There was some exciting news today for the Great Britain national team as Mike Nickeas was promoted from Triple-A to the Major Leagues by the New York Mets.
Nickeas represented Great Britain in the 2007 European Baseball Championships and was one of the key reasons why the team won the silver medal that year.Â
Unfortunately an injury kept the catcher out of the 2009 World Cup, but his contribution to the 2007 team means that he’ll always have a noteworthy place in the National Team’s history, and even more so if he gets into a game over the next few weeks and becomes a full fledged Major Leaguer.
Nickeas has been added the Mets’ 40-man roster and would be available for selection for tonight’s game against Atlanta.
His GB biography can be found here.
15 comments
Thanks for spotting this and posting so quickly.
Just to put this in perspective, we believe that Nickeas is the first GB passport holder to compete for our national team and also reach the Major League level.
http://www.gbbsa.org.uk/seniors.html#pina
As you say, once he gets into a game – and he’ll be absolutely itching to do so – it will make this even more impressive, but for me a player on the roster can consider themselves a Big Leaguer even before their first plate appearance/inning of defence.
Mike played for the Mets today against the Reds. Fantastic, not to mention historically important (from a British baseball point of view), achievement.
He went 0-for-2, so next on the list of firsts is… first hit.
Thanks very much for posting about Mike’s call-up. This is a tremendous accomplishment for Mike (one that he will be proud to share with his grandkids), but it is also a very nice moment for GB Baseball.
Just a few more notes about Mike. Mike was selected as the catcher for the 2007 EC all-tournament team, and his offensive and defensive contributions were critical to the team’s silver medal finish. And, Mike was not just a casual member of the team. Although coming off a full AA season at that time, he bought into the GB team wholeheartedly and was a team leader. We were fortunate to have him.
Finally, just a correction to one of the earlier notes. Mike’s first appearance (and start) was against the Cubs.
I was wondering how he got his UK passport? We must remember he did play for Team USA prior to coming to the UK team. Also safe to say now he is back using his USA passport due to visa issues where teams are limited to number of visas each org has.
Putting playing to one side Mike will earn a very tidy sum of money this month.
I await the day when a proper British person plays in the Majors.
Hi Owen,
This is a debate I generally avoid, as my self-assigned task is to be an impartial (as possible) recorder of the game’s history related to Great Britain.
I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of the GB programme’s policy – as this has been debated elsewhere and to the extent that it seems that there are two camps whose numbers will never merge – but I do want to throw in a few comments.
I don’t think we should take anything away from Mike’s performance for GB – he was entitled to a place on the squad within the competition’s rules and he put heart, soul, a big bat, and a great mitt into the team.
Also, and this is a totally genuine question rather than an abrasive remark – but what would you define as a proper British person? There have been a number of people who have grown up in Britain (without learning about baseball, I think) and gone on to play in the majors. Dave Brain is an example. One way to define it would be for a Brit to receive their pre-college baseball education in Britain and then go through the US system. I guess the sad thing would be that once they did reach the Majors, they’d no longer be able to help the national team!
Joe
Joe that is very true and your comments are very true.
As I said I wonder what passport Mike uses on a day to day basis. You could also say the same for Brant Ust as I doubt he would be working at USA Baseball and living in America on a UK passport. I remember when Gary Roberts contacted him many years back he had no interest but once it was clear he was going no wehre in baseball he changed to Baseball GB.
I would say John Foster was more English as he played baseball in Brighton for a year prior to entering the draft and going onto the Majors!!
We all await the day when as u say someone is born in England, grows up in England and then heads to America to play and then reach the majors.
Mike has a GB passport because his father is British. In fact, I believe his father was a Premier League footballer. Brant’s mother is British and he lived in England for most of his youth (until he was 11). His first experience playing baseball was in Britain.
All of this is information previously reported to the British baseball community.
Thanks for providing this background info Stephan.
There has been much debate about who should be picked for national teams recently in England with our football/soccer team and it’s a topic that will always divide opinions regardless of the sport.
It’s worth pointing out that Mike and Brant’s situations make them more ‘British’ than quite a few who play for our cricket and rugby union teams!
TO me it makes them no more British as they went for Team USA over Team GB when they first had a choice. Also a safe bet when playing baseball in America and crossing borders they never showed a GB passport.
I get the sense that there are some GB players who would not consider themselves “British” were it not for the opportunity to play international baseball.
If they were good enough (or still good enough as in the case of Mike) to play for the country where they spent most of their lives, be it Canada or USA etc, would they still represent GB?
Only the players and those who know them would know where their loyalties really lie.
It would be great to see a player who considers himself first and foremost British to make the majors. That’s why i’m personally not too excited about Mike’s news.
“Also a safe bet when playing baseball in America and crossing borders they never showed a GB passport.”
If you have an American passport, you’d be treated with a considerable degree of suspicion by US customs and immigration if you used your British passport, especially in post-9/11 America. They aren’t the friendliest authorities and I’d imagine they’d be even less so if you trotted up to the desk with your American accent and whipped out a UK passport. Why go through the hassle?
If Mike used his UK Passport with MLB he would cost his team a visa spot. They only get so many per year for the minors. Mike has never been good enough to keep a visa spot open for him.
Yesterday, Mike got his first two hits in the big leagues!
That’s great to see. Thanks for the update Stephan