Category: Headlines

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Dave Ames appointed to Herts Board

Herts Baseball Club has announced that Dave Ames has been appointed as Club Secretary and member of the Executive Board.

Ames joined Herts 12 months ago after previously playing for the Old Timers. He was part of the Herts Eagles roster during the 2012 season playing second base. His enthusiasm and desire to contribute on and off the field was immediately recognised and Herts Eagles Manager, Duncan Hoyle, quickly moved to appoint Ames as his Assistant Manager. The 40-year-old sustained a nasty injury in May 2012 which has kept him out of action since. Despite this Ames remained very much involved. In July and August he played an important role, along with another Herts member, Ryan Bird, as part of the group of volunteers supporting the GB Programme to host the National Baseball Championships at the home of Herts Baseball Club, Grovehill Ballpark. He has also been exploring potential for a new baseball venue in Letchworth, Herts.

The Club Secretary role remained vacant after the club’s annual general meeting in November and the Board approached Dave Ames. His appointment has now been confirmed officially.

Herts President Aspi Dimitrov said: “Dave joining the Board is fantastic news, not just in terms of increasing the capacity of the club’s front office and Executive Board, but also adds key expertise”. Ames is a town planner and his professional credentials may prove to be very valuable in upcoming club projects.

Ames will undergo a medical procedure on his ankle later this week and the club is hopeful that this will enable him to return to full fitness and back in the active roster.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hiche appointed to the Board

Herts Baseball Club has announced that Cristobal Hiche has been appointed as a member of the club’s executive board heading the Under-17 department.

Hiche joined Herts 12 months ago as one of the first big signings for the Falcons ahead of the 2012 season. He had previously played at the high school, college and semi-professional league level in the USA as well as at international level for the Chile national team at Under-12, Under-16 and now at senior level.

The 28-year old played a key role in the Herts Falcons’ amazing run to the final and was awarded an NBL Best Outfielder award. After the end of the NBL season, Hiche received a call-up from the Chile National Baseball Team to take part in the South American Championships. His team reached the semi-finals losing to Argentina and Hiche was voted as the Best Outfielder in this international tournament involving some of the best baseball nations in South America.

In many ways Cris Hiche’s contribution off the field has had an even greater effect for Herts Baseball Club. Within a few weeks of arriving to the UK, and despite living and working a long distance away from Hemel Hempstead, he got involved in a coaching capacity with the club’s youth programme. He was appointed as the Manager of the Under-17 team and his hard work and that of the rest of his U17 coaching staff is already starting to bring tangible results.

The club confirmed that Head of U17 is one of several new Board positions which club management is looking to add. It is part of the club’s objective to increase the Board’s capacity, effectiveness and to be a more proportionate representation of the club’s different member categories. In 2012 the club had four adult and four youth teams, however the Board featured four adult team Board positions and only one Board position linked to the youth teams. The Board is now considering candidates to head the other age groups in the youth programme and co-opt them to the Board.

Cris Hiche receiving the Best Outfielder award at the 2012 South American Championships

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts AGM appoints 2013 Board Members

With no baseball on TV it is easy to assume that baseball clubs around the world simply lock up their ballparks and fly off to warm destinations for the five months of the winter close season between October and March. In fact the close season is a very busy and important period for the MLB clubs.

This is also the case at Herts Baseball Club. The club held its Annual General Meeting a few weeks ago appointing the Executive Board for the upcoming season.

The club goes into the new season with a strong team in all departments, the number of which seems to be increasing every year. There are some new faces joining the club’s Board who will bring fresh ideas and new energy, and at the same time the club has retained a large number of the 2012 Board members which will provide continuity as the club aims to continue its growth.

The following is the full list of the 2013 Herts Baseball Executive Board. There are several vacant positions which the club is aiming to fill in the coming weeks as it prepares for another season of Herts baseball. New appointments will be announced in due course.

• President, Aspi Dimitrov

• Co-Treasurer, Chris Jones

• Co-Treasurer, Aspi Dimitrov

• Manager (1st team), Lee Manning

• Co-Manager (2nd Team), Andy Cornish

• Co-Manager (2nd Team), Greg Bochan

• Manager (3rd Team), Arnie Longboy

• Manager (4th Team), Duncan Hoyle

• Club Shop Manager, Mark Caress

• Youth League Commissioner, Aspi Dimitrov

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Falcons ranked among top 50 clubs in Europe

The annual ranking of European teams has just been published and, for the first time in its history, the Herts Falcons have been ranked among the top 50 clubs in Europe.

They have taken 38th place in the ranking. The Harlow Nationals, who beat the Falcons in the National Final, are the other British team to make the top 50. They are ahead of the Falcons in 28th place.

Today’s announcement of the rankings is a deserved recognition of the tremendous strides made by the club from Hertfordshire, which in 2004 had only one team playing in the third tier of the British leagues and today has 8 teams in the senior and youth leagues of Great Britain.

12 months ago the club managed to secure some of the best players in the country and this turned the Falcons into a serious contender for the NBL tile. At the end they just missed out on winning the championship, losing to the Nationals in game 6 of the National Final.

For a second consecutive year the top team in Europe is the Italian league champion, T&A San Marino. In second place is Unipol Bologna from Italy. In third place is the Dutch league champion, Corendon Kinheim.

The ranking is compiled by baseball broadcaster, Josh Chetwynd. Click to view full announcement.

