About the growth of European baseball
Baseball is always considered a North American sport. However, the first recorded game of baseball was in Surrey, England in 1749. Since then America, Canada, Japan and various other countries have become the real hotbeds, leaving Europe behind. With soccer being huge in Europe, it is often hard for baseball to become a first choice. “People in Europe don’t always want to watch a long and sometimes slow game, they would rather watch soccer,” said Klijn, a 2nd baseman for the Haar Disciples of the German Bundesliga.
But now seems to be the time for baseball in Europe to thrive. A steady flow of European players are getting signed by Major League organizations. And it’s only a matter of time until a European born player makes a huge mark in the MLB. In 2017 baseball in Europe could be set to reach new heights, specialists note.
Euro League Baseball (ELB) was already held in 2016. It was be the first year that a professional baseball league in Europe ran with teams from multiple European countries. There are currently two professional leagues in Europe: the Dutch Hoofdklasse and the Italian baseball league. This ELB however, was a true reflection of the best teams in Europe. So far, there were three teams from Germany, two from Holland, two from France, one from Italy, one from San Marino and one from the Czech Republic. Philipp.
“The big clubs in European baseball are moving forward with huge strides and would like to make money out of their passion for the sport”, – sport commentator noted. So according to him, who lives in Germany, the only way to make money is a professional league.
The best teams in Europe will mostly be made up of homegrown talent, but there will be opportunities for overseas players, if they can pay travel and living costs.
Europe is a very attractive prospect for many foreign players and there are already a number of so-called ‘import’ players scattered around in different European teams. Playing in Europe gives them a different experience and is also beneficial for the teams. The players are often asked to help with coaching local children to help grow and improve the game, which is a win-win situation for all sides.
I think, there doesn’t seem to be a huge baseball following in Europe, and they’d be hard-pressed to get fans away from soccer, or in some countries hockey. They’re much better off focusing on Central America and Asia, both of which they already are, where there’s more interest in the game. However, I found this article fascinating. Hope it is true, and baseball will gain popularity all around Europe. I agree that there are plenty of talents there. I even heard that one of Ukrainian team had won European championship and traveled to USA. Anyways time will show.
I’m wondering, why MLB doesn’t invest more in Europe? I mean how about develop players in Europe. Coz to me more European players = more European interest in baseball [like Max Kepler and German/Berlin hype] = more market = more money. Isn’t it obvious? It’s not about spending $1 billion on European theatre, but develop player in countries like Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland/Ukraine/Belarus/Hugary/Croatia. Don’t tell me that 150 million region have no potential ball players will cost nothing compare to Korea/Japan also ~150 million. And I don’t even start to speak about more $ on German/Austrian/French/English (Bobby Thomson!)/Spanish players 350 million+ region. Capitals of those countries: Kiev (3M), Warsaw (2M), Minsk (2M), Prague (1.5M), Budapest (1.5M), are in 2 hours flight zone. And cost of club like that should be lower than Single-A/Double-A team.