Tag Archives: British Baseball

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.

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.

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.

Spring arrives in Herts (spring weather not guaranteed)

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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

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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).

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.