Stunning news. Through a press release, Dutch champion Curacao Neptunus announced that their 26-year old catcher Dashenko Ricardo will stop playing baseball immediately. Last week, Neptunus and Ricardo had several talks but the club could not convince the power hitting catcher to keep playing. According to the press release, Dashenko cannot motivate himself for the…
No, baseball and ballpark fans, the Dunkin’ Donuts Park soap ain’t over yet. Last Friday, the devolopers Centerplan Cos. and DoNo LLC sent an email indicating that the construction of the ballpark would take another additional 60 days before it could be called ready for occupancy. This caused the Hartford Stadium Authority to cancel the…
You all may have noticed by now that L&D Amsterdam Pirates won the European Champions Cup by beating A.S.D. Rimini Pirates in extra innings. But was this a surprising win? Even though Curacao Neptunus won the cup last year, Italian club baseball was dominant in Europe over the past eight years. Since 1996, Neptunus from…
The unthinkable happened. L&D Amsterdam Pirates won the European Champions Cup. Unthinkable? Well, at least before the tournament started. In the final, in which the score went back and forth, the Amsterdam team had the longest breath in the end. For three innings the game was scoreless but in the fourth, current Italian champion A.S.D….
In a game that was a promotion for baseball, L&D Amsterdam Pirates stepped off the diamond as a victor. In a game that was a nail biter at times the Amsterdam team stayed at the right side of the score vs Curacao Neptunus: 11-7 Dennis Burgersdijk started for L&D Amsterdam and was flat out dominant…
Last week you could read here that Loek Loevendie, a.k.a. Mr. Pirates or Uncle Loek was nominated for the medal of the Amsterdam Sports Council. Yesterday was the big day at the Amsterdam city theatre. Next to Mr. Loevendi, there were four other nominees; one of them fellow Amsterdam Pirates member Esther van Ede. The…
On the third day of the European Champions Cup the following games were scheduled: Heidenheim Heideköpfe vs Fortitudo Bologna, Regensburg Legionäre vs L&D Amsterdam Pirates, T&A San Marino vs Curacao Neptunus and Kotlarka Prague vs A.S.D. Rimini Pirates. Despite not making it to the semi-finals, the German teams left a good impression for sure. Buchbinder Legionäre…
Recently I bumped into this stat, showing the decline of baseball players in Europe. When you read this from right to left, you will see an incline of members first but from 2014 the numbers go down with a sharp drop in 2015. Baseball Popular in Europe? When you know that Jan Esselman is the…
Today the following games were scheduled: L&D Amsterdam vs Kotlarka Prague, Fortitudo Bologna vs Curacao Neptunus, T&A San Marino vs Heidenheim Heidekõpfe, Regensburg Legionäre vs A.S.D. Rimini Pirates. For Kotlarka Prague, T&A San Marino, Heidenheim Heidekõpfe and A.S.D. Rimini Pirates it was a must win situation because all lost yesterday. Fortitudo Bologna 1 – 0 Curacao…
Today the European Champions Cup (ECC for short) has started in Rimini and San Marino, both located on the east shore of the Italian peninsula. Group A will play in San Marino and contains the following teams: Curacao Neptunus (NED) Fortitudo Bologna (ITA) T&A San Marino (SM) VOITH Heidenheim Heideköpfe (GER) Group B will play in…
