Pro Ball Worldwide

Going Going Back Back to Hungary Hungary

2011-08-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I sent a baseball update, partly due to trying to perform 3 jobs this years: pitching in Germany, coaching in Hungary, and scouting all over Europe. Also on the pitching end there wasn't much good news to report as it was generally an awful season in Hamburg. I pitched well at times, but as this blog details, after 4 successful professional seasons, I hit a wall, physically and mentally. When I was released from my contract in Hamburg at the beginning of June, my team, HSV Stealers, was floundering on the brink of playoffs and eventually collapsed down the stretch. Meanwhile, I had taken up residency in Budapest Hungary to coach the Hungarian National Team the rest of the summer as we prepared for the European Championship Qualifier in Barcelona Spain. I resigned myself to the fact that my playing career could be finished.

After the tournament in Barcelona (where our squad was competitive against Spain, Finland, Ireland, and Switzerland but finished 4th out of 5), I returned to the States for my best mate, Adam Crabb's wedding in San Francisco and got ready for the last few classes of my law school career. Surprisingly I received two offers to pitch during this time: 1. to go to Armarillo Texas immediately to pitch in the minor league American Association and 2. to return to Europe at the end of the month for the Inter-League Playoffs, to play for the Hungarian based Janossmorja Rascals, one of the best teams in the regional super league.

Today I will fly to Vienna from Detroit after completing my first week of law school and pitch this weekend for the Rascals against the best teams from Croatia, Hungary, and Slovakia. You can follow the action on my blog as always, on my facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Justin-Prinstein/159331680763120) or European Baseball's best website - www.mister-baseball.com and game results will be on www.baseballfan.hu (if you can navigate in Hungarian).

At times I feel like quite the baseball mercenary, but the team I will play for, along with some other Americans, and former teammates living in Europe (Ty Eriksen and Sam Boone) is made up of about 7 players I coached on the Hungarian National Team, and as they compete against the best teams from other countries in the region, I felt a sense of pride in Hungarian baseball that I worked so hard this year to improve as a coach, and can hopefully help raise the level of play and awareness in the next two weeks. I also am grateful for the opportunity to finish the season (and maybe my career) on a positive note, and to pitch in some meaningful playoff games.

I appreciate the UDM Law School and my professors letting me continue my professional career in this manner. Thanks to my sponsors Vinci Gloves (www.vincipro.com) and 3n2 (www.3n2sports.com) for outfitting me with great equipment for the season. Finally, I am thankful for the continued well wishes and support from all my family, friends, and colleagues on this email throughout my 5 years of professional baseball around the globe.

Back to Europe Round 5, Part 2 - Never Say No

2011-08-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

So. The day after our European Qualifier ended in Barcelona - I raced to the airport to catch a flight back to Hamburg (to pick up my suitcase) and so I could fly out to Detroit, as originally booked way back in May, so I could eventually get over to San Francisco to attend the wedding of my best friend, Adam "Lobster Jackson" Crabb. It wasn't easy.

The Hungarian national team left Sunday morning, very early, about an hour or two after I stumbled back to the hotel with a gal to share a pint size bed less than a meter from my "road roommate"... Slept about 2 hours, packed efficiently and whisked off to the airport via taxi/train/shuttle. Upon arrival I was informed that the HU Federation, who I had watched book my ticket the day before via a third party website, actually had not paid for the ticket, so luckily I was at the airport a bit early and $500+ later I was on my way to Hamburg via one stop over in Brussels.

My flight arrived at 9PM, was picked up by my former Hamburg teammates, Daniel and Alex Harms, slept maybe an hour on the couch, then off to the airport again all my luggage in tow, arrived at 4AM for my 6AM flight to Amsterdam. A few hours later and some additional security, I was on my way to the U.S., didn't sleep more than about 2 hours, of course during the meals. Did meet my two favorite detroit hip-hoppers, Black Milk and Guilty Simpson, who played one show in Amsterdam and then flew back to Detroit almost as soon as they arrived.

Stayed in Detroit for one night, then another 8 AM flight to San Francisco for Crabby's wedding.
During these 5 precious days, finally back stateside, I suddenly had two incredible offers for someone who had an 8 E.R.A. in the German Bundesliga. I got an offer to go down to Armarillo Texas in the American Association and pitch for them for the rest of the season or fly back to Europe to play for the 2nd best team in Hungary, the Jannosmorja Rascals during the interleague finals (made up of the top teams from Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary) as well as the Hungarian Cup playoffs. It begins Aug 26 with the interleague finals in Zagreb Croatia, a place I have never visited in all my time in Europe. But because I'm starting law school again (for my final year) in Detroit, I'm only going to play three weekends, from Aug 26 to Sept 11. This will cover most of their playoffs and I'm really looking forward to a totally new baseball experience, to be able to pitch again, especially when I thought this season was a lost cause. It gives me a chance to pitch meaningful games, do some batting as well, play alongside many guys I coached for the Euro Championships with the Hungarian national team, and of course see some good friends and neighbors back in Hungary.

This is the life of an international baseball vagabond. Never say no to a great offer because don't know when it could be your last chance. Always keep a bag/suitcase close by and halfway packed. When someone uses the words - "Croatia" and "Baseball" in the same sentence... say "yes."

Best of European Baseball

2011-06-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

It’s no secret, I like to make lists. Sometimes when I’m on the toilet I make a list of my favorite girls from my travels. At night I will make a list about things to do or to get the next day or week. After my release from Hamburg, and reflecting on my 5 years of European Baseball, I decided to make a comprehensive list of my European baseball experiences on a recent train ride to from Hamburg to Munich: (I'll try to keep the offensiveness to a minimal)

1. Best Place to Play Home Games: Almere 2009

2. Worst Place to Play Home Games: Hoboken Pioneers 2007

3. Best Field: Kinheim Haarlem in 2010

4. Best Mound to pitch from: Amsterdam Pirates 2010

5. Worst Field: TIE – 2007 Kibbutz Gezer in Israel, 2008 Jeka in Breda Netherlands, and 2011 Dohren Germany

6. Best Crowd: Tie – 2007 Israel Baseball League All Star Game and 2009 Promotion Series between Almere and RCH (see above)

7. Most Difficult Opponent: DOOR Neptunus 2010

8. Favorite Opponent to Pitch against: ADO 2010 and Amsterdam Pirates 2010

9. Best team I played on: Almere 2009

10. Worst team I played on: Hamburg 2011

11. Favorite Teammates:

2007: Sam Faeder/Ty Eriksen – Netanya Tigers

2007: Alain Lambeau – Hoboken Pioneers

2008: Remy Jamanika – Tex Town Tigers

2009: Joey Berkenbosh – Almere

2010: Mitch Graham – Almere

2011: Max Warren – HSV Stealers

12. Worst Teammate:

2007: CF – Netanya Tigers

2007: C/1B – Hoboken Pioneers

2008: 1B – Tex Town Tigers

2009: back up 3B – Almere

2010: relief pitcher from RCH/infielder from RCH – Almere

2011: starting pitcher - HSV

13. Best Player on my team:

2007: Hector De Los Santos / SS – Netanya Tigers

2008: Ono Barske / 3B & Mikkel Oosterveld / SS – Tex Town Tigers

2009: Rhiency Imperator / SS – Almere

2010: Mitch Graham / SS – Almere

2011: Brehan Murphy / 3B – HSV Stealers

14. Worst Players on my team:

2007: Rhyijo/Eichenstein – Netanaya

2008: Thierry – Tex Town

2009: Jerry – Almere

2010: Daan – Almere

2011: Mirko – HSV

15. Best Opposing Player:

2007: Jason Rees – Bet Shamesh Blue Sox

2008: Linoy Croes – Alcmaria & Rhiency Imperator – Robur

2009: Cameron Wheeler and Derek Tarapecki – UVV

2010: Bryan Engelhardt – Kinheim

2011: Chris Beck - Solingen

16. Best Coach: Stanely Kock, Tex Town Tigers – 2008

17. Worst Coach: Marco, Almere 2010/Jens, HSV 2011

18. Best Management: Bart Zijderveld, Almere 2009

19. Worst Management: Erwin, Hoboken 2007

20. Best Uniforms: Almere 2010

21. Worst Uniforms: Hoboken 2007

22. Best house to live in: TTT 2008

23. Worst house to live in: Almere 2009 – upstairs in student house / HSV 2011 – GM’s basement

24. Best City to live in: Tel Aviv – 2007

25. Worst City to live in: Hamburg suburbs - 2011

26. Best Overall Experience: Almere 2009

27. Worst Overall Experience: Hamburg 2011

Struggles Continue in Dortmund

2011-06-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Before departing to Vienna/Budapest/Janossmorja last week I had a late night meeting with the HSV management and we both agreed things weren't really working out as originally intended or planned. From transportation around Hamburg, to the lack of daily meals promised in my contract, to the umpiring deficiencies and rubber balls that my smallish hands couldn't grip properly - I knew that my season with HSV was very much on the line for our double-header in Dortmund the 5th place team sitting one game behind us for the last playoff spot in the Northern Bundesliga, on Saturday. 

