by Josh Chetwynd

In the fifth annual Mister-Baseball Top 50, T&A San Marino decisively took the top position, becoming the first club based in neither Italy nor the Netherlands to secure the number one ranking. Admittedly, San Marino’s victory is one for the Italian Baseball League as the club competes in Italy’s domestic league. But regardless of geography, San Marino’s performance was dominate: not only did the team capture the IBL title but it also won one of the two European Cup pool events as well as the European “Final 4” club title. The squad outpaced the second-place finisher in the Top 50, Hoofdklasse champion L&D Amsterdam by the largest margin since the first rankings in 2007 when the Netherland’s Corendon Kinheim prevailed by a slightly larger total over its closest rival.

Teams from the IBL also finished third and fourth in the Top 50. Danesi Caffe Nettuno, Coppa Italia victor and runner up in the IBL, came in immediately behind Amsterdam, while Cariparma Parma, which lost to San Marino in the “Final 4” championship, placed fourth. German Bundesliga champions, Buchbinder Legionäre, rounded out the top five.

Winner of one of the two Euro Cup pools, Unipol Bologna led the bottom-half of the top ten, followed by Hoofdklasse vice-champions, Vaessen Pioneers, perennial Dutch contender DOOR Neptunus, Spanish Division de Honor winners, FC Barcelona, and Germany’s second-place club, the Paderborn Untouchables.

As in years past, these rankings are based on a combination of factors. Point totals for teams were amassed from two categories:

1. Strength of baseball in each club’s country: The strength of domestic leagues and the countries’ overall international success are significant factors in these rankings. To varying degrees, the elements considered include: The standing of each country’s national team in the European Championships (and qualifiers); the country’s overall performance in CEB club events; the size of the country’s baseball membership; and the number of international quality facilities in the country. In looking at country performance, both recent events and historical performance are taken into account. Results from the 2011 European Championship qualifiers were considered in this year’s rankings.
2. Club’s performance: This is the actual performance of each club. It includes final standings in domestic leagues (and inter-league play where applicable) and cup competitions; club winning percentages; and performances in CEB-sanctioned competitions. Head-to-head performance against other teams in the rankings is taken into consideration – but it is one of many factors. In this category, a team’s performance for the 2011 season is exclusively considered.

The combination of country strength and individual team performance is intended to give a snapshot of European club play for a single year. These rankings do not attempt to offer a historic comparison of clubs and do not assert that a team ranked higher than another is a “better” team. Rather, a combination of performance and league strength reflects the ordering.

We recognize that these rankings stir debate. In part, that’s their very purpose. We do not claim this list to be definitive. If you have any questions or comments, send e-mails to rankings@mister-baseball.com.

2007 Mister-Baseball European Top 50
2008 Mister-Baseball European Top 50
2009 Mister-Baseball European Top 50
2010 Mister-Baseball European Top 50

Mister Baseball's 2011 European Top 50

Pos.	Club	Country	Points
1	T&A San Marino	San Marino	39.17
2	L&D Amsterdam	Netherlands	34.17
3	Danesi Caffe' Nettuno	Italy	30.17
4	Cariparma Parma	Italy	29.92
5	Buchbinder Legionäre	Germany	29.83
6	Unipol Bologna	Italy	29.17
7	Vaessen Pioniers	Netherlands	28.17
8	DOOR Neptunus	Netherlands	27.42
9	FC Barcelona	Spain	27.00
10	Paderborn Untouchables	Germany	26.83
11	Corendon Kinheim	Netherlands	26.17
12	Solingen Alligators	Germany	24.83
13	Technika Brno	Czech Republic	23.75
14	Sant Boi	Spain	23.00
15	Rouen Baseball 76	France	22.83
16	Bonn Capitals	Germany	22.33
17	Telemarket Rimini	Italy	21.67
18	AVG Draci Brno	Czech Republic	21.50
19	Heidenheim Heideköpfe	Germany	20.83
	Montpellier Université Club	France	20.83
21	Tenerife Marlins P.C.	Spain	19.50
22	Astros	Spain	19.00
23	Les Templiers de Senart	France	18.08
24	Savigny sur Orge Lions	France	17.83
25	Kotlářka Praha	Czech Republic	16.75
26	Southern Nationals	United Kingdom	16.33
27	KNTU-OSVSM Kirovograd	Ukraine	15.75
28	Stockholms BSK	Sweden	15.67
	UVV	Netherlands	15.67
30	Zagreb BK	Croatia	15.42
31	SK Krč Praha	Czech Republic	15.25
32	Lakenheath Diamondbacks	United Kingdom	14.83
33	Hoboken Pioneers	Belgium	13.83
34	Baseball Klub Nada SSM Split	Croatia	12.92
35	Tornado Balashikha	Russia	12.67
36	Göteborg	Sweden	12.17
37	Vienna Metrostars	Austria	11.67
38	Scythians	Ukraine	11.25
39	Namur Angels	Belgium	11.08
40	Bern Cardinals	Switzerland	11.00
41	MOSQUITO Athletics Attnang-Puchheim	Austria	10.67
42	Sugar Storm Skidel	Belarus	9.50
43	MGPU S.Y.O.S. Moscow	Russia	9.17
44	Szentendre Sleepwalkers	Hungary	8.50
	TJ STU Angels Trnava	Slovakia	8.50
46	Beograd 96	Serbia	8.25
	Sporto Vilkai Vilnius	Lithuania	8.25
48	Stal Kutno	Poland	7.50
49	Dublin Spartans	Ireland	6.75
50	Panthers Patras	Greece	6.25
	Zajčki Rabbits	Slovenia	6.25

