John Miller, player/coach of the Brussels Kangaroos and a reporter for a major American newspaper, is back chronicling his team’s 2009 season in his weekly column that will appear every Monday on mister-baseball.com.
Like all love affairs, our passion for the game ebbs and flows. In October, when the sky turns fast and water soaks the ball heavy and brown, and you have to strap it on for a 4-30 team, it is possible to hate baseball.
Now, though, is a true spring. Cherry trees blossom down our street, casting delicious smells through open windows. The O’s are a delicious 4-2 against the Yanks and Rays. The pain in my shoulder is gone. Next Saturday is Opening Day for the Kangaroos, and for my toy season, www.springbaseball.org. We are tied for first place.
Those of you who read this column attentively know I disliked coaching our men’s team last year. We went 12-17. Players fought. The team split into three cliques I will classify this way: teen prospects, grizzled Belgians and Dominicans. I announced early in the season we would favor the kids. That annoyed the other two groups. Then, when I benched teens for good reasons, they freaked out. A positive mid-season marijuana test for three under-20 players (which resulted in no suspension at all after the parents hired good lawyers) didn’t help. The failure, of course, was mostly the coach’s. He failed to build a team.
This year’s Kangaroos men’s team is even more beisbol. The older Belgians are quietly bowing out. We still have a handful of talented young players, with better attitudes than the kids who left.
I fought some with the Dominicans last year. I fought with everybody last year. Still, I was pleased to get a call last week from Many Torres, our third baseman. We need a catcher for our Belgian Dominican all-star team: Can you catch Saturday? Needless to say, I was flattered, and happily drove to Antwerp for a 2pm start.
Many and his friends, mostly guys who immigrated here to find work, have played in Belgium for a decade. Their team competes outside the regular season in tournaments in Belgium and the Netherlands.
We had a great time. The slow white Belgian-American caught a tall righty with a goofy grin named Harold. He throws hard with two terrific pitches I won’t yet disclose here. He flew here a couple weeks ago. I don’t speak any Spanish, but patted him on his back, laughed and said lots of “strikes, Harold, strikes.” We started the game with five straight hits. Harold threw enough strikes. We beat the Brasschaat Braves, 6-5.
My Dominican friends and I have different backgrounds and temperaments, but we share a deep-seated love of the game. We both dream of homeruns and double plays. That is the spirit of the Kangaroos, and of all European baseball. Jugar Beisbol!
I’ve already received some great mail, which I’ll share soon. Say your piece at oldworldpastime@gmail.com
Awesome! Baseball brings the good out of all of us!!!