Category: Adult Leagues

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Review of 2012: Progress on and off the field

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.

GROVEHILL BALLPARK

The Club received a tremendous boost at the beginning of the year with the announcement that its grant application has been successful and it has been awarded £10,000 by BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK), the development agency for baseball and softball in the UK. The club added further £7,000 of funds raised by its members over the years to invest around £17,000 to install the perimeter fence around the two diamonds enclosing the venue completely and installing four dugouts, two for each diamond.

Grovehill Ballpark is currently the best baseball venue in the country attracting the biggest events in the British Baseball calendar, including this year’s National Championships which is the showpiece event of the year.

RETAIL OPERATIONS

The club’s incredible concession stand team set a new record this year. Sales for the year were £3,770. The catering activities help raise funds which go not only towards ballpark development, but also help subsidize youth membership fees making Herts Baseball one of the most affordable sports clubs around for kids.

Astrid Centeno, Kirsten Caress, Susie Longboy and the rest of the concession stand team have worked tirelessly all year long and their efforts help not only with fundraising but very importantly they make the day at the ballpark even more enjoyable.

This year Mark Caress was appointed as the Club’s Shop Manager. In addition to the club’s online shop, Mark set up a relationship with suppliers to supply customised jackets and batting practice jerseys. These proved to be very popular. Mark also imported discounted high quality baseball products which are difficult to find in the UK. This generated sales of £1,621 for the year.

EVENTS

This year the club continued to stage the biggest and best events in British Baseball.

The Herts Spring League and the Herts Futures Tournament once again had record number of teams entering and both have proven to be very successful in raising funds which can be invested in the ballpark or other projects.

Other events included the BBF National Baseball Championships (event was staffed by the GB Team programme), the U17 and U14 Southern Playoffs and the U17 BBF Final, the NBL Special Event in July, and the Hunlock Series which saw a new format and received good reviews.

WEBSITE

The merging of all online activities at the end of last year has proven to be a big success. This combined with the intensive activity on facebook and twitter has generated record traffic for the Herts Baseball website. Number of visits increased by 48%, unique visitors by 33%, and pageviews by 32%, while average visit duration has gone up by 7%.

Fig.1 – 2012 vs 2011 website visits

The top most read articles of 2012 were “NBL’s best pitcher joins Herts” and “Herts acquire catcher from Florida”. We cannot remember a player transaction in recent British baseball history which has attracted as much attention as the acquisition of Robbie Unsell. In third place was “2012 national champions to be decided this weekend in Herts”.

SOFTBALL PROGRAMME

The club combined forces with BSUK to run 8 taster sessions in St Albans throughout the summer months. Dave Tretheway, Ryan Bird and Theo Scheepers were instrumental acting as coaches at these sessions. The club has now built a significant mailing list of people interested in playing softball and the task for the club now is to put a strong team to drive the project forward and take advantage of some real growth opportunities in the region.

 

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Review of 2012: Herts teams in the senior leagues

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.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Blose joins Herts Falcons

John Blose (right) alongside celebrity umpire Jerry Springer and the Mayor of Waltham Abbey

Herts Baseball Club has announced that infielder, John Blose, will be wearing the Herts jersey in 2013. The 25-year-old makes the move from NBL rivals Essex Arrows.

“I am looking forward to joining such a great club like Herts and I am hoping to help the club as much as I can and that the Falcons can go that extra step to take the title that this club deserves” said Blose.

He added: “Grovehill Ballpark is the field where I seem to be producing my best performances. This is where I hit my first career homerun last year so I hope to keep that going and that the move will up my game.”

Before the start of 2012 Herts pitcher, Darrin Ward, swapped the Herts jersey for that of the Essex Arrows, which meant that John Blose has played with and against Ward over the years. “Darrin is a great guy with great attitude and has been a pest to get a hit off in the past.” said Blose. Ward rejoined the Falcons at the end of May this year so they will be playing alongside each other once again in 2013. “I am looking forward to having an intelligent pitcher like Darrin on my side once again next season. I must add that I’m looking forward to playing ball with everyone in the Falcons team. They all seem like a great group of players.”

Leaving the Essex Arrows has not been easy for Blose. He said: “I have had so many great years with the Arrows and I am grateful to all the guys at Essex for the support and love they have shown me over the years, and all the great memories.”

Blose started his baseball career at the age of 7 playing in the Alconbury Air Force base Little League, where his team won the title twice and later played for the Alconbury juniors and seniors internationally reaching the European stages. He was also selected by the Great Britain Cadets (Under-15) national team.

