Opening day in Mainz

In Germany, the Allgemeine Zeitung mentions the rapidly-approaching opening day of its local Budesliga club, the Mainz Athletics. The A's have a new manager, American Greg Frady. Frady, the 41-year-old former assistant coach at the University of Central Florida, will also be the coach of the German national team, which was relegated from the A-pool last summer and is hoping to bounce back to the top European competition this summer by winning the B-pool, which it will be hosting this summer.

Drug testing and MLB's World Cup plans

Major League Baseball's plans for a World Cup tournament featuring professional players appears to be progressing. The New York Times reports that MLB, the Players' Association, and the International Baseball Federation are working on overcoming the contentious issue of testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

The union opposes mandatory drug testing, but an international competition would have to conform with Olympic standards, which require testing. The International Baseball Federation has said that it would not support MLB's World Cup tournament unless there is Olympic-type drug testing.

Unfortunatly, maintaining stricter standards than MLB's internal ones could limit the talent pool for the tournament. The Times quotes the New York Yankees' Jorge Posada, a potential starting catcher for Puerto Rico: "I'm not going to stop taking something, vitamins or creatine, just to go play five or six games. The money is over here."

Similarly, the St. Petersburg Times quotes Gene Orza, the Players' Association's chief operating officer, as saying: "I think we can accomplish something that is acceptable to the IBAF.There is a different level of voluntariness in participating in the World Cup over playing in the regular season. No one is forced to play in the World Cup. No one is forced to play in the Olympics."

U.S. visa problems to benefit European baseball?

Venezualian Rene Pinto, who plays for the Gary (Indiana) RailCats in the independent Northern League (a team that also features Great Britain international Darren Heath) may be out of a job because of problems with his U.S. visa. The U.S. government issued far fewer than usual H-2 visas this year, leaving the independent minor leagues struggling to hold on to their overseas talent. But America's loss may be Italy's gain: Pinto is reportedly talking to a team in Italy. RailCats hitting coach Brent Bowers said he understands the attraction of playing in Europe: "They get a cell phone, they get an apartment, they get a car to drive."

Majors or Medals?

Would you rather take a shot at being in the Olympics, or pursue your ambitions to reach The Show? San Fransisco Giants farmhand Jamie Athas, who qualified for the Greek (-American) olympic team, chose to forgo Athens for Triple-A Fresno.

The Fresno Bee also reports that veteran Major League slugger Eric Karros nearly joined the Greek squad, but decided to sign with the Oakland A's instead.

An Italian job on the CV

A profile of Montreal Expos' General Manager Omar Minaya mentions that he played a few seasons in Italy before turning to management.

Basketball lessons

Scott Soshnick of the Bloomberg news service has a very interesting analysis of the globalisation of basketball, that everyone interested in the global baseball should read. Basketball is way ahead of baseball -- and second only to soccer -- in terms of globalisation.

Like baseball, the financial muscle behind the sport will always be the top domestic league in the USA. Unlike MLB, however, the NBA has been extremely agressive and extremely successful in expanding into new markets.

So, what have they done?

• Foster Local Heros: Yao Ming has drawn in China, and the emergence of European stars like France's Tony Parker, Germany's Dirk Nowitzki and Russia's Andrei Kirilenko has helped boost the NBA's profile in Europe even farther. Plus, it has drastically increased the talent pool for the NBA.
• Cooperate With Domestic Leagues: The NBA seems to be seriously considering expanding into Europe by the end of the decade. It is looking to form partnerships with the European leagues and is seeking to attract investment to state-of-the-art facilities in Europe. The European leagues welcome this, because the marketing clout of the NBA will promote interest in grassroots basketball
• Professionalise International Competitions: The NBA, already popular in Europe through television, became huge after NBA players were admitted to the Olympic games in 1992.

Lesson one for MLB, then: stop being so short-sighted and get the top players into the Olympic games. It might hurt domestic revenues every four years, but the future for baseball has to be global, if it is to compete with soccer and basketball. An MLB-internal "World Cup" is a good start, but no substitute for full participation in the Olympics.

Great Britain to play in New England

The Great Britain national team will face the Berkshire Dukes of the New England Collegiate Baseball League in North Adams, Massachusetts, on 13 June.

