Mixed Year 2009 for Baseball and Softball in Europe
The year 2009 will end in a few hours and an eventful twelve months for Baseball and Softball will be over. The last couple of days we already looked back at a few highlights. Now it is time to find some final words for 2009. It was an important year for Baseball and Softball, not only on the old continent. Several major tournaments were played internationally.
All started in March with the World Baseball Classic, where the Netherlands and Italy upset some of the favored teams and played significant roles in an event, which again was dominated by the Asian teams. Japan won again, beating South Korea in the finals. The favorites USA and Cuba had to look from the outside.
The second major Baseball event was the 38th IBAF Baseball World Cup in September. Three weeks the sport presented itself in seven European countries. Team USA defeated Cuba in the championship game to defend their title from 2007. The Netherlands long hoped for a surprise, but finished in sixth, as usual as the best European team.
As common in the past years, in July some minor international tournaments were played, nevertheless interesting enough to deserve a shout out. In Rotterdam Cuba won the World Port Tournament against the Netherlands. A team from Moscow, Russia defeated the Czech Republic to win the Prague Baseball Week. The German national team traveled to Canada for the World Baseball Challenge, where they beat every team, including a first-ever victory over Team USA (collegiate), and settled for an impressive second place.
Two major Softball tournaments were also played this summer. The Netherlands (2-4) and Italy (0-6) traveled to Oklahoma City for the KFC World Cup of Softball in which Team USA took first place with a perfect 6-0 record. The main event for European Softball in 2009 was the European Championship in Valencia, Spain, where the Netherlands fulfilled expectations and won the title. Great Britain surprised and advanced into the finals, while the Czech Republic, Russia and Germany rounded up the top five. Italy had to settle for a disappointing sixth-place finish.
On the club circuit some teams celebrated their first national championship, while others continued to build their dynasties, either in Baseball or in Softball. In the Baseball European Cups Danesi Nettuno repeated its title at the Final Four in Barcelona. In Softball the Dornbirn Sharx and Terrasvogels prevailed. Fortitudo Bologna topped the 2009 Final Standings of Mister-Baseball’s European Top 50.
But there were also negatives for Baseball and Softball. Both sports couldn’t find common ground for a joint reinstatement bid into the Olympics and instead competed against each other. Neither sport had a chance in front of the executive committee, which decided to nominate Rugby and Golf for the 2016 Olympic program. This will lead to drastic consequences in the future.
While Baseball has Major League Baseball, the IBAF Baseball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic, Softball (read also the October Newsletter by the ESF), especially in Europe, faces major challenges without the big tournament Olympics. The money from the IOC will be missed, not only by the IBAF or the ISF, but also the national federations. Major changes are needed to keep the developing small Baseball and Softball countries alive.