John Blose sliding home with the GB Team

With RAF Alconbury undergoing changes the Alconbury baseball teams were dissolved and in 2003 John Blose joined the Under-17 team of the Essex Arrows with whom he won the British U17 league title in his first season. In 2004 he was called up to the GB Juniors (U19) national squad and made his international debut in the international series versus Ireland in 2006. In his debut he played outfield and batted lead-off going 1-for-4 with 2B 2RBI and a stolen base.

He has been playing in the British senior leagues since 2003 going straight into the AAA league level, which was known as the Premier League at the time. After reaching the AAA National Championships with the Essex Arrows in 2009, he moved to the Mildenhall Bulldogs in 2010 making his NBL debut. He played for the Bulldogs for 2 seasons and in 2011 returned to the Essex Arrows.

Over the last 3 years in the NBL, Blose has played mainly at second base but has also appeared at shortstop and as a pitcher.

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by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts confirm AGM details

Arsenal Football Club held its AGM just a few weeks ago and it was a fiery event. How will Herts Baseball Club's AGM compare?

Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that its 16th Annual General Meeting will take place on Sunday, 25 November 2012.

2012 has been the most successful year in the club’s history with four of the club’s eight teams reaching the postseason in the various senior and youth British Baseball leagues. The AGM will provide a deeper understanding of what that on-field success means for the club’s various departments, whether the club has achieved growth financially and an increase in the number of its members and fans.

Members will receive the AGM Information Pack in due course and that will give a better idea of what to expect. We understand that the meeting is likely to look at the options available to the club to make the step up to the next level and stay ahead of the rest.

Apart from the end of year financial and other reports from the club’s departments, club members will be asked to elect the members of the Board for the forthcoming year. Nominations for Board members are currently invited and those who are interested to put their name forward or second a nomination can contact the club for more details.

Although only 2012 paying members have the right to vote at this AGM, the meeting is very much open to former members and those who are considering joining, the club in 2013 as players, members of staff, volunteers etc. This is a good opportunity for newcomers to learn more about the club and meet its members. The meeting is also open to observers who are not members of the Club, but they would need to advise the club in advance as spaces are limited. If you are not a current member and wish to attend the AGM please contact the club.

This year the AGM will be held at a new venue, just a few minutes away from Grovehill Ballpark. The venue is the Gadebridge Community Centre.

DATE: Sunday, 25 November 2012

TIME: Registration starts at 1:45pm, AGM will commence at 2pm (expected to end at around 5:00pm-5:30pm)

VENUE: Galley Hall, Gadebridge Community Centre, The Nokes, Rossgate, Gadebridge, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 3LF (Directions and Map)

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Falcons feature heavily among the 2012 end-of-season NBL award winners

The amazing array of talent on the 2012 Herts Falcons roster produced the most successful season in Falcons history. This achievement has also been reflected in the end-of-season National Baseball League (NBL) awards and feats which have just been announced by Project COBB.

Two-time NBL Most Valuable Player, Ryan Bird, just missed out on winning the MVP award for a third time. He was pipped at the post by fellow South African and Harlow Nationals superstar, Jarrod Pretorius, who proved to be a thorn in the Falcons’ side all season, including in game 6 of the National Final.

Despite missing out on the MVP award, Ryan Bird’s outstanding performances have been recognised by awarding him the Best First Baseman Award, which is a fielding award, equivalent to the Gold Gloves awarded in MLB.

Two other Herts players were also awarded Best Fielder awards. Robbie Unsell was given the Best Shortstop award adding to the many other NBL accolades in his name over the years. Cris Hiche received Best Outfielder award recognising his exceptional debut seaosn in the British leagues with the Herts Falcons.

Maikel Azcuy won the home-run title. This is his third Home Run Champion award. He previous won the award in 2010 and 2007. He now has the third highest career home run tally in the modern game. Azcuy also claimed the “Most RBIs” title to round off a fantastic season which included an appearance in the European Championships for Great Britain.

Harlow Nationals’ Roberto Almanzar won the Best Pitcher title while Southampton’s Gary Davison was declared the Most Valuable Two-Way Player.

The full list of Best Fielder winners is as follows:

• C: Will Lintern (HARLOW NATIONALS);

• 1B: Ryan Bird (HERTS FALCONS);

• 2B: Luis Goncalves (HARLOW NATIONALS);

• 3B: Jarrod Pretorius (HARLOW NATIONALS);

• SS: Robbie Unsell (HERTS FALCONS);

• OF: Cristobal Hiche (HERTS FALCONS);

• OF: Michael Trask (BRACKNELL BLAZERS);

• OF: Marius Urbanavicius (SOUTHAMPTON MUSTANGS).