Honorable Mentions:

Club	Country
Blagoevgrad Buffaloes	Bulgaria
Espoo Expos	Finland
Kiili Pantrid	Estonia
Oslo Pretenders	Norway
Riga Lions	Latvia

Countries covered: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

Just a little bit of self-promotion on a Monday morning:

We have started a new series, called Ballparks in Europe. If you would like to introduce your ballpark, you’ll find more information here.

You are on Facebook? Become a Fan of Mister-Baseball.com here.

You can also follow Mister-Baseball.com at Twitter. @MisterBaseball

Hello Baseball Fans and Mister-baseball readers,

the Mister-Baseball-Team is looking for an Assistant Webmaster/Editor to help put content on our website.

This is -as all jobs on mister-baseball- a volunteer position.
Our Assistant Editor / Assistant Webmaster should be interested in helping us on the following things:

- Establish new contacts within European baseball to obtain news for the website
- Enter news and information ion the WordPress-backend and put these news on the website
- Rewrite articles that have been sent in by correspondents which are no native English speakers
- Find photos for articles and publish them

Anybody that has good English language skills and is willing to invest at least 1 to 2 hours per day is welcome.

Internet HTML or PHP/SQL Knowledge is a plus but it is not mandatory for this position.

Mister-Baseball looking for Writers:

Mister-Baseball also would like to add some writers to its staff, which would be assigned to a European league and are going to provide weekly game day previews and recaps to our website. We are looking for people, which have knowledge of European Baseball and Softball and are comfortable in the English language. The position would be on a volunteer basis, financial compensation is not included. Writers would be able to cover most of the countries. If you want to know, which leagues are open, send us an email.

If you are interested or you’re having any questions let us know at news@mister-baseball.com

We also would like to use this opportunity to reach out to fans, players, coaches and clubs in general to use Mister-Baseball.com as a tool to get more publicity. So if you hear about transfers and rumors, build new stadiums, run clinics, would like to introduce your ballpark and to publish game reports or have something else on your mind to tell the European community about, drop us a line or two at

news[at]mister-baseball.com

Follow Mister-Baseball.com also on Facebook and Twitter

Mister-Baseball.com wishes all readers a Merry Christmas, resting holidays and a Happy New Year. Thank you.

Or you get lucky and win a ticket in our little contest. To win, you only need to send us a picture of your ballpark. At the end of the week, we’ll choose the three best pictures and award their owners with a ticket for the 2011 Buchbinder Cup. Submit your pics at ballparks@mister-baseball.com

We accept your submissions until Sunday, June 5 at 7pm CET. The winners will be announced on Monday, June 6. Good luck.

Some topics in the book:

• How does MLB scouting work and what to do to make an impression with a scout
• How the Amateur Player Draft works
• How Baseball showcases and placement services work
• How can you benefit from playing professional baseball outside of Major League Baseball
• How to market yourself to MLB organizations, teams and leagues throughout the world
• How to find open tryouts and how they work
• How is life as a professional baseball player
• And lots of more tips to get paid to play baseball

It is really an interesting read with some anecdotes out of the baseball life of Eddie Aucoin, who will return as starting pitcher to the Hoofddorp Pioniers this year. He was so kind to offer the readers of Mister-Baseball.com two copies of the book “Live the Dream – Get paid to play Baseball”, which we will hand out in a contest over the next two weeks.