After we barely squeaked out a 2 run victory in Game 1 behind some Dortmund miscues and strong pitching performance from our former German national team left-handed Pitcher Rene, I was facing Matt Kemp, arguably the top pitcher in the league the past three years. With an E.R.A. of under 1 run per game, I knew that if I gave up more than 2 runs I would probably lose. We proceeded to begin Game 2 by loading the bases against Dortmund's foreign ace but were stymied from scoring, and so I took the mound. I plunked the first batter on the first pitch, mostly on purpose as I wanted to send a message to not crowd the plate as they began to in the previous game, getting comfortable as our lefty pitcher used a moderate fastball and tons of off-speed away from right handed hitters to induce some bad swings that helped lead us to victory.  In the 1st, Dortmund  scored 4 on a few walks, infield single, then a pop-up to 1b line hit the chalk-line and went under the gate down the line for a ground rule double. I could feel my season slowly unraveling, but of course, I didn't give up.  We had a 30 min sun delay as it began to set beyond the CF fence, and I used this time to sit out the dugout behind the RF line and reflect on my season and baseball career at large. I knew I was fortunate for being able to play for a living over the past 4 years, and with my season and possibly career winding down, I was determined to go out firing. I came back out doing the same, as before firing - hitting my targets, but as I have been accustomed to in this German baseball league, the umps were brutal again, blowing calls on the bases, and most importantly to me, not judging my pitches correctly. I have always played in higher leagues than my talent would suggest and therefore became accusomted to relying on deception, strategy, movement on my pitches, and pin-point location to induce ground balls and miss barrels of the hitter's bats. My pitches tend to cross the plate, whether it be a change-up or 2-seam fastball, and then disappear out of the strike zone. This style has provided me with a successful template since I was 16 years old, and to counter this approach I would then throw sliders that start out of the zone and end up in the strike one. However, this type of approach is wholly contingent on batters swinging or umpires calling strikes. If this is not happening, as it hasn't been, trouble will ensue. I  walked the first guy in the 2nd inning, but felt that my pitches hit my intended target as my catcher wouldn't even move his glove from where he was set-up, in most leagues this examplifies a strike. I gather by now that it's quite different in this German Bundesliga. An  infield single, grounder between SS and 3B, got a double play ball but the runner was called safe at 2B.  Then a fly ball to shallow RF dropped on the exchange for a SAC FLY, followed by another infield single made the score 6-0.  The next inning, I changed nothing other than my pace, and got  2 strikeouts on 6 pitches, before getting a groundout on 3 pitches, getting their lead-off batter to swing at an 0-2 slider out of zone, I felt like I was back at it again. Our offense continued to struggle against Kemp, and the next inning, after striking out the first batter again,  I swear I struck out the next batter was the #3 hitter in the lineup i threw him 3 sliders all the same, started inside and ended corner-in, one was called a strike, two were balls, didn't make any sense.  The same pitch 3 times. I almost flipped out on the umpire, maybe I should have since no one else was making a fuss about it, but I remained composed. The batter ended up walking, and then their Australian import hitter comes up i had him 0-2, threw him a high 2-seam on the hands, he fisted to SS, but he got the ball towards 3B and didn't have a play. next guy was a lefty, had him 1-2 he sticks his bat out on a ball and hits to SS that bloops right beyond his glove, i mean this was all day. Unlucky.  So I give up like 8 runs or something in 4 innings but i hit my spots, i made my pitches, i had good movement, i made them look silly at some points, finally in the 5th inning on pitch 1,000 one of their guys hit a ground rule double to the wall, it was their first hit out of 9 that didn't touch the infield. I really dont know how to judge that performance, other than im probably done here.Both Kemp and I gave up 5 hits after the first two innings, however we scored zero runs and they scored 6. Maybe it's just a few games of bad luck, these things happen over the course of a season, however, when youre season consists of 28 games, there's not much time for error, and 3 bad games feels like half a season because it really is. Always a European baseball adventure, and always staying true to the Vagabond lifestyle - I'm out of Hamburg. 

Losing

2011-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Haven't written in a few weeks, mainly because any attempt to recall the past few games makes me depressed. I haven't had a stretch like this since I started playing baseball (parents feel free to correct me) in which I gave up more than 10 runs in 2 starts in a row. First against the undefeated and first place Paderborn Untouchables and then last week against Solingen Aligators.

The weird thing about these two games is that I felt great both days. I felt like I made my pitches to the locations that I wanted, the pitches I wanted, with the proper movement. I really didn't have any answers for why it went so wrong - maybe it was 2nd game of the doubleheader and the other teams hitters were locked in, or that my hand was slipping on the seams of the rubber balls we are using in the games periodically. Pitching both games at home, in the 2nd game, on our very soft and not very good mound may be screwing up my landing point/stride and altering my mechanics, but still, as a professional you need to find a way to make an adjustment. I can blame the umpires everytime, but the other teams have to deal with their inconsistent and miniscule strike zones too. All I know is that I have to change something - try a black glove, shave my head, try to stay positive, and hopefully my mojo comes back for our games in Dortmund tomorrow.

Intro Songs

2011-05-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

Every year since my high school days, starting with portable cd players, tape cassessets in the car, and in the past 10 years advancing to big clunky ipods to the iphone 4, I always enjoy certain music before the game in my headphones.

As far back as I can remember, I used certain songs to pump me up before baseball games. In High School it was a mix of classic rock and rap. Coolio – It’s all the Way Live ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERRsGLsTyso ) when I was just beginning high school, 2Pac’s Hit ‘em Up ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIjDAU05JgU&feature=fvst ), NaS – One Mic ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C9cx9_wW9I ), Jay-Z’s Come and Get Me ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCVnjBJZ3To ), and Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs – Notorious Thugs ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p5TrW3BbQQ ) were staples of mine throughout high school. In my Junior and Senior years I listened to a rare live version of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uPKcMkH0vw&ob=av3e ) before summer league games with the Michigan Rams, and before my fantastic senior year at North Farmington it was Tom Petty’s Running Down a Dream ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1D3a5eDJIs ). When I started college we were allowed to pick “walk-out” songs that would be played by the P.A. when I would come into the game.
I remember my sophomore year I did a mix of Jay-Z’s P.S.A. as an intro ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAbxCTABfis ), which went into Dirt Off Your Shoulder ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz_-VaTHpc8&ob=av2e ), fresh from the recently released Black Album.

My junior year I used a rare classic rock song from the group Traffic called Empty Pages (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfHt4kY8Io8&feature=related ) that had an awesome organ rift that reminded me of childhood games at Wrigley Field.

At GW in my senior year I couldn’t decide between T.I. – What you Know about that ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZJW-rkVKFE ) and Talib Kweli – Feel the Rush ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gydBx-rGBdo ), so I settled with the theme from Kill Bill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsF45oe6d5o&feature=related ).

At Hoboken in 2007, I started getting into Metallica before the game as well as new style of house/techno that I started to enjoy after arriving in Europe, highlighted by Eric Prydz vs. Pink Floyd – Proper Education (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IttkDYE33aU ). When I traveled down to Israel for the rest of the 2007 season, recently released Stronger by Kanye West ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsO6ZnUZI0g&ob=av2e ) and Black Maybe by Common ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW_NFwOTjXc ) were my pre-game songs.

In 2008 at Tex Town once again they played walk-out songs and I used a Moby song called Graciosa from one of my favorite movies – Any Given Sunday ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbBxSNqwgOU ). I still think is the best one I ever had.

In 2009 at Almere I was all set with MSTRKRFT remixes – 1,000 Cigarettes ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1STkAaWzKI ) and Click Click ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDgzptvqwuM ), and Kaskade’s Sorry (Dirty South Remix) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrQiFxSitwI ) until one of my first games the announcer played a random song with an amazing intro beat before one of my April relief appearances. I pitched real well and requested that this song be played before I came into the game. It ended up being a really strange song – called Do It Like a Truck by Geo Da Silva ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX1wGLZIIWY&feature=related ), but it worked, and I went undefeated and we won the Dutch First Division championship and promotion series that year.

When I came back to pitch in Almere in 2010, I had assembled some awesome songs the during the year in Australia – Stanton Warriors ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgK15PVa57U&feature=related ), Pitbull – Shut it Down ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QECUFmEPbU0 ), Cassian – Friday Night ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7To-BNnQQ ), Yusek – Extraball ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzrOMSzS09s&ob=av2n ), and Gareth Donaghue – Rise of Ulyesses ( which i can't find anywhere on youtube) before deciding on Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition Evil Nine Remix ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et3khYwUYjM ).

This year as I was coming to Hamburg I really couldn’t decide between – The Bloody Beetroots – Awesome ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L-aXsoYT0M&playnext=1&list=PLAD904C2DD0A75CCC ), Lupe Fiasco’s I’m Beamin’ ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge4BEdyZ8bM ), Fenech-Soler Lies (Alex Metric Remix) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93pDRd4Ik_c ) but when Elzhi came out with a new mixtape at the end of April – I finally decided upon “Genesis” as my intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93pDRd4Ik_c

One quick shout out to Black Milk who is from Detroit and I've always wanted to use this - ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFcTUZnmBA )

well, there's always next year :)

Winning > Losing

2011-05-18T03:41:00.003-07:00

I like winning, you know, because it's much better than losing.