Pos. Club Country Points
1 T&A San Marino San Marino 33.25
2 Unipol Bologna Italy 32.50
3 Corendon Kinheim Netherlands 31.58
4 Danesi Caffe’ Nettuno Italy 31.00
5 DOOR Neptunus Netherlands 30.33
5 L&D Amsterdam Netherlands 30.33
7 Rouen Baseball 76 France 29.67
8 Buchbinder Legionäre Germany 29.33
9 Telemarket Rimini Italy 28.00
10 Paderborn Untouchables Germany 26.33
11 Vaessen Pioniers Netherlands 24.33
12 CB Barcelona Spain 24.00
13 Draci Brno Czech Republic 22.50
14 Solingen Alligators Germany 22.33
15 Astros Spain 22.00
16 Heidenheim Heideköpfe Germany 21.33
16 UVV Netherlands 21.33
18 Cariparma Parma Italy 21.00
19 Les Templiers de Senart France 20.17
20 Eagles Praha Czech Republic 18.00
21 Karlskoga Bats BBK Sweden 17.08
22 Tenerife Marlins P.C. Spain 17.00
23 Hoboken Pioneers Belgium 16.17
23 Paris Université Club France 16.17
25 C.B. Viladecans Spain 16.00
26 Savigny sur Orge Lions France 15.67
27 Technika Brno Czech Republic 15.50
28 KNTU-OSVSM Kirovograd Ukraine 15.00
28 Southern Nationals United Kingdom 15.00
30 Kotlářka Praha Czech Republic 14.50
31 Bern Cardinals Switzerland 13.75
31 TJ STU Angels Trnava Slovakia 13.75
33 Baseball Klub Nada SSM Split Croatia 13.58
33 Tornado Balashikha Russia 13.58
35 K. Borgerhout Squirrels Belgium 13.57
36 MGPU S.Y.O.S. Moscow Russia 13.08
37 Stockholms BSK Sweden 12.08
38 Herts Falcons United Kingdom 12.00
39 Olimpija Karlovac Croatia 10.83
40 Vienna Wanderers Austria 9.92
41 Brest Zubrs Belarus 9.50
42 Atletico Alexandria Romania 8.75
42 Espoo Expos Finland 8.75
42 Lituanica Kaunas Lithuania 8.75
42 Scythians Ukraine 8.75
46 Gepardy Zory Poland 8.25
47 Beograd 96 Serbia 6.75
47 Dublin Spartans Ireland 6.75
47 Zajčki Rabbits Slovenia 6.75
50 Riga Lions Latvia 6.50
by Herts Baseball News Editor

2013 has arrived

2013 has arrived and over the coming days and weeks we will be publishing details of the upcoming season for Herts Baseball Club, following all the news from the club and from around the British leagues, the latest player transfer rumours, interviews with the people in the news and more.

If you require more details about joining the club as a player, manager, coach, umpire, scorer, member of front office staff or in any other capacity please contact us.

 

 

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 youth 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 YOUTH LEAGUES

Success is usually measured by whether a trophy was won or not and on that basis Herts would not be considered a major player in the British youth leagues in 2012. However, those with inside knowledge of the youth leagues in this country would say that Herts is seen as the model for others to follow. The youth programme is positioned very well to offer a high quality product for every young player, from a beginner who is keen to give baseball a try to an advanced player aiming to play at the highest level of the game and represent their country internationally. With growth of 12% in youth players this year and plans for further growth, the club would be in an even better position to do this in the coming years.

The Herts U17 and U14 teams did not win the championship this year but they are very much on track to be a major contender when this Herts generation reaches the final year of the 3-year cycle in the respective age group.

Cris Hiche took charge of the U17 team and we are already seeing significant progress, earlier than we could have expected. Last year the team lost 11-10 in the quarter-final against the Essex RedBacks. This year the two teams met at the same stage and Herts won convincingly 23-0. The team is also starting to challenge the favourites like the London Mets and had a .500 record in the regular season games against the eventual champions, Cobham Cougars. This has raised expectations for 2013 when this generation of U17 players is expected to reach its peak and aims to win the title in the same way as they did in 2010 at U14 level.

The Herts U14 team reached the final last year, however 7 players from that team moved up to the U17 age group which meant that 2012 was a transitional year. The team is expected to be at its peak in 2014 and 2015 and performances this year indicate that with hard work over the next few years this new generation of U14 players can be just as successful as the previous one.

The coaching staff of the Herts U11 teams made a deliberate shift in its approach. The number of league games has been reduced in favour of intensive training sessions. This has meant that players are able to perform greater number of repetitions which is critical in developing the fundamental baseball skills at this age. The progress has been remarkable and the U11 coaches should be very proud of what they have achieved. Coach Mike Wakelam even managed to add extra summer sessions for the U11 players at the ballpark and the batting cages in Northwick Park.

The players are recognising the extra effort made by the coaches and they are responding by working even harder.

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

Jeremy Guthrie signs a new 3-year deal with the Royals

Jeremy Guthrie at the David Beckham SoccerDome on Saturday

Three days ago pitcher Jeremy Guthrie was in London Greenwich coaching Herts youth team players and just an hour ago Major League Baseball announced that he has signed a new 3-year contract with the Kansas City Royals.

Congratulations from everyone at Herts Baseball Club and in particular from the young Herts players who worked with him on Saturday.

The deal is worth $25 million – $5 million in 2013, $11 million in 2014 and $9 million in 2015. MLB have published more information on this announcement (click to view). You can also catch analysis on this transaction on the Hot Stove Show on MLB.COM at 8pm Greenwich Mean Time (click to view)