by Joe Favorito, IBAF, www.ibaf.org
As the month of February progresses, fans of baseball will start to focus more and more on the World Baseball Classic and its early March start in four cities, San Juan, Mexico City, Toronto and Tokyo. The sixteen nations competing will have a good part of the world’s sporting population watching, with the event televised in more than 220 countries. However one of the countries not in this year’s WBC, but with strong hopes for the future, is Germany.
The German Baseball and Softball Federation will be watching the WBC even more immediate interest, as the city of Regensburg will be one of host cities for the Baseball World Cup this September. One of those German baseballers keeping a close eye on the goings-on will be Arndt Wiedmaier, the Managing Director for the German Baseball and Softball Federation. The German Federation, with over 27,000 members, ranks just behind the Netherlands and Italy in terms of size in Europe, but is second to none in passion for the game, especially on the grassroots level.
“I grew up in Mainz, Germany, close to a housing area where lots of U.S. Army Officers lived, and I had lots of friends who were interested and one day they took me to a game and I loved it,” he said recently. “Shortly after that we started playing baseball amongst more friends, and we founded the Mainz Athletics baseball Club in 1988 which has been growing for over 20 years now. It is a passion for me, and I think with a successful World Cup we will bring even more fans to the game.”
Wiedmaier, a left-handed pitching St. Louis Cardinals fan who idolized Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, takes great pride in the efforts of the European Federation, which under the leadership of federation head Martin Miller, has grown from less than 300 members to its current size, with most participants native Germans.
“The perception with baseball in Europe is that it’s all Americans living here who play the game, but the truth is German baseball is played by Germans and has a feel to it that is distinctly German,” he added. “That is what is great about baseball…it teaches you individual and team skills and is a sport that people can play at any age and it is very adaptable to the local culture and customs. It is an international game that is really just starting to grow in Europe, and we are very proud to be a part of that growth.”
Wiedmaier speaks with great passion about the potential of German baseball, and points to the success of the four or five German-born players currently playing in the minor leagues in the United States as example of that growth.
One of the brightest prospects is Kai Gronauer, who is a catcher in the New York Mets organization. The current minor leaguers hope to follow in the footsteps of Martin and Juergen Helmig, who played in the Baltimore Orioles organization in the 1950’s.
“We have a visionary leader in Martin Miller at the European federation, and have seen with the early ticket sales in Regensburg (over 8,000 sold in the first few days) that the time may be right for German baseball to really grow,” he added. “Will we ever be as big as soccer? No. But with World Cup success, and hopefully more games on television, we know that baseball in Germany will be a success and teach all the values of the game to a new generation of players and fans.”