Not much news happening in the foreign department when it comes to Asia’s Baseball right now due to the ongoing Premier 12 so I’ll just make something here, still regarding about Baseball. Countries you least expected playing the game of Baseball.
Here are some of the postseason Baseball highlights in Germany and the Netherlands last month.
BASEBALL INTERNATIONAL! That’s all I can say.
(Update: not related to European Baseball, though)
If anyone of you guys here wanna watch some international Baseball, the Australian Baseball league season is currently ongoing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4URW7871xPZrbeiPREOldA/videos
Fan Interference 
And as we all know, Australia (AKA Oz) is every bit as much a part of Europe as Britain, Ireland, Hong Kong and Argentina are (nyuknyuknyuknyuk).
Well, since my wife and I ackcherley held our wedding reception at Lord’s, the Mecca of Cricket but without the mass-casualty stampedes (those occur a few miles away at Fulham during the backandforthandbackandforthandbackandforthball riots), and because I have ackcherley read all the way through C. L. R. James’ Beyond a Boundary, and especially because I once had a misbatted cricket ball clear the netting between the little country pub in Frampton-on-Severn where we were having a nice outdoor lunch and the local cricketeers club playing adjacently on Rosamund’s Green land smack in my bowl of fish soup.
Ergo, I just wanted to note that we have no more business infecting a continent with plenty of its own summer games, mind you, than we did infecting it with Burger King and McDonald’s where the Quarter Pounder is called the Royale for the same reason that the Kansas City designatedhitterball team is called the Royals: the metric system. Some years back, the Soviet (yes, that many years back) national baseball team – I bet you had no idea that there ever was one – came to the States and played (abysmally) several exhibition games, the closest one they came to winning being against the Baltimore Orioles who were that same year in the throes of an epic season-opening losing streak. I don’t think any of them made it through the rule five draft, nor do I know if there even was a rule 5 draft back then. No, for the Soviet team, the rules were unnumbered and simple: you fail, you die. Or at least you mine salt with a kirkomotyga to season the sturgeon at Akademgorodok. And may the God-who-doesn’t-exist help you if you didn’t play the game the right way.
It’s true that American football has established a toehold at Wembly, but that’s because in its brutality it bears a glancing resemblance to rugby, and virtually all the English who went to public school can fondly imagine the injuries afield being inflicted on their own upperclassmen and even headmasters (see Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life for a vivid representation of same if you want to understand the deep underlying sources of vengefulness). Baseball affords them no such mythopoesis.
I don’t think it will take.
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Speaking about American Rugby, here’s a special British commentary on how they view about that sport.
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Absolutely hilarious.
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Since OG raised the vexed subject of cricket, you folks might like to know that actual top level cricket is being played this next week in the US. In fact, game 1 is on tomorrow (Saturday) at 1:00pm ET in NYC, and it’s being played at that well known cricket venue, Citi Field in Flushing, NY. Two further games are scheduled for Houston (Minute Maid) and LA (Dodger Stadium).
‘Top level’ is a slight misnomer as the two teams are comprised of former top players drawn from India, Pakistan, UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (and I can confirm that almost all of the guys listed were very good in their day).
The game format is known as 20/20, ie. 20 ‘overs’ per side with each teams’ bowlers limited to four overs each (so five bowlers used per team). This format keeps game time down to around three hours so the action is usually all about the hitting which comes pretty fast and furious. I’ve no idea whether this will be televised in the US but details of the games, times, players, etc. can be found at this link:
http://cricketallstars2015.com/
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Vike: before Amerikans inflict cricket upon themselves, they need to read this. It will tell them everything they need to know about the game, while giving them some perspective on this nefarious creep afield of baseball:
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OG, thanks for that book link. I also wanted to say thanks for your recommendation on Borges’ ficciones. I’ve downloaded a bunch and, from an initial perusal, I think they will help me fill in some long summer afternoons quite nicely.
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Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, you’re a bit late for that. If you’re not, Borges goes great with weenter too.
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And here’s some British version baseball
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I know next to nothing about cricket, and that video will always crack me up. I LOVE the Joseph Gordon Levitt reference….just fantastic!
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If that guy announced a team’s games….I would immediately become a huge fan of that team’s games…those would be games worth DVRing.
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Just an idea, essentially stealing it from Viva El Birdos.
As often there are random topics people may want to discuss, I wonder if it would be a good idea to designate one post each day as the place to discuss random happenings in baseball or the world.
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“I wonder if it would be a good idea to designate one post each day as the place to discuss random happenings in baseball or the world.”
I’m all in with this idea.
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Well, shitnowsky. That didn’t work. Lets try it again, shall we
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I think during the season the In Case You Missed It (aka ATH) filled that spot. We haven’t really established a post for coffee talk for the off-season yet.
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Post your grocery lists for all any of us care. This is going to be a fun hang out this off-season. Just POST, we will take care of the comments.
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BTW, is there any abuser that Stephen A Smith and/or Jason Whitlock wouldn’t defend?
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The Westborough Baptist church, Kim Davis?
Nah, they are all in, aren’t they?
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Gotta be some white guy somewhere that beat his wife that those 2 will ignore.
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Well, if he’s not an athlete, rich guy, or politician, maybe…
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Thanks for the ABL link, Ren, as it gives me a chance to put in a plug for the league and my ‘local’ team, the Canberra Cavalry who are about a 90 minute drive away. For those unfamiliar with Oz geography, Canberra is actually our national capital located inland around 300km (180 miles) SW of Sydney in its own distinct territory similar to Washington DC.
To quote in part from their site, ‘the ABL features a 45-game season and serves to elevate baseball’s profile on the Australian sports landscape as well as fuel participation in the game’. The main focus is for Australian professionals currently playing in either the MLB or minors, and unsigned Australian prospects. The ABL also provides additional development opportunities for MLB prospects assigned by their club to the ABL, as well as professional players assigned by clubs from Japan, Taiwan and Korea.
The Cavalry have already had one championship win and a second overall in their last three seasons (out of five total), and are currently 7-2 this year while leading the competition. While the backbone of this team (and all others in the ABL) is the local, mostly amateur players who form the bulk of the roster, the quality of prospects assigned each season is a significant factor in the final results. Cavalry alumni include Didi Gregorious and Kevin Kiermaier…
A major portion of the Cavalry’s success can also be attributed to their home-grown manager, Michael Collins. Collins was signed by the Angels as a 16 year old in 2001 and made it to AAA as a catcher/1B in 2007. The local Canberra baseball association has run an ‘academy’ program for many years aiming to develop young talent. Collins was a graduate of that program which has seen many others also signed to minor league deals (none yet to MLB level). In between ABL seasons, Collins fills in time by managing the Padres high-A affiliate, the Lake Elsinore Storm.
Most notably, in 2013, the Cavalry not only won the ABL, but also went on to take the Asia Series that November against the year’s best club teams from Japan (Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and their $20M+ payroll), Korea (Samsung Lions) and Taiwan (their top two teams: EDA Rhinos & Uni-President Lions), as well as the 2013 European League champions (Fortitudo Baseball Bologna). So, the team made up of a handful of minor-leaguers sent ‘down under’ to gain some ‘winter’ experience along with a bunch of local guys, most of whom have 9-to-5 day jobs and play ball for fun, beat the best in Asia to take out the Series. That was a happy day! Go Cavs!
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