Ukraine will host European baseball championship 2018!

The Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) announced Ukraine will become the host country of the “European baseball championship” that will take place from 23 to 29 of July 2018. Ireland will be another host country of the tournament.

Games between “C” division teams will be held on the baseball field in Kropyvnytskyi city (Ukraine). Teams that will participate in the pool will be determined by a draw. Ukrainian baseball team will probably compete against teams from Romania, Estonia, Hungary, Georgia, Slovenia, Norway and Finland which played in the same division during the last championship in 2016.  

The winner of the “C” pool matches will continue to compete for the main prize of the tournament with stronger teams of the division “B”. 

The origin of baseball in Odessa

Stanislav Bakan is considered to be a kind of godfather of baseball in Odessa region (South Ukraine). His priceless contribution to the development of this game was firstly seen in Illichivsk city, and in some time baseball became popular in Odesa.

Despite the public's skeptical attitude toward this American game, baseball teams were increasingly established one after another. The first team was formed in 1989 and consisted of fifteen former handball players. Young sportsmen with a great interest got to know useful information using Cuban textbook. Stanislav Bakan received it during the sports congress that took place Moscow. Thus Ukrainian athletes had an opportunity to learn the rules of the overseas game. In addition, they even started to learn English in order to understand the terminology of the game better.

Equipment for baseball players was sewn in local workshops, and beats were made on lathes. The first professional baseball equipment players have got by a lucky chance. Once, Japanese vessel stopped at one of the Odesa’s seaports. The crew turned out to be baseball fans. So, Japanese sailors played baseball while they were at the port, and leaving Odesa accidentally left equipment there. After that case, equipment was purchased centrally, ordering from abroad.

After a while, players from Odesa began to take part and placed in the championships of the USSR. And in 1993, the Odesa team "Illichivets" won the baseball Cup of Ukraine.

Soviet period of Odesa baseball ended in 1993. The revival of the game in Odesa fell on the 2000s. A youth team was founded in the city, which later became a member of the Ukrainian Baseball Federation. According to one of Odesa baseball coaches, Georgy Gus, three generations of baseball players have already grown in Odesa city.

Today baseball has been successfully developing in Odesa. Some baseball players even managed to become a part of the Ukrainian national baseball team. And as of baseball fields, first modern baseball field was built just in Illichivsk city, the city where Odesa baseball takes its origins. 

WBSC’s concept received Peace and Sport Awards nomination

A new urban/street game concept recently launched by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has been named among three nominees for the Peace and Sport Award in the category of Sport made Simple.

WBSC’s new baseball/softball street concept aims to address and expand access to sport in underserved and diverse communities, and become a catalyst for social interaction, sharing, respect and prevention of violence, where resources or equipment are challenges.

Peace and Sport has put a special focus on “Sport Innovation for Social Transformation” as a theme of the awards. The urban baseball/softball game requires only a rubber ball and fair play. The simplification of the major baseball/softball disciplines targets a fast-paced, fun, no-cost game and learning/social activity.

“WBSC is humbled and honored to be among the excellent nominees of this year’s Peace and Sport Awards,” – said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “Baseball and softball have been enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people around the world for over 100 years, so we have been specifically focused on creating a fresh, new discipline that serves as an easy-to-access tool that provides similar social and sports development benefits, but with a smaller, simpler version of the game”.

WBSC representatives will be on hand at the 10th Peace and Sport Forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where the winner of the 2017 Sport Made Simple Award will be announced on 7 December.

10 Great Baseball Magazine Covers. Part 2

We continue to talk about our favorite baseball magazine covers!

1. “Time”, September 22, 1947. Illustration of Jackie Robinson by Ernest Hamlin Baker. Robinson was the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era when he broke the color line playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He was named Rookie of the Year that year, and went on to win the MVP title in 1949. Robinson may also have been the first African American to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

2. “Esquire”, July 1966, design by George Lois. “What’s Joe DiMaggio doing with himself these days?” asked the cover headline. That’s Lois posed as Joltin’ Joe in Yankee Stadium.

3. “Sports Illustrated”, June 22, 1970. Photograph by Neil Leifer. Tony Conigliaro was a right fielder for the Red Sox, who led the American League in home runs with 32 in 1965. In 1967 he was hit by a pitch on his left cheekbone in a game against the California Angels. Although his eyesight was permanently damaged, he made a comeback a year and half later.

4. “Sports Illustrated”, April 13, 1964. Left-handed pitcher Sandy Koufax played for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955-66. He pitched four no-hitters in his career, and won the National League Cy Young award in 1963, 65, and 66 by unanimous votes. Born in Brooklyn, the two-time World Series MVP famously did not pitch game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur.

5. “Sports Illustrated”, August 21, 1995, marking the death of New York Yankee Mickey Mantle. The Mick played his entire 18-year career for the Yankees, winning three Most Valuable Player awards, 16 All-Star nods, and seven world championship rings. In 1956 Mantle won the Triple Crown crown, leading the American League in home runs, batting average, and RBIs. Design: Steven Hoffman. Photograph by George Silk.

Read more about great baseball magazine covers in our previous publication.

http://baseballua.com/2017/11/07/10-great-baseball-magazine-covers-part-2/

“The Natural” (1984)

“The Natural” is a 1984 American sports drama film adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson.

The film, like the book, recounts the experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great “natural” baseball talent, spanning decades of Roy’s success and his suffering.

Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball superstardom. 14-year-old Hobbs fashions a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability, fixing his extraordinary talent in the mind of sportswriter Max Mercy, who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobb’s career. But a meeting with a mysterious woman shatters his dream. Years pass and an older Hobbs reappears as a rookie from The New York Knights. Overcoming physical pain and defying those who have a stake in seeing the Knights lose, Hobbs, with his boyhood bat, has his chance to lead the Knights to the pennant and to finally fulfill his dream.

http://baseballua.com/2017/11/06/the-natural-1984/