You basically have three chances to win the book:

• 1) Follow @MisterBaseball at Twitter and re-tweed: “I want to win Eddie Aucoin’s Book “Live the Dream” at @MisterBaseball http://at-b.at/PBEleD”
• 2) Become a fan of Mister-Baseball.com at Facebook and share this article (please post the status link in the comment section of this article)
• 3) Publish an article on your website or blog about the contest with a link to this article.

The contest will end on Sunday, January 23 at midnight CET.

The fourth annual Mister-Baseball Top 50 featured a trio of worthy candidates for the ranking’s number one spot. The Dutch champions, DOOR Neptunus, delivered one of its greatest seasons, posting a 39-3 record in the always competitive Hoofdklasse. Cariparma captured the Italian Baseball League title in the same year that the Italian National Team won its first European Championship title since 1997. Although UGF Assicurazioni Bologna lost to Cariparma in a seven-game IBL final, it won a European Cup trophy, the European “Final 4” event and the Coppa Italia. So who came out first in our review of European baseball teams? In the end, it was Bologna’s combination of hardware that earned it the number one position in these 2010 rankings. It’s the second straight season Bologna has received the honor.

Neptunus, which was hurt by its fourth-place performance in European Cup play, took the second spot, while Cariparma, which was hindered by not competing in a major tournament abroad, finished in third. Telemarket Rimini, which won a European Cup in Rotterdam, and Hoofdklasse runners-up L&D Amsterdam Pirates rounded out the first five.

German Bundesliga champs, Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg, leads off the second half of the top 10. Heidenheim Heidekoepfe, Germany’s runners up, rode impressive silver medal finishes both in European Cup play and at the “Final 4” to book seventh place. T&A San Marino, Spanish champions CB Sant Boi, and Dutch semi-finalist Corendon Kinheim completed the top ten.

As in years past, these rankings are based on a combination of factors. Point totals for teams were amassed from two categories:

1. Strength of baseball in each club’s country: The strength of domestic leagues and the countries’ overall international success are significant factors in these rankings. To varying degrees, the elements considered include: The standing of each country’s national team in the European Championships; the country’s overall performance in CEB club events; the size of the country’s baseball membership; and the number of international quality facilities in the country. In looking at country performance, both recent events and historical performance are taken into account. Performance in the 2010 European Championships are included as are new participation and facility data made available to Mister-Baseball.
2. Club’s performance: This is the actual performance of each club. It includes final standings in domestic leagues (and inter-league play where applicable) and cup competitions; club winning percentages; and performances in CEB-sanctioned competitions. Head-to-head performance against other teams in the rankings is taken into consideration – but it is one of many factors. In this category, a team’s performance for the 2010 season is exclusively considered.

The combination of country strength and individual team performance is intended to give a snapshot of European club play for a single year. These rankings do not attempt to offer a historic comparison of clubs and do not assert that a team ranked higher than another is a “better” team. Rather, a combination of performance and league strength reflects the ordering.
We recognize that these rankings stir debate. In part, that’s their very purpose. We do not claim this list to be definitive. If you have any questions or comments, send e-mails to rankings@mister-baseball.com.

