Mister Baseball

by John Miller, head coach of the Brussels Kangaroos and a reporter for a major American newspaper was in Vienna to attend the EBCA convention, he also wrote a blog this summer for Mister-Baseball.com

Vienna, Austria — One particularly satisfying aspect of baseball is the pleasure of breaking off pieces of the game for conservation, analysis and thought, especially during the winter dark. How to toss a better 2-seamer? Who will sign Teixeira? Why doesn’t everybody love baseball? The game lends itself to this kind of talk because its parts are so mechanical — and mysterious. Why can only a dozen men in the world at any one time throw a professional knuckleball?

In the land of the free, amateur coaches gather regularly to hash out such questions, pick up some tips and get away from their wives. The American Baseball Coaches Association convention – the next edition is Jan 2-5, 2009 in San Diego – has for years been a pilgrimage for the few dozen hardiest baseball crazies in Europe.

Earlier in this decade, a couple old world coaches were chewing the fat at the ABCA gathering in Nashville when they stumbled on an idea. “We thought ‘Why not hold a convention in Europe?’” says Georg Apfelbaum, a 36-year-old school teacher and head coach of the Cologne Cardinals. So Apfelbaum and a Dutch coach, Jan Pieter Koen, established the European Baseball Coaches Association. “We decided to bring the best American coaches to Germany and Holland,” says Koen, 38.

They recruited Tom O’Connell, a legendary Wisconsin high school coach and devotee of European baseball. He agreed to find speakers.

And so every year since 2003, the EBCA has run a fine old world hot stove party. High school, college and professional instructors fly over to teach and talk baseball. “Guys love coming to Europe, so we’re able to get some big names,” says O’Connell.

There was plenty to feast on at this year’s shindig in Vienna. Psychologist Tom Hansen, who’s worked for several MLB teams, lectured eloquently on how to teach players to accept failure. Cardinals’ minor league hitting instructor Jeff Albert laid out the latest hitting video analysis techniques and bat speed development programs (take a zillion swings!) O’Connell brought his usual high-quality fare of smart practice planning and astute psychology. Bill Holmberg, director of the MLB academy in Italy and a Cubs scout, dissected his latest pitching development weight programs. Belgium delivered its two finest coaches, Steve Janssen and Karl Onzia, to talk about catching and hitting.

Janssen is a marvel, an Antwerp kid who, still in his 30s, has worked himself into pro coaching stints in Triple A, as pitching coach for the Dutch national team and, in 2009, as head coach of the Netherlands’s Neptunus, the Yankees of Europe. The Belgian federation signed him as program director before the 2007 season, and then promptly voted down his proposal for Saturday doubleheaders and a Sunday under-23 league. Sadly, Janssen quit, and Belgian baseball is much the worse for his absence.

The crowd was German, Austria, Czech, Hungarian, Israeli and Belgian. Scouts from the Twins and Phillies showed up, too.

The evenings were full of precious baseball banter. A 5’8” Spanish lefty in the pros. An American player in Germany ironed his shirts naked. How did Eckstein get drafted? How many Major Leaguers will Europe produce in ten years? There is no better antidote to the baseball blues than to hang out with fellow devotees for a few days.

O’Connell, a genial Midwesterner with a heart of gold, received a well-deserved lifetime achievement award. And Chris Dassy, a tightly-wound electrical supplies salesman who is singlehandedly building a baseball empire in Namur, Belgium, was honored as European coach of the year.

At the convention, Dassy added another feat to his resume: He talked Apfelbaum into giving next year’s convention to Brussels.