A minor French connection

The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports on the story of Jeff Zimmerman, whose asttempt to come back from "Tommy John" surgery with the Texas Rangers seems to have been unsuccessful. Zimmerman, the story notes, once pitched in France as part of his comeback attempt.

European MLB game rumours continue

The New York Times, reporting on this week's game in Tokyo between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Yankees, notes that

Japan is the easiest but not the sole object of baseball's desire. Back in 1993, two Class AA teams played a springtime exhibition game on a cricket grounds in London. Baseball is willing to retrofit rugby and soccer stadiums to get a foothold in Europe; two countries, Italy and the Netherlands, have ballparks and a growing affinity for baseball. ...

More good news, then.

Good for Olympic baseball?

The Houston Chronicle puts a postive spin on the USA's failure to qualify for the Olympics.

More European MLB game rumours

Following the today's Major League Baseball exhibition game in Mexico City, the Palm Beach Post reports that MLB is now "setting its sights on regular-season games in Europe", possibly as early as next year.

Because MLB believes that playing games during spring training would be difficult -- given that the European climate is not exactly like Arizona or Florida -- the games would be played mid-season, either just before or just after the All-Star break.

Paul Archey, a vice president for Major League Baseball International, told the Post that Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is among nine owners who have expressed interest in a game in Europe.

Italy, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain are among the candidate countries to the host the game. Archey specifically mentioned possible venues in Florence, Palermo, Rome and Paris.

"It's definitely something we want to do and plan to do,'' Archey told the Post. "You can only do so much marketing through television and sponsorships. You've got to take the game to the people and we've see n the benefits of that when we've played games in Japan and in Latin America.''

Marlins President David Samson called Europe "a huge untapped market for baseball."

Maine coach for German 2d-Division team

The Portland Press Herald reports that Jesse LaCasse, a 24-year-old graduate of St. Joseph's College in Maine, will be a player for the Neunkirchen Nightmares of Germany's second Bundesliga and a coach for the club's second team.

The German team learned about LaCasse via the European Baseball Connection web site.

LaCasse's one-year contract included air fare to and from Germany, an apartment, a cell phone, a car, and a stipend equivalent to approximately $500 per week.

EuroProspects: Kenny Berkenbosch

Florida Marlins outfielder Kenny Berkenbosch is from Flevoland, Netherlands.

USA Cricket

Europeans play baseball, so it's not surprising that Americans play cricket.

Olympic teams set

The participants of the 2004 Olympic baseball tournament are finally set. With the host nation, Greece, participating, Europe is somewhat over-represented in the tournament. The big story, of course, is that the USA isn't among them, having lost to Mexico in the Americas qualifiers:

• Australia
• Canada
• Chinese Taipei
• Cuba
• Greece
• Italy
• Japan
• The Netherlands

That said, the hastily-assembled Greece team is effectively a substitute Team USA, being comprised largely of Greek-Americans.

Rogearvin Bernadina

One of the prospects in the Montreal Expos organisation is 19-year-old outfielder Rogearvin Bernadina from Willemstad, Curaçao. He was signed in 2002 by Fred Ferreira, the club's former Director of International Operations at the Expos baseball academy in the Netherlands and is currently with the Class-A Jupiter Expos.

Formerly with Sparta/Feyenoord, Bernadina was a member of the Dutch national team in 2003.

Test

This is a new blog, and I'm still messing with the settings.

Fish for Euro Game?

Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria would like his team, which is playing the Houston Astros in Mexico City this weekend, playing a game in Europe next preseason. There have been discussions about an exhibition game somewhere in Europe since last summer. It seems Rome is the most likely venue. The New York Mets have in the past also made positive noises about the plan. What's important, however, are the final few paragraphs:

The exposure the game gets in as many places as possible invariably expands the talent pool to find players. Over the past few years, Loria has dispatched Marlins director of international operations Fred Ferreira to Europe, Asia and Latin America in search of prospects. "You have to consider players from everywhere," Loria said. "Korea, Japan ... I've had Fred in Europe for several years now. We're developing players in Belgium. "If it works in the NBA, and it works for other sports, why wouldn't it work for baseball? If there is great talent, whether it is here or Australia, you have to go find it."