2012 was the most successful year in Herts Baseball Club’s history in every department on and off the field. It continues to be one of the largest baseball clubs in Great Britain in terms of size, infrastructure, financial performance and is now beginning to mount a serious challenge on the field at every league level with 4 out of the club’s 8 teams reaching the postseason in 2012.
To review 2012, we are publishing excerpts from the End of Year Report at the club’s Annual General Meeting.
HERTS TEAMS IN THE SENIOR LEAGUES
The arrival of some of the country’s best players before the start of the 2012 season has turned not only the Herts Falcons but the remaining Herts adult league teams into title-contenders. Last year the club had 3 teams and they all ended the season below the .500 win-loss percentage. This year the club had four teams and each ended the year at or above .500.
REGULAR SEASON RECORD
| NBL | ||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | Pct | GB | GP | RF | RA |
| Nationals | 20 | 6 | 0 | 0.769 | – | 26 | 169 | 123 |
| Herts Falcons | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0.739 | 1.5 | 23 | 224 | 142 |
| Mustangs | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0.654 | 3 | 26 | 189 | 142 |
| Mets | 13 | 10 | 1 | 0.563 | 5.5 | 24 | 204 | 130 |
| Diamondbacks | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0.518 | 6.5 | 28 | 192 | 184 |
| Arrows | 9 | 17 | 0 | 0.346 | 11 | 26 | 170 | 204 |
| Blazers | 6 | 16 | 0 | 0.273 | 12 | 22 | 75 | 144 |
| Pirates | 2 | 21 | 0 | 0.087 | 16.5 | 23 | 82 | 236 |
| AA League | ||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | Pct | GB | GP | RF | RA |
| Sidewinders | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0.733 | – | 15 | 152 | 74 |
| Herts Hawks | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0.733 | – | 15 | 135 | 69 |
| Mammoths | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0.688 | 0.5 | 16 | 160 | 108 |
| Spitfires | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0.600 | 2 | 15 | 135 | 98 |
| Redbacks II | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0.294 | 7 | 17 | 150 | 196 |
| Mariners | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0.222 | 8.5 | 18 | 128 | 230 |
| Stags | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0.000 | 11 | 15 | 64 | 250 |
| Single-A League | ||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | Pct | GB | GP | RF | RA |
| Old Timers | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0.778 | – | 9 | 164 | 98 |
| Archers | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0.700 | 0.5 | 10 | 181 | 79 |
| Herts Raptors | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0.600 | 1.5 | 10 | 152 | 118 |
| Herts Eagles | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0.500 | 2.5 | 10 | 113 | 133 |
| Redbacks III | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0.222 | 5 | 9 | 87 | 140 |
| Rays | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0.000 | 7.5 | 10 | 12 | 136 |
Despite this being the best ever season for a Herts team in the top league of British Baseball, the Falcons felt disappointed to lose in game 6 of the National Championship Final and this is another indication of the amazing turnaround for the club this year.
The club’s second team, the Herts Hawks, also reached the postseason going out in the semi-finals. The success has been a well-deserved reward for co-managers Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan who never gave up despite several very difficult losing seasons.
The club’s success of attracting players who have never played baseball has historically resulted in lack of competitiveness at the Single-A League level, however, even there the club’s two teams turned the corner and despite missing out on the postseason they were both in with a chance of the playoffs right down to the final day of the regular season. Arnie Longboy and Duncan Hoyle should be very proud of what they have achieved in their first seasons as Herts managers. Duncan had the toughest job out of all team managers as he had the last pick from the club’s pool of players. He decided not to accept this predicament and went out to recruit more players through various channels.
Overall there was a 46% increase in adult players this year – which is unprecedented, especially for a club which already had one of the largest pools of players in the country.