are in Stockholm, Sweden, in Pool 3. Their opponents will be Kaunas County B.C. (Lithuania), Sant Boi (Spain), Stockholm Monarchs (Sweden) and UKS Deby Osielsko (Poland).

British teams in Europe

It will be the third consecutive year in which the top two BBF teams will pit themselves against European competition after European participation had been a thorny subject for many years in the British ranks.

After early forays in the 1960s by Stretford Saints (1965) and Hull Aces (1966, 1968, 1969), British teams went through a strong spell of competing in Europe from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s. Teams flying the British baseball flag included:

  • Birmingham Bandits
  • Birmingham Braves
  • Brighton Buccaneers
  • Crawley Comets
  • Croydon Pirates
  • Edinburgh Diamond Devils
  • Enfield Spartans
  • Greater Berkshire 1938
  • Hessle Warriors
  • Hounslow Rangers
  • Hull Mets
  • Kingston Cobras
  • Leeds Royals
  • London Warriors
  • Menwith Hill Patriots
  • Nottingham Hornets
  • Richmond Flames
  • Windsor Bears

2005 was the high-water mark with three teams – Croydon Pirates in the Cupwinner Cup, Greater Berkshire 1938 in the European Cup B Pool and Edinburgh Diamond Devils in the Cup Qualifier – playing on the continent, but then we entered a drought.

The CEB introduced a revised European Cup qualifier structure in 2008, creating 4 Pools for the ‘smaller’ clubs to compete in. Whilst many European countries were represented – from Belarus to Lithuania, Romania to Serbia, Finland to Norway, Austria to Switzerland etc – Great Britain was a very notable absentee.

Back into European competition

The Essex Arrows and London Mets changed that in 2015 when they competed in European Cup Qualifiers in Antwerp, Belgium, and Karlovac, Croatia respectively. Both teams went 1-3 in the first European representation by British senior teams in 10 years.

The Arrows got the better of Finland’s Espoo Expos in their opener before three defeats against Belgium’s Borgerhourt Squirrels, Croatia’s Split Nada (the Arrows getting nada runs in the process) and Sweden’s Stockholm.

London went the other way, suffering defeats in their first three games to Olimpija Karlovac (Croatia), Zajcki Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Leksand Sweden before batting against Gepardy Zory (Poland) to ensure they came home with a victory.

Last year was another significant step forward with the London Mets, assisted by the BBF and BSUK, hosting a Federations Cup Qualifier at Farnham Park, the first European games on British soil for almost 20 years. Meanwhile the Southampton Mustangs travelled to Sant Boi, Spain.

Both teams acquitted themselves extremely well, with the Mets going 2-2 from their four games and the Mustangs making it all the way to their Pool final where they valiantly lost 6-1 to a strong Sant Boi’s team.

Follow the action

London Mets will try to get some British revenge on Sant Boi’s this time around and both they and Southampton will be sure to play hard and show that there’s plenty of talent in British baseball, just as Team UK did this past weekend.

Updates will no doubt be available on their Twitter accounts (@LondonMets and @SotonMustangs) with reports on the BBF website. Best of luck to the Mets and Mustangs.

Further information about British baseball teams in European competition can be found on the Project COBB website.

A History of Norwich baseball

4 Replies

It’s always encouraging to see new clubs joining the British baseball leagues.

One of the new entrants to the BBF in 2017 are Norwich Iceni, particularly exciting for me as they are based in my home city.

As shown by BaseballSoftballUK’s Team Finder map, the area has a number of softball teams as part of the Norfolk Softball Association, but there’s plenty of space for baseball too.

The two nearest baseball blue flags belong to the Cambridge Royals/ Monarchs in Cambridgeshire, who brought baseball back to the city in 2011, and the Haverhill Blackjacks in Suffolk.

Norwich Iceni will be the first league team in the city since the Norwich Wanderers of the early 1990s, joining the UEA (University of East Anglia) Blue Sox who compete in the university leagues.

UEA, alongside Nottingham and Southampton, were one of the key places that helped get the University Baseball scene up and running again 10 years or so ago, and UEA graduates are part of the group that have formed Norwich Iceni.

Norwich baseball history

Thanks to the Iceni club being born, a local newspaper clip was uncovered and published on their website about the Norwich Wanderers being founded in 1991.

It explains that the team was formed in 1991 and that, as known at the time (and yet to be disproved) they were the first baseball team in the city’s history (outside of the UEA team).

The team was based in Heartsease, an estate to the north-east of the city centre, and the article includes several photos of the team, showing their red and white uniform.

Inspired by the newspaper clip and Norwich Iceni’s 2017 debut this coming Sunday, I’ve undertaken some research in the records we have digitised and available online as part of Project Cobb to put together what we know about the Norwich Wanderers.

If you have any further details, please do get in contact.

1991 – Friendlies?

Norwich Wanderers were formed in 1991. Whether they played in a league in their debut year, or played friendly games as and when they could, is not confirmed. The newspaper article states that they were expecting to play Mildenhall in 1991 and the Old Timers website notes that they played Norwich in this period so it’s possible they had a game or two that year.