I began the year losing, not entirely due to my pitching, but my somewhat meager performances didn't help hold offenses down to zero runs when we also couldn't find ways to score the second game. Maybe it was due to my lack of conventional spring training (only on the mound and facing hitters for the first time outside when I arrived against Dortmund - except I didn't give up a hit in the first 4 innings that game). Maybe it was the fact I had to take a bunch of law school exams and write some papers within my first few weeks here - which didn't give me much free time for extra training or solely focusing on baseball, let alone piece of mind. Or maybe it was traveling with the coaching responsibilities in Hungary (probably not because of this because I was still training for baseball and thinking baseball) but there was a girl issue sort of involved, as they always are. Anyways, since my return from Holland (where I was scouting), getting a haircut, lowering my pants, getting some great physiotherapy from Emile Kool in Almere, and finishing exams - I have reeled off two straight wins and our team has won 4 in a row. Beginning two weeks ago, I pitched my first complete game of the year against the floundering Berlin Sluggers (a day after my last law school final exam in Con Law) Again, we didn't score much, and in fact, after throwing a wild pitch with a runner on 3rd and giving up a solo home run on the next pitch to Berlin's American catcher, we were already behind 2-0. This was in the 4th inning and I knew that I had to make some adjustment. I felt out of whack with my motion and my 4-seam fastball was getting hit and my 2-seamer *old reliable, wasn't being located very well. In between innings, one of our other Americans, Pitcher-Outfielder and former teammate, that of Harvard lore, Max Warren, gave me a quick tip - go back to the 2-seam and just aim it down the pipe, the movement will take care of itself. From the 5th inning on, it just worked. Got into a groove, and everything else was kind of a blur. Apparently we came back to take a 3-2 lead somehow (it's good that I don't remember because it means I was starting to "zone out"), but in the top of the 8th with two outs and a runner on 1st and 3rd, our Funky French Firstbaseman got a ball that was tough to handle, as I do, I run over to cover 1B, only to find his throw was behind me so I make some extremely contorted non-athletic looking but very athletic play to catch the ball while my foot/ankle/shin (basically everything below my knee) dragged on the base. The Umpire in the middle of the diamond, and out of position, called the batter safe at first, even though the throw and my touch of the base clearly beat him. I don't think he saw my leg laying on the base and when I came off the ground to show him I had control of the ball (as we are taught to do in the states) he ruled that I was on the bag but I didn't have control. (If I didn't have control, why would I show you I did?) As I've learned over the years, European umpires are routinely terrible, and calls are routinely never overturned, so there's no use arguing too much, just let them know that they really got it wrong, and hopefully the next close play will go your way. The run scored tying the game, and we didn't score in the bottom frame, so I came back out for the 9th, went 1-2-3 and finally in the bottom of the last inning, we loaded up the bases, and our pinch hitter Philip hit a sac fly to win it. NOTE: We need to perfect the craft of walk-off victory celebrations instead of just a high-five line... maybe because it was the 7th hour of playing baseball, but come on guys you need to jump up and down a bit to celebrate.

Coming off the Berlin victories was another sedative week with law school officially over, it was back to training hard, and figuring out how to make good use of my time when you only play games once a week. Of course I have the scouting job, that will eventually take me all over Europe by the end of the summer, and the coaching gig for the Hungarian national team as well, but May is shaping up to be a lot of time spent in outskirts of Hamburg - just me, the internet, and my thoughts. There were two nights that I stayed up to 6am, in order to watch the Wings vs. Sharks game 6 and 7 of the hockey playoffs, starting respectively at 2am and 3am... and I can honestly say it had no affect on my next start, Sunday in Pulheim.

After mashing the Pulheim Gophers (I keep thinking of Bill Murray in Caddyshack), those of the camalflouge uniforms, in Game 1, by the score of 15-2. I was mentally prepared for a tighter ball game since all of our Game 2's against the opposing team's foreign pitchers, like myself, seem to limit our offense no matter what we do in Game 1 (and maybe we are also extremely tired from running around the bases so much in Game 1. In the first 3 innings we put a tally up on every inning to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Two notes on this historical start to the game:

1) It was the first time I was pitching with a lead to begin the game 2) it equalled the most runs I received in any game while I pitched, all year. I stuck with the end of the Berlin game pitching strategy and only gave up a long hard fly ball to Pulheim, and the Bundesliga leading hitter two years in a row, from New Zeeland - Daniel Lamb-Hunt. By the 6th inning, we had encountered three rain delays, only one walk (to Lamb-Hunt), 3 more runs - to make it 6-0, and thus far I had yet to give up a hit. I started the inning by walking the #2 and #3 hitters on full-counts. Felt like I was being squeezed a bit, maybe the umps were trying to make it a bit of a game for the home-team, but I wasn't about to complain, these were probably the best umpires I had in all my time in Europe, I recall thinking that. Up came Lamb-Hunt, and to the mound came our manager Jens, I guess not realizing despite the 3 total walks, there had still been zero hits. After the brief mound visit, which I'm sure was good intentioned, I became sort of un-focused, which sounds strange but it's true. I made a good pitch on the hands to Lamb-Hunt that he fisted into foul territory just out of the reach of our 3B and LF. Naturally, Jakub our catcher wanted some off-speed so we went change-up low and away for a ball, and another change-up that he didn't bite on. With 2 balls and 1 strike, I didn't want to pitch around him with runners on like I did last time, so I challenged him a fastball that he laced into left-center field for the first hit of the day and the first run. I induced a grounder to third and a strikeout, and got two outs when their other import, an American who plays with the Greek national team with Max, hit a dribbler in between SS and 3B to give them 2 more runs. I struck out the next batter and left the game with a 6-3 lead, and the final score after our young and talented German pitcher, Daniel Harms, got the 3 inning save. After the 5 1/2 hour ride back, in which my expensive Vibe II Moda headphones ceased to function, and I somehow lost my iphone case, I felt like I was doing the GW roadtrip adventures all over again (or the no games more than an hour away in Holland made me soft). Now this week is about getting ready for Paderborn, the first place and undefeated team, where we'll be missing Max (back in the U.S. for a presentation for Harvard on his year-long expedition to Africa) and Sam (back in the U.S. for his best friend's wedding).

Photo Note: A motor scooter raking the field in between games (only in Pulheim)

Here are the mister-baseball recaps of the past two weeks of games + standings:

May '1117

Recaps North: Untouchables come back twice against Alligators

News - German Baseball LeaguesNo Comments

Berlin Sluggers – Bonn Capitals 0-11 (7), 0-11 (8)

One week after dispatching the Dohren Wild Farmers, the Bonn Capitals also had no problems with their next task in the northern division of the German Baseball-Bundesliga, celebrating a pair of 11-0 shutouts over the Berlin Sluggers on Saturday. In game one Tim Henkenjohann threw a complete game one-hitter, striking out eleven in seven innings. No ball left the infield and only an infield single by Jakub Buttgereit denied the no-no. In the second game Bonn scored six runs in the seven and four in the eighth to blow an otherwise close game wide open. Bryce Schoening picked up the win. Bradley Roper-Hubbart hit a two-run homerun for the Caps.

Dohren Wild Farmers – Dortmund Wanderers 2-18 (7), 1-0 (10)

The Dohren Wild Farmers and the Dortmund Wanderers settled for a split in their twin bill on Saturday. In game one Elliot Biddle homered twice and drove in six to lead Dortmund to an 18-2 rout. Aljosha Heller and Kevin Möller also went deep for the Wanderers. Trevor Howell went 5-for-5 with a double and four runs. In the second game Garrett Rogers struck out 17 in a ten-inning complete game shutout to lead the Wild Farmers to a 1-0 win. His impressive work on the mound was not all, as he also hit the game-winning solo homerun in the bottom of the tenth off Matt Kemp, who had relieved Dennis Stechmann in the sixth.

Untouchables Paderborn – Solingen Alligators 10-5, 7-6

The Untouchables Paderborn defended their perfect record in the Baseball-Bundesliga coming back in both wins over the Solingen Alligators on Sunday. In game one the U’s erased a 0-5 deficit with five-run rallies in the fifth and the seventh en route to a 10-5 win. They also overcame a two-run homerun and the 500th hit of Dominik Wulf, as well as a four-hit performance by Chris Beck in his return to the Baseball-Bundesliga. In the second match Paderborn scored six runs between the sixth and eighth to turn around a 1-5 deficit into a 7-6 win. 300 people witnessed the duel between the two top teams in the northern division, which was interrupted by rain delays. Eugen Heilmann was used in relief and picked up the win in both ends of the doubleheader.

