A name that will be familiar to Austrian and Dutch baseball fans. Melvin Perdue. Melvin spent time in Austria with the Attnang-Puchheim Athletics and played in the Netherlands with DSS from Haarlem and Oosterhout Twins. Now the friendly American is ready for a return to Europe, Austria to be precise.
Since Melvin is hired as an Athletic Director and Learning Support Teacher at the International Christian School in Vienna. And while staying in Austria, he has opted to play for the Stock City Cubs aus Stockerau (about twenty km Northwest from the Austrian capital Vienna).
The Stock City Cubs are a club that is playing in the second Austrian Bundesliga (a second-tier league) but they club has the ambition to promote to the highest baseball league in Austria. In fact the club won the second Bundesliga championship last season but there is a rule in place that kept them from promoting.
To be eligible to play in the Austrian First Bundesliga, a club needs to have at least one U10 team. And that is where Melvin comes in. Next to playing with the Cubs, he will be co-trainer of the youth program of the club.
According to the website of the club, the club opted not to promote to the First Bundesliga last year due to the high costs that comes with playing in the highest Austrian baseball league. Anyhow, the intention is there to win this year’s Second Bundesliga title again.
Melvin Perdue spent a total of two strong seasons in the Dutch hoofdklasse. During his first, in 2016 with DSS from Haarlem, the Californian hit .286 with four doubles, two triples and twelve RBI. In the following year, when he joined Oosterhout Twins, he hit a very respectable .316 with four doubles, a triple and a home run. He drove in twenty runs. Not only is Melvin a good hitter, he is also a good defender. After his year with Twins, Melvin was about to play for Curaçao Neptunus but somehow that deal fell through.
Some of you may not know that Melvin also had a supporting role in the movie Money Ball. He played the role of Ray Durham.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 