In another announcement made by Project COBB earlier today, voting has just opened for the 2012 British Baseball Photography Competition. Two Herts Baseball Club entrants feature among the 10 shortlisted finalists. To see the gallery of 10 entries shortlisted by the judging panel and to cast your vote, CLICK HERE. One vote will be accepted per email address and the ballot will close at 11.59pm on 16 November.

Project COBB is an online collaboration that was founded by Joe Gray in 2008. Joe was subsequently awarded a Life Membership of the British Baseball Federation to acknowledge his contributions to chronicling the game’s present and restoring its past. Joe acts as coordinator for the initiative, but its success depends largely on the work of its valued collaborators, who comprise members of a SABR Chartered Community and other contributors. You can find out further details at the Project COBB website.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

International call-up for Hiche is a boost for Herts but bad news for Black Widows

Herts Falcons centerfielder and first baseman, Cris Hiche, has received a call-up from the Chile National Baseball Team for the upcoming South American Baseball Championships. The event takes place in Ecuador and will include the national teams of Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and the defending champions, Argentina.

The Chilean team flew out to Ecuador on Wednesday ahead of the Opening game today.

Of course this means that Cris Hiche, who is the player-manager of the Black Widows, will miss this Sunday’s final games of the Hunlock Series.

Hiche arrived in the United Kingdom from Arizona in January joining the Herts Falcons having previously played at the high school, college and semi-professional league level in the USA as well as at international level representing Chile at Under-12, Under-16 and now at senior level with the National Team. In 2002 he joined the International Baseball Academy in Brazil where he played alongside the legendary Cuban player, Lazaro Vargas, who won the Olympic gold medal with the Cuba National Team twice, in 1992 and 1996. Hiche then went on to play for Glendale Community College in Arizona, followed by two seasons (2005-2007) with the Athletics in Liga Valle del Sol. Between 2008 and 2010 he played for the Sahuaripas in the Mesa Semi-Pro League alongside former or injured Minor League players trying to work their way back into the pros, as well as former MLB players such as pitcher Omar Daal, who played for the LA Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks and ended his career with the Baltimore Olioles in 2003.

This year Cris Hiche has been one of the key players for the Herts Falcons who recorded the best ever seaosn for the team in its history finishing as national runners-up. He was one of the first big acquisitions for Herts back in the Spring which started the snowball effect of exciting player signings. Apart from his role as a player for the Falcons, Hiche has been heavily involved in other roles at the club, most notably as a manager of the Herts Under-17 team, which has made tremendous strides over the last 12 months.

Everyone at Herts Baseball Club wishes Cris success at the South American Baseball Championships.

by Rob Jones

Heading for the Hunlock

My regular readers — of which I know, there are literally several — will know that I like to write a paean to the Hunlock series every year. One of those articles referred to it as an encore, an extra flourish once the season is over, and something of an added bonus. This year’s event is slightly different for me, as I didn’t have much of a season at all. So it’s not an encore — it’s almost the main event.

Rob Jones in action
Your correspondent, Rob Jones, legs out an infield hit against the Blue Dogs

The Hunlock Series brings together players from all the club’s teams, both youth and adult, and spreads them around in a way which creates four new evenly-matched teams. That makes for great competitions, and you should have no doubt that a friendly series can be genuinely competitive! There is a great atmosphere to the event, but if you think Greg Bochan wants you to get a hit off him, or if you think Glen Downer is after anything less than a home run, you’re mistaken.

One of the best things about the Hunlock is that you get to meet up with players you might not have seen all year. There are guys turning out who were already part of the club when I joined up a decade ago, and in that sense it’s a bit like a class reunion. Rod Naghar has been doing his thing successfully for the Hawks this year — after doing it with various teams over the years — and it is fun to play alongside him for the first time in a long time.

Old faces return, too, including Carlos Casal Jr and Snr who both did so much to make the Herts club a force in British baseball. And for lower league guys like me it is good to play alongside the best that Herts can offer. I’ve never really seen Kevin Niedringhaus play baseball before, but it was a revelation to watch somebody work like that on the mound, and to turn their hand to so many skills so well.