Pulheim Gophers – HSV Stealers 2-15 (7), 3-6

The HSV Stealers improved to 8-4 for the season with their second sweep in a week, winning both games in Pulheim. In game one Brehan Murphy (2), Jerome Rousseau, Jakub Vojakand Sam Boone hit homeruns to lead the Stealers to a 15-2 rout in seven innings. Murphy drove in seven runs. Veteran Frank Stattler was the starting pitcher in place of an injury Max Warren. In the second game Hamburg built up a fast 6-0 lead through the middle of the sixth en route to a 6-3 win over the Gophers. Justin Prinstein pitched six innings for his second win of the season. Bryan Roberts took the mound for the Gophers, having recovered from an injury.

Standings North

#	Team	W	L	R+	R-	.pct	GB	Streak
1	Paderborn Untouchables	11	0	118	27	1.000	0	W11
2	Bonn Capitals	10	3	149	62	.769	2	W9
3	Solingen Alligators	8	4	91	75	.666	3.5	L2
4	HSV Stealers	8	4	102	94	.666	3.5	W4
5	Pulheim Gophers	5	9	87	117	.357	7.5	L9
6	Dortmund Wanderers	4	8	75	79	.333	7.5	L1
7	Dohren Wild Farmers	2	10	40	117	.166	9.5	W1
8	Berlin Sluggers	1	11	43	134	.083	10.5	L11

Last Week:

Northern Division:

HSV Stealers – Berlin Sluggers 16-10, 4-3

After four splits to start the 2011 season, the HSV Stealers celebrated their first sweep against the promoted Berlin Sluggers. In game one Hamburg scored five runs in the second and eight between the fourth and seventh en route to a 16-10 victory. Berlin cut the deficit to three runs in the top of the eighth, but couldn’t do more in the slugfest to prevent a loss.Daniel Harms received the win, Iwan Galkin the loss. In the second match the Stealers needed a run by Mirko Oliczewsky in the bottom of the ninth to prevail 4-3. Pinch hitterPhilipp van Soosten lifted a flyball into center field to drive in the winning run. Justin Prinstein went the distance for his first win of the season. Ales Keprta took the loss.

Bonn Capitals – Dohren Wild Farmers 16-0 (7), 18-0 (7)

The Bonn Capitals dispatched the Dohren Wild Farmers on Sunday. Losing 0-16 and 0-18 Dohren was completely overmatched in both ends of the twin bill. In game one Tim Henkenjohann got his first win of the season. Bonn had provided him with a fast 7-0 lead after two frames and blew things wide open with six runs in the sixth. Florian Nehringrounded the bases for a three-run inside the park homerun. In the second match the Capitals greeted Wild Farmers’ starter Garrett Rogers with twelve runs in the opening period. Bradley Roper-Hubbert homered and tripled to drive in five. Max Schmitz and Bryce Schoeningheld Dohren scoreless.

Dortmund Wanderers – Untouchables Paderborn 3-13 (8), 1-5

The Untouchables Paderborn continue to dominate the northern division, improving their perfect record to start the season to 9-0. In game one at the Dortmund Wanderers seven runs in the second decided the outcome early in a 13-3 rout in eight innings. Eugen Heilmannreceived the win, Dennis Stechmann the loss. In the second match Brian Fields out-dueledMatt Kemp to lead Paderborn to a 5-1 win over Dortmund. Elliot Biddle went deep for the Wanderers. Daniel Groer had five hits in six at-bats.

Solingen Alligators – Pulheim Gophers 11-5, 7-3

The Solingen Alligators extended their winning streak to six games against the Pulheim Gophers, solidifying second place one week before their matchup with the undefeated Untouchables Paderborn. In game one Solingen dominated besides a five-run eighth by Pulheim. However at this point, the Alligators already were up 8-0 en route to an 11-5 victory.Andre Hughes struck out seven in seven two-hit innings for the win. Daniel Lamb-Hunt had a three-run double for Pulheim. In the second match the Gophers actually led 3-2 midway through the fifth, but three Solingen runs in the bottom of the same frame put the home team back in front. Phil Ortez hit a homerun, the first this season. Moritz Buttgereit followed with a two-run single.

Standings North

#	Team	W	L	R+	R-	.pct	GB	Streak
1	Paderborn Untouchables	11	0	118	27	1.000	0	W11
2	Bonn Capitals	10	3	149	62	.769	2	W9
3	Solingen Alligators	8	4	91	75	.666	3.5	L2
4	HSV Stealers	8	4	102	94	.666	3.5	W4
5	Pulheim Gophers	5	9	87	117	.357	7.5	L9
6	Dortmund Wanderers	4	8	75	79	.333	7.5	L1
7	Dohren Wild Farmers	2	10	40	117	.166	9.5	W1
8	Berlin Sluggers	1	11	43	134	.083	10.5	L11

Our Fenchman part deux

2011-05-16T11:19:00.003-07:00

Away game, pre-game, same French Funkyness in Pulhiem (Pulheim?):

Our Frenchman

2011-05-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

Baseball is played everywhere. Clearly stated in this blog's name since 2007, true it's a worldwide game, but still, even for me, it comes of a bit of a surprise to see certain countries produce good baseball players. Not to play too much into certain stereotypes, but when we think of France (Eifel Tower, the Louve, Crepes, Thierry Henry, Soccer, Tour de France - cycling, French Open - tennis, Tony Parker - basketball, baguettes, cheese, and wine) it's safe to assume we don't think of baseball. Jerome Rousseau, he of the French country, and our First Baseman, hitting over .400 currently in the German Bundesliga for the HSV Stealers, defies these stereotypes. He plays baseball, not such a different brand then what we are used to - I see him out on the field producing in games and training as a professional, just as much as our other professionals, at first glance you might even think he is a pro ball player from America, the only difference is he does it all with a ridiculously harmonious parisian accent, and with a French flare on the side (like his pre-game routine last week of shirtless cigarettes and coffee seen above)... More Frenchmen chronicles to come....

Baseball for a job

2011-05-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

Thought this was a good article on ESPN, that talks about as athletes get to do something we all love for a living, it still is a job. This is my 5th year of working as a baseball player, and technically if you count college where we get scholarship money to play baseball, it's also kind of like a full-time job as well. I also feel like with all the time spent in high school, devoted to practicing, playing, traveling, everything for baseball... at some point you can lose the "child's like fun for the sport" and it really takes on the feeling of a "job." It's good to remind oneself that it is a child's game, more than just a job, but also how lucky I am to be able to "work" at something I love to do....

For love, for money

When do the games we loved playing as children become jobs?

By Jeff MacGregor
ESPN.com
Archive

The thing about a big league batting cage an hour before a 1:05 Sunday start is that everyone within 100 feet of you looks hungover. Everyone. Puffy, sour-mouthed, red-eyed. A little rueful. Under that harsh midday light, sharp contact is as likely to bring a wince as a smile. Players, coaches, cops, reporters. Even the children leaning over the dugout for an autograph could use a shave and some Visine.

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AP Photo/Bill KostrounMaybe games become a job when there's nobody from the coaching staff watching, like when Giants QB Eli Manning, left, and WR Samuel Giguere practiced recently.

I came to the stadium to answer a question: What happens when your play becomes your work? When a game becomes your job?

My bosses and I had been put in mind of all this by the NFL draft. What happens to these young men? What does it mean to make a profession of your passion? So a couple of weekends ago I tried to get uptown for that big NFL job fair at Radio City Music Hall. But I was already booked solid and with one thing and another by the time I got past the stage door all I could find were some of the shorter Rockettes, a leaguewide lockout and an abandoned office chair bearing a set of deep impressions from Mel Kiper's sit bones.

So I rode on up to Yankee Stadium instead.

As most Americans do, I'm going to use the words "job" and "work" interchangeably. And the truth of work it seems to me is that a few of us work at jobs we love and a few of us work at jobs we truly hate, but most of us work our adult lives away at jobs we bear with goodness or patience or humor or something approaching grace. The work itself is not what drags us out of bed day after day and year after year. Rather, we do what we must to feed and shelter ourselves and to make a safe, happy life for our families. The job is only what it is -- an income, a revenue stream, a sufferable means to a much better and more important end.

Even then, in ways large and small, as Americans, our work defines us. (Lately, sadly the loss of our work defines us, too.)

For some very lucky few, though -- and I count myself one of them -- a living can be made from a passion. From a talent or a preference or an inclination. From a gift. From a calling.

Poets and painters and nose tackles are lucky in this way, as are actors and lyric tenors and shortstops. It is a privilege to make your way in the world doing the thing you were born to do. And this is as true at 6-foot-5, 325 pounds with a 4.6 40 as it is for Yo-Yo Ma at 5-10, maybe 150 with Bach's "Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello."

For further, very much smarter, thoughts on work and working and America, I send the reader first to Philip Levine and his poem "What Work Is" …

We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is -- If you're
old enough to read this you know what
work is …

… then on to Chicago's late Emersonian spirit daddy and recorder of the ordinary, Studs Terkel, and his genius book of oral history, "Working."

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AP Photo/Charles SykesOccasionally, as with the Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team, the trappings of work are actually used for play.