2007 Mister-Baseball European Top 50
2008 Mister-Baseball European Top 50
2009 Mister-Baseball European Top 50

Mister Baseball's 2010 European Top 50

Pos.	Club	Country	Points
1	Unipol Bologna	Italy	35.67
2	DOOR Neptunus	Netherlands	34.67
3	Cariparma Parma	Italy	33.17
4	Telemarket Rimini	Italy	28.42
5	L&D Amsterdam	Netherlands	28.17
6	Buchbinder Legionäre	Germany	27.83
7	Heidenheim Heideköpfe	Germany	27.67
8	T&A San Marino	San Marino	27.58
9	Sant Boi	Spain	27.50
10	Corendon Kinheim	Netherlands	26.67
11	Vaessen Pioniers	Netherlands	26.42
12	AVG Draci Brno	Czech Republic	23.75
13	FC Barcelona	Spain	23.00
14	Rouen Baseball 76	France	22.58
15	Solingen Alligators	Germany	22.33
16	Danesi Caffe' Nettuno	Italy	21.67
17	Tenerife Marlins P.C.	Spain	20.25
18	Paderborn Untouchables	Germany	19.83
19	Savigny sur Orge Lions	France	19.58
20	Technika Brno	Czech Republic	19.25
21	Mr.Cocker HCAW	Netherlands	18.17
22	Montepaschi Grosseto Orioles	Italy	17.67
23	Béisbol Navarra	Spain	17.50
24	Montpellier Université Club	France	17.33
25	Karlskoga Bats BBK	Sweden	15.67
26	KNTU-OSVSM Kirovograd	Ukraine	15.50
27	Les Templiers de Senart	France	15.33
28	MZLU Express Brno	Czech Republic	15.25
29	Hoboken Pioneers	Belgium	15.08
30	Richmond Flames	United Kingdom	14.83
31	Tornado Balashikha	Russia	14.17
32	Bracknell Blazers	United Kingdom	13.83
33	Stockholms BSK	Sweden	13.17
34	Baseball Klub Nada SSM Split	Croatia	12.92
35	MGPU S.Y.O.S. Moscow	Russia	11.17
36	Stal Kutno	Poland	10.75
37	TNU Tigers	Ukraine	10.50
38	North Stars Moscow	Russia	9.67
39	Olimpija Karlovac	Croatia	9.42
40	K. Deurne Spartans	Belgium	9.33
41	MOSQUITO Athletics Attnang-Puchheim	Austria	8.92
42	Bern Cardinals	Switzerland	8.75
43	SK Krč Praha	Czech Republic	7.75
	Therwil Flyers	Switzerland	7.75
45	Blagoevgrad Buffaloes	Bulgaria	7.00
46	Brest Zubrs	Belarus	6.75
47	BC Slovan Bratislava	Slovakia	6.00
48	Beograd 96	Serbia	5.50
	Dublin Spartans	Ireland	5.50
	Lituanica Kaunas	Lithuania	5.50
	Szentendre Sleepwalkers	Hungary	5.50

Honorable Mentions:

Club	Country
Dinamo Bucaresti	Romania
Espoo Expos	Finland
Kranjski Lisjaki	Slovenia
Oslo Pretenders	Norway
PapaJoe’s Eglo Tigers	Austria

Countries covered: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

Publish your game updates live thru Twitter on Mister Baseball

If you are interested or you’re having any questions let us know at news@mister-baseball.com

Mister-Baseball is going to provide the English content for the official website of the European Championship Seniors in Stuttgart, Heidenheim and Neuenburg this summer. Since the weekend you can find all articles from Mister-Baseball.com regarding the tournament also on www.baseball-em.de.

The European Championship will be played from July 23 to August 1. Defending champion the Netherlands, host Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Belgium, Croatia, Greece and the Ukraine will be battling for the trophy. Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.de

Established in 2007 Mister-Baseball.com is covering and promoting all about Baseball and Softball in Europe as well as International Tournaments like the Baseball World Cup, the World Baseball Classic and the Olympic Games.

Mister-Baseball’s European Top 50 Club Ranking

Spanish Division de Honor starts into 2010 Season
Spanish Division de Honor Team-by-Team Previews

• Ballparks: We are going to intensify our “Ballparks in Europe” feature during the next couple of weeks. If you’re interested to introduce your home field, check out the instructions.

• Facebook: You can become a fan of Mister-Baseball at Facebook. We’re already approaching the 500 mark. Thank you.

• Twitter: You can also follow @Mister-Baseball through Twitter. You’ll receive important news right in time and during the season you can update fellow followers with a live score of your favorite team (instructions).

These are the most important dates in European Baseball and Softball this year:

• February 5th-7th: ESF Congress in Antalya, Turkey
• February 27th/28th: Spanish Division de Honor first league in Europe to start season
• March 4th-7th: CEB Congress in Stuttgart, Germany
• June 2nd-6th: Baseball European Cups in Brno, Czech Republic and Rotterdam, Netherlands
• June 13th-16th: Prague Baseball Week
• June 14th-19th: Baseball European Cup Qualifiers in Solingen, Germany, Brest, Belarus, Antwerp, Belgium and Karlovac, Croatia
• June 23rd-July 2nd: ISF Women’s Softball World Championship in Caracas, Venezuela
• July 9th-18th: Haarlem Baseball Week
• July 19th-24th: Baseball European Championship Cadets in Eindhoven, Netherlands
• July 23rd-August 1st: Baseball European Championship Seniors in Stuttgart, Heidenheim and Neuenburg, Germany
• July 23rd-August 1st: IBAF AAA World Championship Juniors in Thunder Bay, Canada
• July 25th-31st: Softball European Championship Juniors Girls in Vienna, Austria
• July 29th-August 8th: FISU World University Championship in Japan
• August 2nd-7th: Softball European Championship Under-22 Girls in Prague, Czech Republic
• August 16th-21st: Softball European Cup and European Cupwinners Cup in Haarlem, Netherlands
• August 18th-22nd: Baseball European Championship Under-21 in Brno, Czech Republic
• September 25th/26th: Baseball European Champion Cup Final Four in Barcelona, Spain

• Netherlands upsetting the Dominicans during the 2009 World Baseball Classic: The Dutch team not one, but twice was able to beat an All-Star filled squad during the first round of the tournament.