Another fine thing is to meet new talent, and to see guys who could do great things for Herts next year. You can read elsewhere on the site about Guv Bhangal’s exploits, and I think he got one of those hits at the expense of my Red Roosters. Matt Cox — whose surname I admit I only knew after I read the match reports — made a great impact for us, and I know I would want him for any future team. Great speed, good hitting, and great exuberance. All of those contributed to the inside the park home run he notched up against the Black Widows. Straight out of the box, he was clearly going to stretch it as far as possibly could, and it was a perfect example of putting pressure on a defense. A well deserved feat.

My own performances were rather less dramatic. On the couple of occasions I have turned out this autumn I have played like a 40 year old who has barely played any baseball this year. So, no great surprises, but I’d rather be able to make a more flattering comparison! I did actually get a couple of RBIs, but I think there was only one proper hit in there. The rest were luck and nonsense. As for fielding, I missed both of the balls which came my way in the course of the day. On a routine ground ball, I singularly failed to “get my ass down”, and it went right by. I have a clear mental image of myself as that stiff 40 year old, tightened up further by lack of game time. No excuses, really — I always marvel at those guys who just show up and just do it, whether they be young or old —  but instead a fresh determination to try to get the most playing time I can.

Maybe this coming week will find that I have worked some of the old man stiffness out of my system. That’s assuming the coach even dares put me on the field this week! This year has been disrupted by weather, work, and family issues, and the plan to get lots of playing time before moving my old legs into management needs a bit of rewriting. Whatever turns out, I shall hope for another good day at the diamond this Sunday, definitely my last of 2012. For the real beauty of the Hunlock is that the good parts of it far outweigh any grumbles about results or booted ground balls. It’s about playing for the fun of the game and whatever else happens, it’s always fun.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hunlock team managers revealed. Stars from as far as Guildford and Liverpool added to the Draft

Cris Hiche (left) and Jarrod Pretorius (right) faced each other in Game 6 of the NBL Final. They will face off again as Hunlock Series player/managers (photo by Jim Garnett, British Baseball Magazine)

We are counting down to the 2012 Hunlock Series Draft which will be shown on the Herts Baseball TV Channel this Thursday, 20 September at 8pm.

Dave Tretheway (left) and Ryan Bird (right) have teamed up with Jarrod Pretorius in an all-South African managerial team of White Lightning

The managers of the teams have just been announced. The Blue Dogs won it 12 months ago and returning to defend the Hunlock Series title is their manager, John Kjorstad. The Blue Dogs swept their opponents away losing only 2 of their 9 games. Can the Blue Dogs win it again?

After a successful debut year as the manager of the Herts U17 team and one of the key members of the Herts Falcons, Cris Hiche has been confirmed as the manager of the Black Widows. 12 months ago they finished last and Hiche will be hoping to improve on their 2011 record of 2 wins and 7 losses.

John Kjorstad (pictured) and Andrew Slater had reasons to be pleased as their Blue Dogs won the Series 12 months ago. Can the Blue Dogs pull it off again.

The Red Roosters have a new manager. Ken Pike had the last 12 months away from managerial duties after managing the Herts Raptors in 2010 and 2011. But he cannot shake off the managerial bug and he is back in the hot seat again. The Red Roosters had arguably the best squad last year and were the hot favourites, so it was a major upset that they could only win 5 of the 9 games.

White Lightning were last year’s expansion team and they will start the Series with, not one but, 3 co-managers – Dave Tretheway, Jarrod Pretorius and Ryan Bird. All three of them played in the Final of this year’s NBL National Championships between the Herts Falcons and the Harlow Nationals. Bird and Tretheway were part of this year’s phenomenal Falcons team while Jarrod Pretorius was arguably one of the MVPs in the NBL with the Nationals.  All three of them have played for the South Africa National Team. Will they target the other South African players in the Draft to turn White Lightning into Team South Africa?

There will be a familiar face in the Hunlock Series as Marty Cullen will be one of the players in the Draft

Performances in previous years of the Hunlock Series will have hardly any bearing on this years competition as all teams start with a blank sheet of paper and will have to build their teams from scratch as part of the Draft.

Ken Pike is back in the hot seat as the manager of the Red Roosters

There will be a plethora of baseball talent to choose from. All members of the Herts Eagles, Herts Raptors, Herts Hawks, Herts Falcons and the Herts U17 All Stars will be up for grabs.

Just like previous seasons they will be joined by stars from other baseball teams from across the country. Jarrod Pretorius is one of three members of the 2012 National Champions, Harlow Nationals, who will be playing in the Hunlock Series. The manager of the Nationals, Marty Cullen, and infielder, Carlos Casal, have also been added to the Draft.