In fact, the greater arc of American literature from Nathaniel Hawthorne forward is taken up by work and how we shape it and how it shapes us in turn. Bartleby or Gatsby, we're all about the cost of getting and spending; the price of setting our price. Because weirdly, while everyone in America wants to have a lot of money, nobody wants to be thought of as "rich." We hate the rich. Thus the modern American novel is often enough a tale of our classless class struggle, and a kind of long-form job description.

And just now I look up to see Derek Jeteron the big screen describing his: "Our job is to come out here and try to win a championship." Which is altogether harder than it looks or sounds, I imagine. Because I know too well how hard it is to be any good at anything, even the thing you're meant for, and to suffer the whims and disappearances of inspiration. Sometimes all you have is craft or practice to fall back on, and even then, you stink. Oh man, you just stink. Slumped, at your worst, the only reason to show up is pride. Or the fear you'll lose the paycheck.

Maybe that's when your calling becomes your job, when you gut out a slump. When the love goes out of it altogether and you discover that punching the clock means the clock can punch back.

There's Joba Chamberlain signing autographs for those dugout kids, and that's part of his job too: the glad-handing and baby kissing and front-of-the-house public relations. Every kid looks to be in a kind of ecstatic daze. They might remember this day forever. Joba, though, wears the expression of a man operating an industrial press, or of the shift manager at a Mumbai call center. He's at work.

In the cage, Toronto's Jose Bautista, grim-faced and unshaven and briefly leading the league in every category, is spanking the ball as if it had stolen from him.

Up in the press box Paul O'Neill, 48, heart of the heart of the Yankees in the golden '90s, readies himself for his work as a commentator. He is still tall and fit and earnest, clean-shaven above a wide full-Windsor knot, and looks you in the eye when you ask him when the game becomes a job.

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Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesPatrick Peterson, the Cardinals' first-round pick, sports the uniform of a more traditional job.

"You never lose the passion for competing. It starts at 5 years old and doesn't end until you retire. The 'work' part of it comes in rookie ball, I think, your first year, playing every single day, the long bus rides, the bad hotels. Seeing that you don't succeed every time. That disappointment day in and day out is what becomes work."

So maybe that's the moment it turns into a job, in the instant when your fantasy collides with your reality.

Down in the dugout, Kyle Drabek of the Blue Jays will tell you likewise. The 23-year-old son of Cy Young winner Doug Drabek has a smile on him like the Mayor of Baseball, even though the day before he'd been wild and shelled and pulled in the third.

"Pitching's been my job since high school," he says, "but it sure felt like work yesterday."

Then he laughed and jogged up the tunnel to the clubhouse.

It was such a beautiful day. I wanted to stay for the game. But I had to work.

Jeff MacGregor is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. You can email him at jeff_macgregor@hotmail.com, or follow his Twitter.com feed @MacGregorESPN.

Hamburg Electronic Musical Festival

2011-05-09T06:34:00.001-07:00

They play baseball in Hungary?!

2011-04-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

This was an interesting week. When I look back a few weeks, or months, or years from now... I'm going to ask myself one question. How and why the heck did I do all this?
It started last Saturday April 16, as I wrote about a few days ago. After the double-header, I came back home and packed for Budapest and attempted to finish a constitutional law paper that was due Monday at 3pm (European time)... The only problem; I hadn't written a word, it was 8pm, I was waking up at 5 am, my flight was at 645 am and I was coaching from 11-7 in Hungary. I packed a backpack, to store my laptop with some papers (to study crim law) and some toiletrees (how do you even spell this word?), and then a mini-bag with a pair of shoes, a few pieces of clothes to work out in and maybe even go out in, who knows it's Budapest after all, honestly one of the best cities I've been to in Europe. Of course, I'm only one week off the plane from the States, so the jet lagging is still not entirely kicked, making it almost impossible to get to sleep by 12 to try to get the 5 hours I was hoping for. I was maybe also, admittedly, nervous? anxious? I had never coached a national team before... I had no idea what I was getting into, I had this paper due that was barely started, and I was maybe going to see my girl, who I hadn't seen since she visited Detroit in October. After a brief stop in Frankfurt, another flight got me to Budapest by 1030, and was whisked by Andras, the guy who basically runs the Hungarian national team program, to Szendentre Hungary for the national team training.
I didn't know what to expect, and maybe that's a good thing. I arrived just as the team finished warming up. It was a mixture of really young and older guys, and the field was much nicer than the one I had visited the previous summer a few minutes outside of Budapest. There was actually a fence and dirt spread about the base-paths, the field looked symmetrical and it had a bit of a mound as well. I worked with the pitchers all day, a few older than me and some younger... they were all pretty attentive and really tried to incorporate what I said. With the older guys, the aces of the national team staff, we worked on holding runners, means to eliminate another team's running game, and pick-offs. Some of the things I talked about they had never even imagined could be possible, I really felt like I was in the movie Comrades of Summer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103997/ With the younger guys I actually needed a translator at all times. You start talking about baseball and then you realize you just talked for about 1 minute straight and there is no way the translator can keep up with that, so I really had to learn to give instruction and talk about pitching at 15 second intervals. We practiced until 630 or so, and it was a long day with 2 hours of sleep, the 2 flights, compounded by this brand new, and surreal experience.
By the time I arrived back at my hotel around midnight I knew there was no way I would begin to get this paper done. Set my alarm for 8, last minute Prinstein back at work. Luckily, I didn't need my alarm as I was awoken by a screaming man next door, who was literally screaming in Japanese for 30 minutes straight. Not a great start to the morning, and I hammered out this con law paper in just under 4 hours. Let me say, not my finest work, but I have to imagine it was the first time someone probably wrote a law school paper at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law from Budapest Hungary. I went for some coffee at Costa in Nyugati Square - http://gowalla.com/spots/903523 and then went to Obuda (a suburb of of Budapest where I was at last year for one baseball training) to help out with their cadet team (under 15 years old). There was only 7 of them at this practice, and we worked on groundballs and throwing mechanics (see photos above)... pretty basic stuff, but you forget this is Hungary, you can't take the basic for granted. However, there was an unbelievable talented kid that I don't even think the Hungarians realized how good he was. 14 years old and had the arm of an 18 year old. Athletic and baseball savvy, he would have been on an under-16 national team in any European country. It's awesome to see a talent like this in a country like Hungary because it goes to show you that you can find good baseball players, naturals, literally anywhere in this world. You just have to look. That evening I went to a cafe called Jubilee's for my one Hungarian friend (outside of baseball) birthday party. All of her friends showed up with cakes and delicacies... brought them to the cafe. That was strange I thought, but I try not to think too hard when I'm in foreign cultures... I just do (and go) to Morrison's 2, a club a few blocks away until 330am.
Tuesday was pretty much devoted to getting my visa sorted out and Wednesday morning I was up early going to a big park to teach baseball to a bunch of school kids who had never played the game, let alone see a baseball game before. This was an interesting experience, something I became accustomed to while playing in Holland for 3 years, and going around to schools to introduce them to baseball as part of a community outreach initiative. In Holland many of the kids at least heard of baseball (or honkbal as they call it) and maybe even knew the basic premise, but in Hungary the majority of the kids you had to show how to properly throw a ball, how to hold a bat, how to stand, how to wear a glove (actually we first had to tell them what a glove and bat even were). It was a successful morning, and after 3 hours, they were ready to try a game. I pitched to them, and they had a blast. In fact, when it was time to end the session at 12:30 they begged their teachers to let them continue to play. It was pure joy. We just threw down some bases in the middle of the park and played a game of baseball, Hungarian style, the concept of base running was the hardest to grasp, as the youngsters didn't really like to stop at the bases even when someone had the ball standing next to them. When you come from a country where baseball is arguably the most popular sport, you take for granted these simple nuanced rules that you are practically born knowing. I probably knew how to run the bases properly before I could walk... so it's funny and refreshing to be able to show 12 year olds the proper rules (with a translator of course). By 130 I was off to Andras' house for a quick Hungarian lunch of goulash (meat and vegetable stew), and then back to the city to for a quick coffee at my favorite cafe I have visited everytime I've been to Budapest since Crabby and I, first arrived in 2008: Castro. Then I had a few hours before my flight, so Andras picked up a guy from a nearby station, drove to an island with some open space, waited for me with the guy as I went on a 20 min conditioning sprint, then left me and this guy who didn't speak any english alone on a makeshift soccer field as I did some long-toss throwing, came back and picked us up and quickly took me to the airport where they didn't want to let me on the plane to Frankfurt with my 1 hand luggage, and backpack (as my laptop storage), everything fit into the little compartment measurer-thingy and I tried to explain I had no issues coming in. They were real jerks about it, and even made me wait until everyone boarded the plane (thus ensuring almost all the overhead bins would be full) and watched me show them that my backpack fit securely and neatly under the seat in front of me - which it did and which I said it did before boarding of course. Ugh. Always something when I travel... In Frankfurt they tried to say the same thing, before I had to show them that I just had come on a flight with these smalls bags from Budapest, so that really wasn't going to work... They didn't give me AS MUCH as a hassle. By the time I arrived in Hamburg around midnight, I realized I had about 36 hours until my criminal law exam. After a long practice on Thursday, and the exam on Friday, we had 2 games on Saturday in the middle of nowhere Germany that did not go very well for me. We played the last place team, and once again were in a slugfest for Game 1, we ended up winning 14-6. It looked like we were going to 10 run them after 7 innings to end the game sooner, so I got ready to pitch Game 2 in about the 6th inning. Of course the other boys scored 3 in the bottom frame so we had to play all 9, which meant that I was getting ready, not getting ready, getting ready and then not getting ready. I pitched a forgettable 5 innings. Filled with some good pitches, some bad pitches, and a lot of pitches that were borderline. Working the inside corner on their all right handed lineup due to the 275 foot right field fence, and the 20mph gusts of wind blowing straight in from left field, I really didn't get any swings and misses or swing attempts in the first place. The umpire called about 30% of my pitches strikes as I was seemingly on a full count with everyone. Their 2 american hitters stacked at the top of their lineup accounted for most of the damage driving in and scoring all 4. I departed the game and we were behind just 4-3 before they got to our bullpen in an 8 run 6th inning. We actually got our asses handed to us 14-4 in 7. After a day off yesterday where nothing was open because of the Easter holiday (technically nothing was open Friday and today, Monday, either) it's back to studying for Crim Law exam part 2, in which I have 48 hours to complete beginning in about an hour. After of which Ill be headed back to Holland (Almere, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Breda, Eindhoven, Den Haag, Enschede) for a week of scouting, baseball training, and catching up with old friends. There is the annual Queens Day celebration and then when I return to Hamburg the following week... another exam (constitutional law). Between studying for law school exams on the planes/trains, before and after games, playing and coaching and scouting... I know I'm very lucky and fortunate to have all these awesome opportunities... but it's not easy.