• Italy beating Canada during 2009 World Baseball Classic: The Italian team also was able to pull off an upset during the WBC. They beat host Canada on their home field at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

• 38th IBAF Baseball World Cup: Over 100,000 people watched the IBAF Baseball World Cup in seven European Countries in September and applauded old and new champion Team USA.

• European Cup Final Four: Fortitudo Bologna became the 2009 European Champions Cup Winner at the Final Four in Barcelona, Spain in June. They later went on to win the Italian title too and finished the year in first place in Mister-Baseball’s European Top 50.

• Add an answer: You are not happy with our pre-selected choices? Just add another highlight in European Baseball and explain in the comments. (Please be fair. We reserve the right to delete answers)

Mister-Baseball has created a new poll on our front page below the news section, where you can voice your opinion. If you want to know more about Fraccari, Ostermeyer and their proposed programs, check out these two previous articles on our website:

• Introducing Candidates Riccardo Fraccari and John C. Ostermeyer
• The Programs of the two IBAF President Candidates

After two seasons of Dutch domination at the top of the tables, the third annual Mister-Baseball European Top 50 has a new country taking the top spot: Italy. Fortitudo Bologna rode a combination of an Italian Baseball League championship, a co-European Cup crown and a silver medal performance in the Europe’s Final Four to claim the title. Two Dutch clubs followed Bologna: the Hoofdklasse champion, DOOR Neptunus, and league runners-up Konica Minolta Pioneers. After finishing at the top of the standings last year, L&D Amsterdam fell to a tie at the fourth spot with Rouen Baseball 76. Amsterdam did earn a European Cup crown but couldn’t progress out of the Hoofdklasse semi-finals. Rouen secured its placing thanks to a French League and a Challenge De France title as well as a third-place finish at the European Cup – in which they beat Amsterdam head-to-head.

Two IBL squads came next: League runners-up and Italian Cup winner T&A San Marino and Final Four champion Danesi Caffe Nettuno. Although Nettuno walked away with the Final Four title, its inability to make it to the IBL playoffs was reflected in its final placing. In contrast, eighth-place finisher Tenerife Marlins dominated the Spanish domestic league, but a poor performance in European Cup competition left them outside of the top-five. Dutch semi-finalist Corendon Kinheim, which shared a European Cup title with Bologna, placed in a tie with Tenerife and the German Bundesliga champion Heidenheim Heidekoepfe rounded out the top-10.

These rankings continue to be based on a combination of factors. Point totals for teams were amassed from two categories:

1. Strength of baseball in the club’s country: The strength of domestic leagues and the countries’ overall international success were significant factors in these rankings. Among the elements considered were: The standing of each country’s national team in the European Championships; the country’s overall performance in CEB club events; and the size of the baseball membership in the country. In looking at country performance, both recent events and historical performance were taken into account.
2. Club’s performance: This is the actual performance of the clubs. This included final standings in domestic leagues and cup competitions; clubs’ winning percentages; and performances in CEB-sanctioned competitions. Head-to-head performance against other teams in the rankings is taken into consideration – but is one of many factors. In this category, a team’s performance for the 2009 season was exclusively considered.

The combination of country strength and individual team performance is intended to give a snapshot of European club play for a single year. These rankings do not attempt to offer a historic comparison of clubs and do not assert that a team ranked higher than another is a “better” team. Rather, a combination of performance and league strength reflects the ordering.

We recognize that these rankings may stir some debate. In part, that’s their very purpose. We do not claim this list to be definitive. If you have any questions or comments, send e-mails to rankings@mister-baseball.com.