Tetsuro Shinkawa will be making his second Hunlock Series appearance after winning the Series with the Blue Dogs last year. He was the starting pitcher for the Guildford Mavericks in the AA playoff quarter-final against the Herts Hawks a few weeks ago and Andrew Fulford hit a decisive grand slam against him in that playoff game. Shinkawa promised that next time he faces Fulford he will strike him out. We may find out very soon who will win that battle as they are expected to face each other during the Series provided that they are not picked for the same team.

Mario Escobedo in a Liverpool Trojans jersey

This year the Liverpool Trojans will also be represented in the Hunlock Series. Mario Escobedo is well known to fans of Herts Baseball Club as he attended tryouts with the Falcons during the Herts Spring League in March. He is based in Manchester so arranging transport to Hemel Hempstead on a weekly basis proved to be a major obstacle and he joined the best team in the North, Liverpool Trojans, with whom he won the AAA National title just a few weeks ago.

Given the strength of White Lightning on the basis of their 3 co-managers, there will be a restriction on them and they will have to miss the first few rounds of the Draft to enable the other teams to grab some of the top players in this year’s Draft.

We will be publishing more details about Thursday’s Live Draft and the Hunlock Series schedule over the next 48 hours, with Opening Day this Sunday at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts announce new look Hunlock Series. Player registration has started

The 2012 champions in the British senior leagues have been determined, but the best part of the season for everyone connected with Herts Baseball Club is yet to come.

Every year, just when the MLB season enters its most exciting stage, players come to Grovehill Ballpark for a competition in memory of Herts Baseball Club’s number 36, the late Kyle Hunlock.

EXPANSION

This is the seventh year of the Hunlock Series. In its inaugural year in 2006 only two teams were involved, the Falcons and the Hawks. Herts Baseball Club has been growing rapidly since then and the number of teams in the Series increased to 3 in 2008 and went up to 4 in 2011. An announcement about the 2012 Hunlock Series team lineup is expected shortly. There are speculations that the number of teams will increase to 5 this year.

NEW FORMAT

This year’s competition has been expanded and will be played over 4 weekends starting with Opening Day on Sunday, 23 September. The Series will also feature “The Blitz Weekend” where games will be decided over one inning only. This has been introduced to recreate the tension and drama of the ninth inning. Can the teams manufacture the all important go-ahead run? Can they deliver the walk-off hits? Can the pitchers and defence execute with the game on the line?

Aspi Dimitrov, Hunlock Series Commissioner, said: “The Blitz Weekend” has been talked about for several years now, and it was decided to introduce it this year for the first time. The excitement and the pressure of the ninth inning comes once a day for MLB managers. Let’s see how the team managers and players will handle several ninth innings in one day.” He added: “There is a slight risk that adding games decided in one inning can devalue the other games in the Series, but we will have to wait and see how this format will play out and how the managers and players will approach it”.

THE DRAFT

Like every year, the 2012 Hunlock Series managers will draft the teams from all available current and former Herts players as well as free agents from around the UK and other parts of the world. The Live Draft will be broadcasted on the Hets Baseball TV Channel on Thursday evening, 20 September. Who will be the first round picks? How will minor league players perform alongside NBL players?

Over the years we have seen how decisions made during the draft can shape the outcome of the Series before a pitch has been thrown. The managers will have to make carefully calculated decisions if they are to put together a team which can compete for the Hunlock Series title, otherwise they face miserable few weeks.

With all of the club’s managers and coaching staff monitoring these games, players who have been pushing for promotion to a higher league team will have the perfect opportunity to make a claim on the big stage in the coming weeks of the Hunlock Series.

PLAYERS LOOKING TO REGISTER AHEAD OF THE DRAFT

Players are currently signing up ahead of next week’s draft. The Series is open to everyone, not just to current or former members of Herts Baseball Club. Players from other clubs can also take part. Players can register free.  There are no registration fees.

There has already been interest from non-Herts players located in other regions of the United Kingdom and overseas, from as far as Japan. Just like last year, the Hunlock Series could provide a glimpse at players who could be wearing the Herts jersey in 2013.

To be eligible for selection during the live draft players must register and enter their availability details online before 7pm on Tuesday, 18 September. After that deadline and throughout the duration of the Series newly registered players would still be eligible to take part but would be added to teams as free agents. Players who wish to register for the 2012 Hunlock Series should contact Herts Baseball Club. To be eligible to play adult league baseball, players must be 14 years of age or above on 31 December 2012.