International Love

2011-04-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

Its really sad, you have something really special with someone, and there is no fighting, nothing that changed in the relationship, and you sit across a table in a cafe with them, after not seeing them for about 5 1/2, almost 6 months, except on Skype, and you stare into their eyes, and they stare back, and you know deep down this intense feeling of passion and romance, love and admiration, curiosity and excitement still exists between you both, because no one says a word, and yet you both keep staring, the minutes linger and drag-on, no one is going to be the first to look away, yet the person sitting across from you, she has basically just stated that she knows that we you'll never be together again because she's back with her ex-boyfriend of 5 years, and who she has known for about 12 years or so, who lives in Budapest all the time and was there when she was lonely over the winter, figuring out what to do with this love situation with an American guy who plays baseball for a living, based in Detroit, scouts all over Europe, and now has gotten a job coaching the national baseball team in her country (because of her). You tell her that you are going to be in her city, a foreign place to you, many times over the ensuing months, and it would be good to see her, do things, hang out, just be friends - because you treasure her companionship, because you just love to hang out with her, even if it's not on a romantic level - she can't understand why you are not angry that she suddenly changed her mind (or just ran away from something hard for something easy) and decided to commit back to her ex at sometime in February or March. She tells you that she can't do it, and you ask her why not, especially since you are the party that has been hurt/harmed in this instance, she replies with - her boyfriend is extremely jealous and doesn't want her to see you. What can you say to this information? What can you do? Nothing, you just sit and look at her, and she gazes back - and that connection you felt in October in Detroit, last July in Budapest, in August 2009 in Amsterdam, and in July of that year in Rimini Italy - it comes rushing back, you don't say anything because you know she feels it too, but what can you do? You play baseball in Hamburg, you go to law school in Detroit, and you are about to get this job scouting around Europe, all over Europe - Italy, Spain, Netherlands... but you know, deep down, this girl is as perfect match as they come, I mean why else would both of you guys try to attempt this impossible thing of being together worlds and cultures apart, so many hours and time zones away... you know, because she has said, if you were there in Budapest during the winter, obviously she would have never gotten back with her ex, and you guys would be together now, but she was lonely, she rekindled something and now this is what she wants... someone who is so insecure they forbid her from doing what she wants to do, living her life... and this strong minded, independent thinking, and intelligent woman agrees to be in it. You know other things - because you know her family a bit, and asked someone close to her, for some guidance while you are in this foreign culture and land... without even bringing up the subject she interjected over coffee that your girl was scared, she pretty much ran away from the tough decision she faced to have something stable and secure there all the time for her. Knowing this information, what can you say? What can you offer? What can you do? Except gaze back, reminisce about the past months and recall every waking and non-waking moment together, how special it was, how you even decided to get a job in her country, a country where you have zero connections to, in your professional field - and realize that nothing has changed for you and that's what hurts most, because this happens sometimes in your life - because of your goals, because of your talents, because of your character... you try so hard, especially when you want something so bad and when it comes to the reciprocity from others, because of the nature of your lifestyle or societal pressure in the 21st century on women and relationships, you end up back to square 1. Alone in your room in Hamburg, writing emails about your most recent and greatest, lost love, and wondering how it could have went wrong and what you could have done to fix it. Thus is the life of an international baseball vagabond. Eventually you go out and pitch in 48 hours, shrug it off, enjoy your teammates company, take some law school exams, go scout for MLB, meet other women and experience the same of what you always have... and the question lingers in the back of your mind, the feeling never really goes away, the minutes that felt like hours that was really a few years, sitting in a sunlit and smoke-filled cafe called Castro, a few hours before boarding a plane back to your crazy professional baseball life in Hamburg and gazing into those complex and perplexing green eyes.... wondering if you'll ever be able to see them in that light again.

Game 2 vs. Bonn

2011-04-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

I hate making excuses. Since I was a youngster, my father and grandfather both taught me that making excuses is not tolerated in our family or in baseball. I learned this quickly. As a coach/player/scout, I'm definitely not one to tolerate them from younger teammates or players I coach or end up scouting. Things happen in baseball, you give up hits - you give up runs as a pitcher. As a batter you strike out, you're picked off. You win, you lose and sometimes it rains (to quote the great Nuke Laloosh/Crash Davis)... That being said, this past Saturday's game can only be summarized as excuse city. We lost game 2, my start, 13-3, and for that I can start the list here:
1. I didn't pitch well. I said to the team after the game that the loss was on me, of course, it's a team game and no one was buying that, but had I pitched like I threw last year in Bonn (8 2/3 of 1 earned run) we would have won. And the funny thing is I actually felt that this year's Bonn's lineup was nearly as dangerous as last years.
2. They're offense was actually good. They put 6 runs up in the first inning on our very good other "foreign" starter Max in Game 1. I say "foreign" because Max, as previously mentioned on this blog is an American who played college ball at Harvard, and summer college league with me in Virigina in 2005, but has a greek passport so can pitch Game 1 (the EU/German pitcher game)... and their offense did a good job when I was getting ahead in counts of 0-2 and 1-2 and fighting me off, making me throw a lot of pitches and putting balls into play.
3. I didn't finish guys off. When you get batters 0-2 and 1-2 you need your put away pitch to put guys away and I just didn't do that, at all. Granted it's the 2nd game of the season without pitching spring training for me, so I have room to work on this and grow but obviously with every game being important in the regular season, I expect to be sharper.
4. Still learning my catcher and my catcher still learning me. Jakub Voljak is the catcher for the Czech National team and an awesome receiver but we've only been battery mates for about 6 innings so far and I was half asleep the week before so we really didn't click this game. Everything was out of synch with the pitch calling, partly because he hasn't entirely grasped my repitoire and what pitches I can command and in what counts I like to throw them. He also just caught the previous game, all 10 innings (more on that later) and was run over in the first inning, so you can't blame him for being tired and a bit out of it, I know I couldn't do it, but hey that's why I'm a pitcher :)
5. The previous game. We managed to win a thrilling comeback 11-10 in 10 innings and pretty much used up all of our energy doing that. We just came out flat as a team, didn't score runs, didn't play good defense, and obviously (me) not pitching well... maybe beceause
6. The previous game. I have a set routine I like to do warming up before the game, and I was set to go and then we went into extra innings. That's really no excuse but it certainly could have played a factor in my mental preparation.
7. Red bull. Thus by the time I drank the red bull in the 8th inning - the extra innings kinda caffine crashed me by the 3rd and in the 4th is when I really started laboring and ended up throwing about 30 pitches that inning. Didn't make it to the 5th already down 5-1 or so.
8. Con Law paper. Have I mentioned don't do law school while trying to play baseball professionally overseas? Had this con law paper hanging over my head, and it still wasn't done with about 48 hours before it was due... and on top of that...
9. Was flying at 630 AM to Budapest for my first day of coaching with the Hungarian national team. Worry abut getting to sleep at a decent hour so I could wake at 5 AM, getting the paper done before that point, coaching this team for the first time, and seeing the girl in Budapest for the first time in 6 months...
10. Early season cold/stiff/soreness.... Thanks Detroit winter. Only my 4th or 5th time outside on a mound, so still need to build up mechanics/arm strength, etc.
11. Harry Potter. It was one of those unusual times in my baseball career where I couldn't "clear the mechanism" in the words of the great (and imaginary) Billy Chappel from For Love of the Game. I wear glasses when I pitch, ever since I learned in 2007 that the reason I couldn't see the catcher's signs at night in Israel wasn't because of the shadows, but my blurry vision for small objects at the 60 foot distance from the pitching mound to home plate. Anyways, Bonn was all over me calling me Harry Potter, and lame jokes from the movies, which actually I take as a compliment, because doesn't Harry Potter crush his more powerful and elder opponents? I digress, the fact that I could hear their bench when I was on the mound, and couldn't hear my own guys supporting me, was a bit frustrating. You can't get frustrated when you're doing something you love and you don't know how many more times you'll be able to do it... So just laugh it off, lock in on your target and make your pitch. Easier said then done in the moment, clearly.
12. Anyways, the comeback win in Game 1 was great, but we have to figure out a way to make this Game 2 thing work. Now off to Budapest in a few hours....

