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.
We lost twice, 9-6 and 17-15, to the Borgehout Squirrels, to close out the first round of our 2008 season. I still haven’t seen a win. But at least we’re hitting, and the young guys continue to improve. Harold had another solid outing on Saturday, giving up only 3 earned runs over 7. Sunday was a Kangaroo Field gore movie. Each team hit 4 homeruns over our Little Monster.
Vincent, 18, hit 2 long bombs. I’m proud of how far he’s come. He grew up in Brussels, the son of an American and a German. He discovered baseball only at 11, but was quickly smitten. He’s had some tough times over the last few years, losing his dad and a teammate to cancer. But he’s maturing into a smart, funny and very nice guy – not to mention a fine ballplayer.
Vincent’s great athletic leap forward was playing on the Brussels all-star teams going to Pennsylvania-based Little League Inc’s annual world championship tournament. Brussels has an old tradition of sending all-star teams to the event. Unlike in the U.S., where infinite layers separate the kid next door from the finals, one need only win the single round here – the European regional championship — to advance to the World Series. It’s an attainable goal: Brussels has placed a dozen teams.
The first girl ever to play in the 11-12-year-old championship in Williamsport, Victoria Roche in 1984, was from Brussels. At an expat bookstore in Vietnam, I picked up a glossy coffee table baseball book, with beautiful frames of the Babe, McGwire and other animals. There was a full-page illo of Victoria, there, too, mentioning Brussels. Her dad John was my coach.
We played the European championships every year at U.S. Air Force bases in Germany. It was a treat as a kid, in those years close to the Cold War, to visit mini-gated-America, land of Burger King and bowling alleys. My team always came in second. That instilled a nagging ambition to win the thing. Meanwhile, Little League built a massive baseball complex in a small town called Kutno, two hours west of Warsaw. I’ve been to Kutno four times.
In 2002, I coached my brother’s team, which included Vincent and Harold. We came in second. In 2004, however, we beat the Netherlands, 1-0, to advance to the under-14 World Series in Taylor, Michigan. Harold pitched a complete game and Vincent scored the only run of the game. In 2006, we did it again, this time going to Bangor, Maine.
Playing in these tournaments is a rare functional baseball experience for Europe — pretty much the only time kids play on a team where every player attends every practice for consecutive days, and there’s a clear goal at the end. No 7-month campaigns. Brussels will send a 11-12-year-old squad to Kutno this summer. The tale of its somewhat unorthodox and interesting birth will be the subject of next week’s column.
What’s your favorite European baseball event for kids? I’m eager to find out at oldworldpastime@gmail.com