2007 Mister-Baseball European Top 50
2008 Mister-Baseball European Top 50

Mister Baseball's 2009 European Top 50

Pos.	Club	Country	Points
1	Unipol Bologna	Italy	32.33
2	DOOR Neptunus	Netherlands	30.00
3	Vaessen Pioniers	Netherlands	27.00
4	L&D Amsterdam	Netherlands	26.50
	Rouen Baseball 76	France	26.50
6	T&A San Marino	San Marino	25.50
7	Danesi Caffe' Nettuno	Italy	25.33
8	Corendon Kinheim	Netherlands	25.00
	Tenerife Marlins P.C.	Spain	25.00
10	Heidenheim Heideköpfe	Germany	23.33
11	Telemarket Rimini	Italy	21.83
12	Sant Boi	Spain	21.50
13	AVG Draci Brno	Czech Republic	21.33
14	FC Barcelona	Spain	20.75
15	Cariparma Parma	Italy	20.33
	Mannheim Tornados	Germany	20.33
17	Buchbinder Legionäre	Germany	19.83
18	Sparta/Feyenoord	Netherlands	19.00
19	Les Templiers de Senart	France	18.50
20	Montpellier Université Club	France	18.00
21	KNTU-OSVSM Kirovograd	Ukraine	17.83
	Solingen Alligators	Germany	17.83
23	San Inazio	Spain	17.00
24	Arrows Ostrava	Czech Republic	16.33
25	Tornado Balashikha	Russia	15.83
26	Savigny sur Orge Lions	France	15.50
27	Bracknell Blazers	United Kingdom	15.00
28	Stockholms BSK	Sweden	14.50
29	MGPU S.Y.O.S. Moscow	Russia	14.33
	Technika Brno	Czech Republic	14.33
31	Hoboken Pioneers	Belgium	14.25
32	Richmond Flames	United Kingdom	13.50
33	Tranås BK	Sweden	12.50
34	Port of Antwerp Greys	Belgium	11.75
	Therwil Flyers	Switzerland	11.75
36	Olimpija Karlovac	Croatia	11.50
37	Montepaschi Grosseto Orioles	Italy	11.33
38	Lituanica Kaunas	Lithuania	11.00
	SUPERFUND Wanderers	Austria	11.00
40	TNU Tigers	Ukraine	10.33
41	Baseball and Softball Club Vindija	Croatia	10.00
	Brest Zubrs	Belarus	10.00
43	Bern Cardinals	Switzerland	9.75
44	Skokani Olomouc	Czech Republic	8.83
45	Dinamo Bucaresti	Romania	8.50
46	Demony Miejska Górka	Poland	8.00
47	Dublin Spartans	Ireland	7.50
48	Óbuda Brick Factory	Hungary	7.00

Honorable Mentions:

Club	Country
Blagoevgrad Buffaloes	Bulgaria
Espoo Expos	Finland
Kranjski Lisjaki	Slovenia
MOSQUITO Athletics Attnang-Puchheim	Austria
Oslo Pretenders	Norway
PapaJoe’s Eglo Tigers	Austria
Vojvode Zemun	Serbia

Countries covered: Austria, Belarus. Belgium. Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.

Built:
Distances (Left Field/Center Field/Right Field):
Capacity:
Teams, which play(ed) there:
Tournament History:
Specials:
Location at Google Maps:

Important requirements for the pictures: At least one of the photos has to be a view from behind the backstop and pictures should exceed a width of 1,000 pixels.

You like Mister-Baseball.com and you’re using Facebook? We now have created a fan page. Become a fan here.

As they are now supplied by Krispy Kernels, one of the famous Canadian sunflower seed brands, they not only offer the beloved flavours Salted, Seasoned, BBQ, Hot&Spicy and Dill Pickle but bring back the famous Pizza flavor, which, to the displeasure of many European customers had been discontinued by their old supplier Spitz Seeds in 2007.

Check out their products at  http://www.snack-palace.com so you can have a part of the game in your pocket, and your mouth, all the time! They ship all over Europe!

“A League of their Own”:

“Bad News Bears”:

“Bull Durham”:

“Field of Dreams”:

“Major League”:

“Mr. Baseball”:

“The Natural”:

If you’re not registered, you only need an email address and a username to create an account. You’re ready to go in a few seconds. You can now also see how many comments one article has, simply by looking at the right side of the news headlines. On the left side, you’ll find the five latest comments in a box.

Check it out and let us know, what you think about European Baseball.

1. If you don’t have already, register an account with Twitter : twitter.com
2. Once registered, FOLLOW MisterBaseball: Go to twitter.com/MisterBaseball and click the ‘Follow’ button under our pic
3. Then send an email to twitter@mister-baseball.com and tell us your exact Twitter name
4. Once we follow you back you are able to send us direct messages

In order to publish your results, send a direct Message via Twitter to MisterBaseball Use the folling format for your message:

d MisterBaseball [IOC Country Code-3-digit CAPITALS only]
[HOME9] - [AWAY] [RUNS_HOME]-[RUNS_AWAY] [(INNING_XX)]
[/ OPTIONAL_COMMENT]

Examples:

d MisterBaseball ITA Nettuno - Parma 05-02 (6) /
3-Run HR by Baggio

d MisterBaseball GER Mannheim - Regensburg 01-09 (Final)