Interview with Mister-Baseball

2011-04-14T03:43:00.001-07:00

Last month I sat down with Mister-Baseball (okay, I was sitting and talking with reporter/writer/player/friend Ty Eriksen on skype, but you get the point) ... to talk about everything baseball in Europe and my recent signing with HSV Stealers:

Mar '1117

Interview Justin Prinstein of the HSV Stealers

Interviews, News - German Baseball Leagues, Other European CountriesNo Comments

Ty Eriksen talked to Justin Prinstein for Mister-Baseball.com. The right-hander is coming back for a full season with the HSV Stealers. He also will serve as pitching coach for the Hungarian National Team and will scout European prospects this year.

Ty Eriksen: Justin, news is out that you’re returning to Hamburg for your 5th season in Europe. Can you tell us how you got into baseball in Europe to begin with?

Justin Prinstein: I got into the whole European baseball thing by sheer coincidence. Before my senior season at George Washington University I felt that I may have some draft possibilities if I put together a good season. I ran into our former volunteer assistant coach from the previous season who had gone over to play and coach in Holland. He gave me his number and told me if the draft didn’t work out to give him a call. I didn’t get any serious consideration to be drafted because I’m undersized for a RHP. While trying to hook on with an independent team I got in touch with Brad and he put me in touch with his agent who specialized in recruiting Americans to Europe. I got offers in winter 2006 from teams in Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, England, and Belgium. I ended up choosing the Hoboken Pioneers in the Belgium first league, their pitcher the year before was Leon Boyd who had a great season and went right into the Dutch Head Class, which became my goal from the beginning – to be a foreign player in the Dutch Head Class,

Ty Eriksen: Tell us about your different stops and your journey through the leagues in Europe:

Justin M. Prinstein: Starting in Belgium in 2007, Hoboken release me after only 4 weeks even though I pitched a no-hitter and a one-hitter in my two first regular season starts. It was my first pro ball job and I was already out, and I felt like that could have been the end of my career right there. A team in the Belgium league (who I no-hit) tried to sign me but Hoboken blocked any move. I had the options of trying my luck at independent ball or signing with the upstart professional league in Israel that was getting a lot of publicity. In May I heard that the Israel Baseball League offer was still open, and it turned out to be a great experience. The league had a lot of talent, Tel Aviv was an awesome city to live in and I ended up being an All-Star pitcher for my team.

I had the opportunity to go down to Adelaide, Australia, to pitch for 3 months in winter of 2007/08. I decided to go straight back to Holland to play in 2008 because I thought it would give me the best chance of reaching my goal of pitching in the Dutch Head Class. I didn’t know much about the Netherlands baseball but I took a chance on a team in the Dutch First Division (2nd league) – Tex Town Tigers. I had a great season and a wonderful experience in Holland – I really took to the culture and I established myself as a dominant pitcher and DH. The Almere Magpies, demoted from the Dutch Head Class and looking to get back, they signed me for the 2009 season. We had one of the greatest teams I had ever been around, losing maybe 3 times all year . We faced off against RCH in the promotion/relegation series, and in the 5th game I came out of the bullpen, down 2 runs and pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball to get the win that gave us a promotion into the Dutch Head Class. I came back to Almere the following season, 2010, after playing the winter in Perth Australia. It was a great experience, but the team was bankrupt and both of us foreign players left. I had a great opportunity to finish the season in the German Bundesliga season with the HSV Stealers in Hamburg. I pitched the best I had all year throwing 2 complete games and helping them get into the playoffs and I recently resigned with them for this upcoming season.

Ty Eriksen: You’ve seen a lot of baseball from all over the continent, what is your view of the talent level in Europe?

Justin M. Prinstein: It’s a difficult question. It’s kind of all over the place… there’s no one consistent level where you can say – “Belgium is like college ball or Holland that’s like AA.” I had teammates in Belgium that would have been starters on my D1 college team, on the same team a young 15 year old kid was our starting Right Fielder and was signed by the Mets the following year. We also had guys on that team who probably couldn’t play on my varsity high school team. I think that dichotomy makes things very interesting in Europe. At its best – as the Dutch, Italian and German national teams have proven – they compete with Major League caliber players, and yet I always feel that in team sports, especially in baseball, you are only as good as your weakest link. When you get into the individual leagues sometimes that weakest or least talented player is a kid, 16 years old, because European teams struggle to get numbers sometimes, the kid is talented enough and playing on a top European team with guys twice his age. I thought that in my 3 years in Holland, between the First Division and Head Class – the level of baseball fell somewhere between college ball and low level minor leagues, even independent ball at best. My two seasons with Almere, I could easily place some of our guys on a good college team or some lower level of pro ball. Facing DOOR Neptunus, Dutch Head Class champions last year, I thought was one of the best hitting lineups I had ever seen, and they could have definitely been competitive, stacked with ex minor league and major league guys, in pro ball in the States.

As a scout I’ve seen a lot of young talented prospects throughout the various countries, but these days those guys are signing to play in the States which brings down the talent level of the leagues a lot, however those spots are being filled by foreigners, Americans like myself, Latin Americans, Australians, Canadians: guys with some great experience. Eventually the talent ends up back in Europe at some point and those experiences in pro ball infuse the league with more well rounded players that European leagues probably lacked a few decades ago.

Ty Eriksen: Between Hamburg, Hungary, and MLB, tell us about your commitments for the coming season:

Justin M. Prinstein: I’m really excited for this year. I’ll be the game 2 (foreigner game) pitcher for HSV Stealers in the German Bundesliga. We had a good finish to last season in the North Division, sneaking into the playoffs. We’re shooting for first place with the team GM Sven Huhnholz and Manager Jens Hawlitzky built this off-season. I’ll probably do some clinics and youth trainings in Hamburg while I’m in town.

I was also recently named Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach of the Hungarian National team that will be competing in the European Championships Qualifier this July in Barcelona, and I will be travelling to Hungary every month to do training with the national team in preparation for the tournament. Part of my role is actively recruiting players with Hungarian ancestry in the States, and I hope that I will be able to provide the Hungarian national team and the region with valuable baseball instruction and resources from my experiences for the years to come.

For the last two years I was working as a scout for the Houston Astros in the Netherlands. In going to play in Germany this year I had to leave the major recruiting ground of Holland, but allowed me to look at a more expanded scouting role in Europe with an MLB team that I am currently in the interview process with. I’ve also been assisting the Almere Magpies on management/personnel/sponsorship decisions and will be visiting Holland quite often to scout and look forward to helping out at Almere as much as time will allow.

Lastly, I’m very excited to play this year with a sponsorship from 3n2 Baseball company, they’re outfitting me with some awesome products including their cleats/turfs/running shoes and they’re hoping that they can enter the European market.

Ty Eriksen: You’ve been involved in the full range of the business side of baseball, what do you see as the biggest barrier for US companies like 3n2 when looking at the European Market?

Justin M. Prinstein: Shipping costs. Whether the American company has a distributor (like Covee or Sidney de Jong’s company in Holland), or if they are just looking to sell through their own website and ship themselves, there has to be enough demand that they can ship over in bulk. A small company like 3n2 or Sam Bat make such good niche products that they can be a bit more expensive, especially to ship. Once they have the definite demand for their products it will be much easier to send over in bulk or work out a distributor partner. I the mean time, they talk to top players and especially foreign players because of the attention, and get their name and product out into the market through this attention.

Ty Eriksen: What has been your best experience over the years in Europe?

Justin M. Prinstein: The girls. Just kidding, the whole experience is pretty amazing – learning new languages, new cultures, seeing great cities and the lasting friendships with teammates and other people you meet along the way. Without a doubt, being the winning pitcher in the Dutch First Division championship with Almere in 2009 against PSV-Eindhoven, and then a few weeks later winning the decisive Game 5 of the Dutch Head Class promotion series, just pitching on adrenaline and fumes. Proving that I could be “the foreign ace” on the highest level. I’ve been fortunate to be in the position to train a lot of great young players, and it’s been really fulfilling to see a lot of them become really good ballplayers over the years – from Tex Town to Scimitars Academy to Almere, I’ve worked with hundreds of Dutch youth players … and I get a lot of satisfaction sharing my baseball knowledge and helping young players.

