Herts Baseball Club has launched a crowdfunding campaign for Phase Two of the Basing Hill Ballpark project in north west London. If 100 supporters back the project, Sport England will pledge £6,000.

Six months ago, the club raised £21,413 through crowdfunding for the first phase of the project which aimed to re-grade, level and resurface the baseball playing field with new grass. That stage of the project was completed successfully. The new grass is progressing well and is expected to be ready for games in May.

The club is now looking to raise £20,068 to install the baseball elements including the baseball backstop, infield perimeter fence and the infield cut-out clay areas around the bases and the pitcher’s mound.

Herts received confirmation from Sport England that they will pledge £6,000 to the project if it reaches 25% of the target (£5,017) and receives donations from 100 supporters. 

Club president, Aspi Dimitrov, said that “the timing of this campaign is not ideal for families given the difficult economic conditions in the UK, war in Ukraine, the world recovering from Covid pandemic, fuel and energy prices going up etc”. But he added that the club feels strongly that “baseball plays an important part in our lives and, if we deliver this project successfully, it will give a boost to everyone connected with Herts Baseball Club and the wider community in NW London and other clubs around British Baseball who will be playing at that venue”.

Most club members and fans already made significant donations last year during the crowdfunding of Phase 1. The club is mindful of the fact that most supporters cannot donate large amounts at every stage of the project, but, even if they can only donate a few pounds, that will play an important role in reaching 100 supporters needed to secure the £6,000 pledge from Sport England.

Note: When making a pledge to the project, at the checkout you will see a suggestion from the Crowdfunder platform to give them a percentage of the donation as a tip.  That tip does not support the Basing Hill Ballpark project.  You are not required to give a tip to them if you don’t want to so you would need to remove that tip at the checkout.

This type of project is not new to Herts Baseball Club. In 2009 they delivered a very similar project when they constructed a second baseball diamond at their branch in Hemel Hempstead to meet the increasing demand for baseball.

Individuals, businesses and other organisations can now make a pledge on the Basing Hill Ballpark (Phase 2) crowdfunding page. The campaign must reach the £20,068 target by midnight on 28 April 2022.  The money raised will be received by the club only if the project hits the target.  If it doesn’t, all pledges will be cancelled and payments refunded.

If the target is reached, work on the project is expected to commence in early May and the new ballpark is expected to be unveiled by the end of May.

For more information and to make a pledge, go to the Basing Hill Ballpark (Phase 2) crowdfunding page.

Unlike last year’s crowdfunding campaign, this time around individuals and businesses have teamed up with the campaign to generate revenue and reach new customers. They will be able to promote and sell their products, services and experiences, reaching a new audience through the crowdfunding campaign by offering “rewards”. Go to the crowdfunding page to see examples of businesses and individuals who have already done so.  Contact the club for more details or to add a reward.

Baltimore Orioles minor league pitcher, Kyle Martin, was in London last month and Herts Baseball Club supported him to continue his preparations for the 2022 baseball season during his visit.

The 23-year-old right handed pitcher was drafted by the MLB team in the fifteenth round of the 2019 Draft. So far in his professional career with the Orioles Single-A affiliates Aberdeen IronBirds and the Delmarva Shorebirds he has a 4-4 record with an ERA of 4.66.

Video produced by Fexefilming.

As part of his pre-season training program, he had a bullpen sessions working with catcher Conner Brown who is also 23 years old and who came through the Herts youth baseball programme and went on to play for the Herts Falcons in the National Baseball League and for the Great Britain National Team.

Herts Baseball Club has launched a crowdfunding campaign to build a baseball venue at Basing Hill Park in North West London and hopes that the Mayor of London will also back the project.

Herts adult and youth teams began playing baseball in Basing Hill Park in 2019, but there were significant challenges to this. Their baseball infrastructure was very basic. The playing field surface was in a derelict state, to such an extent that football teams stopped playing there more than ten years ago. The park suffered further damage when it was used to train police horses.

The club is now looking to raise over £55,000 to create a high quality baseball venue. This money will be used to level and resurface the playing field with new grass, install a permanent backstop, create an infield, team benches and other baseball elements. The project will also bring the park cafe back to life, a building which has been stagnant for over ten years.

If the club hits its crowdfunding target, Basing Hill Ballpark will not only bring baseball and softball into the heart of the community but will also revitalise this small, but cherished, outdoor space. The park will become a family oriented setting with organised events, outdoor cinema and a newly restored cafe, providing for the whole community in a Covid-secure environment.

The club has already submitted its pitch to the Mayor of London, who will be following the campaign closely over the next few weeks. If the project shows that it has support from the community, the Mayor could pledge as much as 50% of the total project cost.

This type of project is not new to Herts Baseball Club. In 2009 they delivered a very similar project when they constructed a second baseball diamond at their branch in Hemel Hempstead to accommodate the increasing number of players. 

A large proportion of the club’s members are based in NW London and there are many more who want to play baseball but are unable to make the journey to Hemel Hempstead. 

Baseball was in the spotlight when the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees came to London to play MLB games in 2019 in front of a 60,000 sell-out crowd. This led to a further increase in the number of enquiries from kids and adults who wanted to play baseball. Basing Hill Ballpark is in a densely populated part of London with good transport connections which makes it an excellent venue to meet that demand.

Herts is competing with 80 other projects for the Mayor’s support and its club president, Aspi Dimitrov, emphasised that “it will be a big challenge to reach the crowdfunding target, especially as so many have been affected by the Covid pandemic but, if we achieve it, we will create something very special for the community”. He added that “every pledge, large or small, will play a vital role in this campaign and supporters can pledge as little as £2”.

Individuals, businesses and other organisations can make a pledge on the Basing Hill Ballpark crowdfunding page on Spacehive, which is working closely with the Mayor of London and other local authorities to help fund community-led projects. The campaign must reach the target by 11 May 2021.  The money raised will be received by the club only if the project hits the target.  If it doesn’t, all pledges will be cancelled.

If the target is reached, work on the project is expected to commence in August and the aim is to unveil the new ballpark in time for the 2022 baseball season.

For more information and to make a pledge, go to the Basing Hill Ballpark project page on Spacehive.