1992 – BBF Anglia League

Norwich competed in a BBF Anglia League alongside Bury Saints B, Stevenage Knights, Tiptree Hotsports Rays and UEA Anglians.

The UEA Anglians were part of the university in Norwich and the press article states that the UEA had been running a baseball team for a couple of years prior to the Wanderers starting out in 1991.

The press article also shows an interesting link with Tiptree Hotsports Rays. Norwich were able to gain sponsorship from the local Hot Sports shop and so presumably the branch in Tiptree supported their local team for several years too.

Further details about the 1992 season have not been uncovered to this point. If you can fill in any blanks, please get in contact.

1993 – BBF Midlands Division One

In 1993, Norwich Wanderers competed in the BBF Midlands Division One (details from the Brit-Ball series). The teams were as follows:

  • Derby Crowns
  • Leicester Hawks
  • Long Eaton Sluggers
  • Newark Giants
  • Norwich Wanderers
  • Nottingham Pirates

The season started on 9 May and Norwich took an 18-14 defeat at the hands of Nottingham, with Newark Giants crushing Derby 44-2 (no ‘mercy’ rules in effect in this league, by the looks of it!).

One week later and Norwich took another loss, this time a heart-breaker against those Newark Giants. Newark got a 26-25 walk-off victory to send the Wanderers to an 0-2 start.

By 13 June Norwich had a 1-2 record, with the other results recorded and league table showing that the win must have come against either Derby or Long Eaton.

However, that’s where the Brit-Ball records end. A league table and results from the Midlands League are conspicuous by their absence from August onwards and the record of 1993 champions in Issue 7 doesn’t include a winner from the Midlands League.

That would all suggest that the League petered out for some reason during the course of the season and wasn’t completed.

1994 – BBF Division Three South

Norwich Wanderers were one of five new teams that joined the 10-team BBF Division Three South in 1994 (details from the Brit-Ball series and the Line Drive series)

The regular season standings were split into a North and South league, with Norwich being in the North, although teams faced each other over the two leagues.

North South
Cambridge Fellows Brighton Buccaneers B
Fulham Flames Burgess Hill Red Hats
Milton Keynes Truckers Eastbourne Aces
Norwich Wanderers Gloster Meteors B
Waltham Abbey Cardinals Guildford Mudcats

Thanks to the Brit-Ball records, we’re able to piece together Norwich’s entire season, with just one educated guess along the way.

Norwich started off their season on 8 May with a 24-14 victory over Fulham before splitting a double-header with Milton Keynes on 15 May. A comfortable 29-0 win over Waltham Abbey on 22 May gave the Wanderers a 3-1 start to the season before a rest weekend for the Spring Bank Holiday.

Norwich resumed their campaign on 5 June. Comparing against the published standings shows that they must have lost that day. The Brit-Ball records don’t show that result but they do show part of a 9-0 victory for Milton Keynes (presumably a forfeit) with their opponent obscured by the way the page has been scanned. It’s likely, if not 100% certain, that it was Norwich who forfeited that game.

The Wanderers then won six games in a row before facing off once again against Milton Keynes on 31 July. The Truckers won 13-4 and, with a couple of assumptions built in (the possible earlier forfeit loss to MK and guessing the likely tie-breaker), that would prove decisive in terms of splitting the teams in the final standings.

Norwich were handed a forfeit win on 7 August against Waltham Abbey and then edged a one-run contest with Brighton (17-16) on 14 August to put them on an 11-3 record for the season to that point.

A chastening 30-1 loss at the hands of Burgess Hill followed on 21 August and that proved to be Norwich’s last action of the season, as their final game against Guildford was forfeited by their opponents.

That all meant that Norwich had compiled a 12-4 record; however during the course of the season Cambridge Fellows and Eastbourne Aces withdrew from the league and results against those teams were removed from the standings. Three of Norwich’s wins came against Cambridge (two by way of forfeit) so their record in the final standings was 9-4 (Norwich didn’t play against Eastbourne).

Norwich ended the season with the same record as Milton Keynes, but the Truckers were crowned as the North division champions, with Norwich in second place. Burgress Hill won the South division, with Brighton coming second.

Issue 16 (July/August) of Brit-Ball includes batting and pitching leaders and there are three Norwich names in there: Wightman and Bond on the batting side, and Nock on the pitching side.

Listed below are Norwich’s full results and the final standings.