If you do NOT start the direct message with the 3-Digit IOC Country Code we can not parse the message and therefore not publish the result. You are of course limited to Twitters 140 char limit. However, if there are enough chars left at the end of your message we will add your username, so your Twitter account get’s promoted as well. Here you can find a list of all IOC Country Codes Twitter clients for mobile phones (selection)

iPhone

• NatsuLion for iPhone
• Tweetie
• Twinkle
• TwitterFon
• Twitterific
• Tiny Twitter

Blackberry

• Twitterberry
• Yatca

Nokia S-Series (might work on other Symbian based phones as well)

• Gravity
• twibble
• Twittix

The new season in the Spanish Division de Honor is already two weeks old and in France fans will celebrate Opening Day this upcoming weekend. As you can see, the European Baseball season is already heating up, despite the cool weather.

Before the leagues in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic and all over Europe kick off competition, the Elite teams will meet next week (March 31-April 4) in Italy for the two European Cups (Check back on Monday for a Preview). Twelve clubs will fight in Matino and Nettuno to get one of four tickets for the European Cup Final Four in Barcelona, Spain, which is held on June 20/21.

We ask our readers, which of the teams will win the European Cup this year. Go back to the front page of Mister-Baseball.com and cast your vote below the news section.

Nettuno:
Danesi Nettuno (ITA) (Winner 2008 Final Four, Italy Runner Up)
Tenerife Marlins (ESP) (Spanish Division de Honor Champion)
L&D Amsterdam (NED) (Dutch Hoofdklasse Champion)
Port of Antwerp Greys (BEL) (Belgian Champion)
Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg (GER) (German Bundesliga Champion)
Rouen Huskies (FRA) (French Elite League Champion)

Matino:
Corendon Kinheim (NED) (Winner 2008 European Cup in Grosseto, Netherlands Runner Up)
T&A San Marino (SMA) (Italian Baseball League Champion)
Fortitudo Bologna (ITA) (Coppa Italia Winner)
Templiers Senart (FRA) (French Runner Up, French Baseball Challenge Winner)
AVG Draci Brno (CZE) (Czech Extraleague Champion)
FC Barcelona (ESP) (Winner 2008 European Cup in Regensburg, Spanish Runner Up)

European Competition Schedule

Photo: © Ezio Ratti, FIBS

http://twitter.com/misterbaseball
or
@MisterBaseball

We set up another poll on the front page of Mister-Baseball.com. Eight teams are left. Who will go all the way this year? The second round starts on Saturday. You’ll find the poll below the news section on the left side of Mister Baseball’s European Top 50.

Previews 2009 World Baseball Classic:
China
South Africa
Panama
Taiwan
Australia
Venezuela
Mexico
Puerto Rico
South Korea
Canada
Dominican Republic
Italy
Netherlands
United States of America
Cuba
Japan

The Mister Baseball Team wishes our readers a merry Christmas. Enjoy the Holidays.

From today on, Baseball.it readers get directly access to English news provided by Mister-Baseball and the same will be on the homepage of Mister-Baseball where translated news of Baseball.it will be available.

Baseball.it (www.baseball.it) and Mister-Baseball (www.mister-baseball.com) have reached an exclusive agreement of cooperation to share, deepen and published simultaneously on both sites all the news produced in real time by their editors.

Starting from today, through the application of specific translation software, Baseball.it readers can get English news from Mister Baseball accessed directly from the homepage of the Italian site created a decade ago: a special area reserved for this international partnership will propose the flow of constantly updated news headlines of Mister-Baseball.

At the same time, the readers of Mister-Baseball – a website that deals with baseball and softball at the European level for now already more than a year – will find a box at the bottom of the front-page and can easily recognize the “Latest News” made by Baseball.it, translated in an automatic way and already available in English.

The agreement between Baseball.it and Mister-Baseball.com also provides that editors and contributors of the two sites cooperate together to achieve common editorial initiatives (interviews, surveys, analysis, thematic depth etc) of international concern.

For Baseball.it and Mister-Baseball.com this agreement not only marks an important step for the further growth of the respective sites for information on the web (a sort of pan-European platform for baseball news), but offers fans the opportunity to be able to provide new content from different sources.

“Baseball.it continues in the development of news and multimedia content of great appeal for readers” – said Filippo Fantasia, Editor in Chief of Baseball.it – “We wanted to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the birth of our site launching this important partnership with Mister-Baseball, which is one of the most outstanding new realities of our sport”.

