by Pim van Nes
Embarrassing both Netherlands number 7 club MediaMonks RCH and Italian number 6 club Cariparma, the Romanian pitcher Mihai Burlea signed a contract with RCH at the end of the 2008 season for the next two Hoofdklasse seasons and last month another contract with the Italian club for the Serie A1 season 2009 only. On January 22 Parma general manager Massimo Fochi proudly announced to the Italian website Baseball.it the agreement with the 92-MPH starter with a European passport. Being urged to limit the use of foreign players in favor of Italian players, Italian clubs this season for the first time since 25 years hire players from within the European Union, who legally are not considered as foreigners.
Pitcher Burlea, who had performed well in the Netherlands finishing second behind nr 1 Rob Cordemans (Sparta/Feyenoord) with a low of .199 in opposing batting average, agreed with Racing Club Heemstede in September to come back again and signed a contract for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. When he had signed with Parma, Burlea informed by email his 2007 and 2008 employer MediaMonks RCH, that he had reached an agreement with the Italian club. Ruud Leijenaar, representing the board of the club in the Netherlands, asked him for an explanation, requested him to cancel the Italian contract and insisted on sticking to his first contract with RCH. The reply from Burlea, however, was negative and Leijenaar, public prosecutor by profession, communicated with Fochi as representative of Cariparma.
This former infield player of the same club, who is to celebrate his 45th anniversary today (February 11), was unable to respond to Leijenaar within the proposed term of 48 hours. Reason for club chairman Leijenaar to leave the game of sports diplomacy and instead to seek publicity with an interview issued by the Netherlands website Honkbalsite.com on January 31. Only after this publicity, Fochi managed to give an answer to the legal employer of the Romanian pitcher in the Netherlands.
In a Monday-article on the Italian website Baseball.it, Parma general manager Fochi was quoted as follows:
“Personally I have never seen the contract, which was signed by Burlea with RCH. Therefore I cannot say which clauses are stipulated in that contract, if at all. We should verify such with that club, having signed Burlea before. Definitely there are some problems, related to each club and to the player. Anyway, the European regulations do not require any clearance by the Netherlands federation. And for the Italian federation Mihai Burlea is perfectly OK for our membership. Let us bear in mind, that we are still dealing with amateur competitions ( Italian Baseball League and Hoofdklasse). Finalizing I can only add, that if Burlea would decide to stay in the Netherlands, I would not oppose that at all. We intend to have only players who volunteer freely to wear the Parma jersey.”
Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
www.honkbalsite.com
www.sporttribune.nl
www.baseball.it