8 May. Fulham 14 – Norwich 24 (Nch Win-loss record: 1-0)
15 May (Double-header). Norwich 11 – Milton Keynes 26 (1-1)
15 May (DH). Norwich 16 – Milton Keynes 3 (2-1)
22 May. Waltham 0 – Norwich 29 (3-1)
29 May. No game
5 June. Norwich played and lost, possibly a 9-0 forfeit to Milton Keynes (3-2)
12 June. Gloster 11 – Norwich 16 (4-2)
19 June. No game 
26 June. Norwich 24 – Waltham 11 (5-2)
3 July. No game 
10 July. Fulham 15 – Norwich 26 (6-2)
17 July. Cambridge 0 – Norwich 9 (F)    (7-2)
24 July (DH). Cambridge 0 – Norwich 9 (F)    (8-2)
24 July (DH). Cambridge 3 – Norwich 45 (9-2)
31 July. Norwich 4 – Milton Keynes 13 (9-3)
7 August. Norwich 9 – Waltham 0 (F) (10-3)
14 August. Norwich 17 – Brighton 16 (11-3)
21 August. Burgess Hill 30 – Norwich 1    (11-4)
28 August. Norwich 9 – Guildford 0 (F)    (12-4)

North W L W% GB
Milton Keynes Truckers 9 4 0.692
Norwich Wanderers 9 4 0.692
Fulham Flames 5 8 0.385 4
Waltham Abbey Cardinals 4 9 0.308 5

 

South W L W% GB
Burgess Hill Red Hats 12 1 0.923
Brighton Buccaneers B 10 3 0.769 2
Gloster Meteors B 3 10 0.231 9
Guildford Mudcats 0 13 0 12

1995 – Wanderers off into the sunset

Norwich Wanderers were listed as being entrants in the BBF South – Division Two North league for 1995 in the March 1995 edition of Brit-Ball, showing that there finish in 1994 was enough to earn them promotion.

However the standings for the league in future editions do not include the Wanderers.

It would seem that they were unable to get a team together for that year, and so didn’t take to the field, and that is where the Wanderers’ story comes to an end.

Other notes

Back in November 2008, an article here on BaseballGB about Southern top-tier baseball prompted Herts Baseball’s Paul Auchterlounie to pass on some anecdotes and details from his time in Norwich in the comments section.

Paul joined the Wanderers in 1994 and confirmed that after that season “the departure of several key players (some of whom were US forces personnel)” resulted in the club folding, although he also noted that some social baseball / softball continued for a few years afterwards.

Paul’s comments are copied below:

“Matt – I was interested to read where you live.

I’m from Norwich originally and indeed that is where I first started playing baseball. Having picked up the game whilst in the States on a uni exchange program, I returned to Norwich and found out there was a team – Norwich Wanderers. I joined up and had a mediocre start to the game, competing in the then division 3 south (I think) within the BBF.

The club overall were successful, winning the division, but like so many teams followed success with the departure of several key players (some of whom were US forces personnel) and the club folded.

A few years of social baseball / softball with some of the old guys and some new guys followed, before I moved to Herts in 1999 and found that there was a team here too! Been involved ever since. Is there any likelihood of a team (other than UEA) being started again up in Norwich?”

…

The diamond was on a council field in the Heartsease estate – behind three tall tower blocks. I have no idea whether it’s still there or not (chances are probably not).

The social softball / baseball was mainly played in Eaton Park (big wide open spaces) but with no proper diamond or anything.

One thing I do remember about the diamond is this (it seemed quite funny at the time, but wasn’t when you look back on it): There was a car park around the back of one of the tower blocks. This would be so far into foul territory down the left field line as to be out of sight, and almost in line with where our HR line was.

One of our hitters stepped up to the plate. Big bloke – worked as a bouncer in the city. He absolutely crushed the ball but was way out in front of it and it just kept on carrying into foul territory – right into the car park and smashed the quarter light (I think it’s called) on the back on window of his mates car!! Incredible shot – probably never to be repeated!

…

Also – we had a quite incredible 3rd baseman. Nicknamed Hoover – cos he seemed to field absolutely everything that came his way. Worked on the farms, so was built like the proverbial brick out house and had a bullet of an arm (still don’t think I’ve seen one as good). I was playing 1st base in a training session, and he picked one up to fire over to 1st. I just put my glove out and prayed he’d hit it cos it was travelling about 8 inches above the ground at about 90 mph!!!!

 

The Heartsease diamond is long gone, although baseball and softball has continued to be played intermittently on Eaton Park over the years. Indeed, that’s where Norwich Iceni trained last year.

2017 and beyond

Norwich Iceni are now writing a new chapter in the baseball history of the city. The team will be based at Locksley School, just to the south of the city centre.

It’s possible there will be a home for the team on the university site in the future. Norwich Rugby Club are selling up their current land to housing developers and hope to move to a new sports facility at the UEA. The potential impact on wildlife on the site has prompted plenty of controversy locally and although planning permission was granted in November last year, this decision reportedly is now out for judicial review.

If the move does go ahead, the current plans include space for a baseball field, albeit one that will cut across football, cricket and training areas (see the site plan at the bottom of this Eastern Daily Press news article).

If you’re wondering where the Iceni name comes from, it was the name given to the Celtic tribe that settled in what is now Norfolk (plus parts of north-western Suffolk and eastern Cambridgeshire) in the Late Iron Age. It’s a common name for clubs and organisations in the county (and also a Wetherspoons pub!) and makes for a unique nickname in the British baseball leagues.

Norwich Iceni’s first BBF game takes place on Sunday (23rd) at home against Kent Mariners. Further info about the club can be found on their website, http://www.norwichbaseball.co.uk/, and related social media accounts.

Here’s hoping it’s the start of a successful new club in British baseball and one that will bring the sport to Norwich for years to come.