“We’re happy to work together with Baseball.it in the future” – says Philipp Wuerfel, Editor in Chief of Mister-Baseball – “and hope to extend the coverage of Italian and European Baseball through the partnership.“

We have added a new feature to Mister-Baseball.com. In the sidebar on the right side of our website, we now present you a European Baseball Club Contacts List. There you can find addresses, telephone numbers, websites and email from clubs all over Europe. If your team is missing or the data is incorrect, let us know under clublist@mister-baseball.com.

European Baseball Club Contacts List

In order to have better softball coverage, Mister Baseball is looking for a “European Softball Correspondent” that coordinates all our efforts in the Softball scene.

He needs to do:
- contact clubs and national federations
- contact coaches and players
- write up articles and summaries
- surf European Softball Websites on a daily basis
- Enter the articles in our Content management System and publish them

We are looking for:
- good English writing skills
- about 1 to 2 hours per day
- above average internet experience

This position is – as every position on Mister Baseball – for volunteers

Please send your info to news@mister-baseball.com

2008 Final Standings Mister Baseball’s European Top 50

2008 Mid Season Standings Mister Baseball’s European Top 50

2007 Final Standings Mister Baseball’s European Top 50

www.baseball.alltop.com
www.alltop.com

2008 Midseason European Top 50

2007 Final European Top 50

We want to introduce you to the first German MLB-Portal. It is called MLBInsider.de. It was launched on March 3 and is covering Major League Baseball for German speaking people. There are news, recaps, blogs, and several more features. Check it out.

Go to Mister-Baseball.com, scroll down and vote.

We would also add a copyright note in reference to the contributor.

Please send your photos directly to photos@mister-baseball.com

By sending your photos you agree that they will be published on mister-baseball.com.

There are different ways to help us. You can provide us with complete articles or just a tip about a new player (or something else). We are looking for transactions (new signings, trades, extensions), injuries, new coaches, new ballparks, news about your leagues and much more.

If you are interested to assist Mister-Baseball.com please contact us.

http://www.mister-baseball.com/core/link-to-us

If you need different sizes feel free to contact us.

Junior OBERTO (Montepaschi Grosseto): He led the Italian Baseball League with a 1.44 ERA in the regular season. He posted an 8-2 record. He struck out 77 in 100 innings pitched. He struggled through the playoffs, but overall had a pretty good season.

Jesus MOTA (Fortitudo Bologna): He had the most wins in the Italian Baseball League with ten. He ranked third with an ERA of 1.77. He struck out 89 in 91.1 innings pitched.

David BERGMAN (Corendon Kinheim): He recently won the pitcher of the year award in the Netherlands. He posted a 12-2 record in 15 starts with an ERA of 2.06. He had 75 strikeouts in 96 innings pitched. He also pitched for the Dutch national team at the European championship (EC) and the Baseball World Cup (BWC), receiving the win in the historic upset over Cuba.

Leon BOYD (DOOR Neptunus): He got a perfect 9-0 record during the regular season of the Dutch Major League. He led all starting pitchers with a 1.22 ERA, striking out 61 in 66.2 innings pitched.

Enorbel MARQUEZ-RAMIREZ (Solingen Alligators): Limited due a knee injury, he pitched just 52 innings (60 strikeouts) during the regular season in the German Baseball-Bundesliga. However with a 1.22 ERA and seven wins he was right at the top of the league. His most impressive performances came at the international level. At the EC in Barcelona he won all three starts with a 1.20 ERA. Two months later he showed his talent at the BWC (two starts, ERA 3.21).

Yoel HERNANDEZ (Marlins Puerto Cruz): He was first in the Spanish Baseball League with a 0.56 ERA. He had an 8-0 record and struck out 83 in 64.2 innings pitched. He won the national championship with his team. At the EC he impressed as well with two wins and a 0.61 ERA. He struggled at the BWC.

Remigio LEAL (CF Barcelona): He was not far behind Yoel HERNANDEZ in 2007. He posted a 9-1 record with an ERA of 0.79. He struck out 85 in 90.2 innings pitched. He attended the EC and BWC as well.

Samuel MEURANT (Templiers Sénart): He pitched 120 innings for the runner up in the French championship. He had an ERA of 1.94 and a 10-2 record. He struck out 111.

Of course, the list could be longer and the selection is somewhat subjective. Feel free to comment and vote at the Mister-Baseball.com homepage.

Wickert is the official photograph of the Dutch baseball federation and one of the best in the business.

Official Website: www.eott.nl

If you would like to discuss these rankings please go to our discussion board/forum: http://www.mister-baseball.com/forum
Here are the Rankings: http://www.mister-baseball.com/mister-baseballs-european-top-50