John Miller, head coach of the Brussels Kangaroos and a reporter for a major American newspaper, is chronicling his team’s 2008 season in a column that will appear every Monday on mister-baseball.com. It is the first of several Mister-Baseball Blogs this year.
A year ago, I promised myself and others that the Kangaroos would lay the foundation for a winning baseball program. We would practice and play hard, throw strikes and hit cutoff men
In the end, we went 12-17. There were shining moments. Harold and Cedric, our oversized teen pitchers, beat other first division teams. Theo grew into a prospect shortstop. We closed out the season with a dramatic win.
But in the end, I was disappointed that we made so few strides toward whipping the ‘Roos nest into a sharp marching army. The team remained what it has been for years – a pick-up summer league squad in a six-month semi-pro league. From June to September, only a handful of teens came to practice.
A gentlemen from Minnesota flew in, pitched some wins to save the day, and then we squeaked into first division for another year. Everybody went home.
One of the graces of this often-frustrating season has been writing this column. It’s been a welcome, fun diversion from a day job of serious journalism and hobbies of coach-playing and play-coaching.
One reward has been reading mail from fellow baseball-lovers and seeing the pictures of your fields.
As promised, a selection of notes sent in over the past year.
- I’ve just gotten through all of your columns at the Mr. Baseball site. Interesting reading and something I will return to every week (ah well, maybe every two weeks).
- I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy reading your blog on Mister Baseball. Even though Baseball in Switzerland is even a step lower then Baseball in Belgium I can relate to so many topics and you make me smile.
- sir i gona play baseball with pakistan national team last 8th year now we going to phillpine and play 8th asia cup in 28th november 2008 sir im a good shortstop and laft hand batter my baseball perfurmes is to good sir i wana play baseball with you.if you want a shortstop so plz contect with me.
- First of all I really enjoy reading your frequent postings on mister-baseball, and as a Californian in Norway I can really relate too many of your experiences. It’s funny how far apart Norway and Belgium are, but regardless of the distance or language we share the common aspect of playing for “fun” instead of the old school way that I think we both learned. Baseball in Europe is ever-changing thanks to people like yourself, and to be honest we need to find the thin line that we can pass on our knowledge without alienating our future stars of Europe. It’s rather spooky how your experiences really mirror so many of mine here in Oslo over the last 4 years.
- Thanks for your recent blog entry. I must say I enjoyed it very much because it just describes the situation our team is in. We are a recreational German baseball team that got promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga last year. We have some talents, and a handful of guys who are willing to do everything necessary to succeed – the rest of the team is (as we all are) end of 20s, mid 30s, occupied with marrying, getting their wives pregnant, build houses, making a career. On the most days of exercise 6-7 people show up (if you are lucky), so you are not able to really make infield drills, sometimes catcher are missing, pitcher don’t show up and so on. For us, the handful of guys working hard, it s a very frustrating situation. Our coach gave up on us – he told me the same “What am I going to do? I can’t force them to come to practice”. So, I am also trying to find a way to motivate the guys of the team to practice, to have fun, and to win. But I am very, very frustrated. I am playing ok/good, but it’s not enough to carry the whole team. If you have any hints for me, what to do or how to motivate the guys, pls feel free to write me!
- I have read your column in www.mister-baseball.com, i am a korean baseball fan, your pictures of european baseball park are very impressive,please show anothers continually.
- I don’t have insight into your columns’ topics, I don’t have a profound observation about the game. I’m just writing (from Los Angeles) to say that I enjoy reading your blog postings (via Mister Baseball’s RSS feed), and your comments on the game, especially as played in Belgium. I was obsessed with soccer as a teenager, and spent my junior year in college (1985) in Brussels. In high school (1980) I traveled with a soccer team to the Netherlands. The kids on my club team were hosted by families from Haarlem, outside of Amsterdam, and I couldn’t wait to plumb the depths of my host family’s knowledge about Dutch soccer. All they wanted to talk about though was the Yankees. That’s when I learned how much some citizens of the Low Countries enjoy baseball. I still have a sticker from Honkbal Week circa 1980. Keep writing. It’s great.
In the end, this column happened because the gentlemen who run this major league website answered my wandering email in late winter with the enthusiasm of an umpire yelling Play Ball. They worked with me for eight months to make sure the stories ran like clockwork, through honeymoons, all-star games and a well-deserved Phillies world title.
It is to them that credit, and my gratitude, is due.
John Miller.
That’s all for 2008, folks. The email address remains oldworldpastime@gmail.com