Ty Eriksen: How long do you see yourself staying involved in European baseball

Justin M. Prinstein: After graduating from GWU in 2006, my goals were to play professional baseball and eventually work in government. I had never been to Europe, let alone outside of North America. Now, heading into my 5th year, I can’t foresee a time not involved. Either playing, coaching, scouting, or administrative/consulting level. I know I have a few good years left to play, but I also really look forward to my post-career with scouting/coaching and finishing up my law degree. I like to live by the motto that if you want something you have the ability to make it happen, I hope that I can continue to be involved with European baseball as long as others (teams, MLB, etc.) want me to be involved here.
In my wildest dreams I never really imagined these opportunities happening and you can’t plan for it – you can only just hang on tight and go along for the ride while it lasts.

Ty Eriksen: Any last thoughts or comments?

Justin M. Prinstein: I’m looking forward to this season with my teammates at HSV, and I appreciate the support of my family and friends along the way. TT, and my law school, University of Detroit Mercy, for allowing me to work towards my degree while I continue my professional baseball career. I do a bit of blogging on www.justprin.blogspot.com about my experiences along the way. Thanks to Mister-Baseball, its a great service for baseball in Europe, and you for this interview, I appreciate your time.

Mister-Baseball thanks Ty Eriksen and Justin Prinstein for the interview.

First Game

2011-04-13T01:44:00.001-07:00

WARNING: This account may have a few inaccuracies. I was two days off the plane from Detroit, in which I had about 20 minutes of sleep in total. So after my brief home opener games account, I’ve included some other accounts from around the internet.

I remember we won the first game 11-10, but we had to use a lot of our relief pitchers for that. So I went into the second game as the starting pitcher and I told our manager Jens that I could probably go about 75 pitches before I would hit bad fatigue. We scored one unearned run in the first inning off of Dortmund’s American pitcher who led the German Bundesliga in strikeouts last year. We didn’t score again. I actually was pitching a “no-no” going through 4 innings, a shutout through 5, and entered the 6^th inning leading 1-0, but was at 75 pitches. I told Jens I was pretty much done but he asked me to give him 1 more to help make the game shorter for our bullpen. I got 2 outs, but also had 2 guys on, when their #7 hitter, a lefty, who had 2 strikes on him took a low-and-away change-up that he Juuuust made contact with, and floated the ball just over our SS. The run that came around from 2^nd base was actually tagged out on his back at the plate, but the umpire standing on the other side of the plate (out of position) didn’t see this and called him safe. Tie game. Next guy got a single up the middle and they went up by 1. I was done and we lost 3-1 eventually.

Impressions? Don’t pitch within 48 hours of a plane ride of 8 hours without sleep and if you do, don’t go past the 5^th inning…

FROM Mister-Baseball.com The HSV Stealers and the Dortmund Wanderers settled for a split on Sunday. Game one was dominated by both offenses. The Stealers used a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh for the fourth lead change in the game and the 11-10 win. Max Warren had the decisive hit with a two-out RBI single. He also got the win in relief. Jakub Vojak hit a three-run homerun for Hamburg. Marco Dietschtook the loss. In the second game Matt Kemp (W 2-0) out-dueled Justin Prinstein (L 0-1) to lead the Wanderers to a 3-1 win. Daniel Groer had the big hit of the game with a two-run single in the sixth.

Standings North

#	Team	W	L	R+	R-	.pct	GB	Streak
1	Pulheim Gophers	4	0	39	12	1.000	0	W4
2	Paderborn Untouchables	3	0	21	4	1.000	0.5	W3
3	Dortmund Wanderers	2	2	32	20	.500	2	W1
4	Solingen Alligators	2	2	32	33	.500	2	L1
5	HSV Stealers	2	2	29	30	.500	2	L1
6	Bonn Capitals	1	2	17	21	.333	2.5	W1
7	Berlin Sluggers	1	3	12	35	.250	3	L3
8	Dohren Wild Farmers	0	4	11	38	.000	4	L4

This is funny because it's from our website, www.stealers.de, which is in German, but I translated it in google, so it may not be a perfect summary in English, but a bit more detail from Mr. Kujoth.

From www.stealers.de

HSV Stealers I also against Dortmund with split 1:3 11:10

Posted by: Michael Kujoth

Monday, 11 April 2011 at 12:59 clock

To Match the start of the Bundesliga season, the baseball team win the HSV a renewed comeback win in game one defeat and the Dortmund Wanderers 11:10. In the following section, the thieves are, however, no remedy against a good mood and Matt Kemp are subject to 1:3.

Game 1: home run of Vojak, four points in the seventh inning for the second win of the season

An offensive slugfest with many points and multiple leadership changes were the spectators at the Hamburg Langenhorst in the first game of the day to see. Because of the injury-induced loss of René Herlitzius Daniel Harms started on the part of the Stealers, his opposite was Dennis Stechmann. Harms was struggling with control problems at the start and had already in the second inning to walk, hit by pitch, and a Doublesteal Groundout make the first point. After he began the next inning with two walks, he had to vacate the mound for his brother Eric. This could free himself while in the inning, but not before Alyosha Heller Runner by both single for a 3-0 lead had brought home. In a direct lookup turned the spot-free by then-offensive Stealers it to. Bases loaded at the first two runs of Thomas Ried scort agent sacrifice fly and the subsequent error of the Dortmund Center fielder Elliot Biddle. Sam Boone's Basehit worried then the short-term balance before Catcher Jakub Vojak the leather ball balanced on a 3-run home run and the first guide of the Stealers on the Left Field fence.

In section four game both teams took one further run on home plate and one inning later, the Dortmund turned their hand to score. RBI singles by Tobi Willach, Jovert Bolze, Roy Wescott and Biddle and a Passed Ball brought the score to 9:7 in front. From the sixth inning Max Warren took over the work on the mound for the Stealers, and sent back the first three by strikeout batter into the dugout, had to take part in the seventh game, however, a RBI-triple by Wesche for Dortmund 10:7 leadership. In the lower half of the inning put the HSV baseball but then again to strike back at. Michael Fliedner's double brought against the new pitcher Marco Dietsch connection point home and transported by Phillip Soosten to third base, from where he scored the equalizer on Jerome Rousseau's sacrifice fly.Warren perfected with his two-out RBI single gave the comeback and the Stealers 11:10-a leadership that would also represent the final score. The last six Dortmund beat people he sat with three strike outs and ground on the bench for the second win of the season to secure.

Game 2: Kemp leads Dortmund to Split

The second game of the Bundesliga Double headers are told usually fast and often follow a similar pattern: strong, mostly American pitching dominated along with the defensive series, a points poor game, and at the end wins the team that can at the right moment to land the decisive blows. On Sunday came the team from Dortmund.

Supported by an error of the Short Stops the Stealers were able to score in the first inning but already a point against Matt Kemp. On the remaining eight innings but not a single thief reached over the home plate, only one made it to the rest of the game play on the third base.And yet it looked like the beginning, as if the brief 1-0 lead enough for a double victory. Even for the Stealers a capable pitcher stood on the mound. Justin Prinstein, arrived just in time for the game in Germany, gave his hand, the Wanderers on a short leash and allowed the first five innings of no points. it also played a key role Catcher Vojak, the three potential base-stealer with his throwing arm in each case turned into an out. In the sixth game section Prinstein then showed signs of fatigue, however slight, that exploit the Dortmund consistently. In the case of two occupied by Biddle and Trevor Howell and Double Walk the Bases, Groer and Daniel took care line drive into right field for the equalizer. Stechmann then brought with his Bloop single to the shortstop to make it 2-1 to the Wanderers home. In the last game section presented Biddles RBI single against the return to the position of the pitcher's substitute Warren ago the 3-1 final score.

"The team, just as it did last week, showed good morale. In the first game we have never let us irritate the residues of us, and fought back into the game," summed up Coach Jens Hawlitzky at the end of the day. Also in relation to the second lot was the Stealers-Head Coach make any negative aspects about the performance of his team. "Matt Kemp is one of the better pitchers in the Bundesliga and has now thrown a good game. Two, three balls are more or less a gap in the field and the game is not 1:3, but from 3-1.'s How it is sometimes in baseball. "

For the next Saturday held home games against the Bonn Capitals should Hawlitzky outfielder Chris Schoettler available again. Rene Herlitzius but will be out due to a calf injury even longer. The Capitals could also gain a win on Sunday against the division of Solingen Alligators, after they lost in the previous week at the Paderborn Untouchables. remain leaders of the First Bundesliga Nord Pulheim the Gophers, who are after two victories against the Berlin Sluggers unbeaten this season.

On my way...

2011-04-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

… still learning how to make that way.

Out of this world like Mars

When I spit these Bars

Come F*** with these Stars

Up in luxury cars….

Cruising on the train from Amsterdam to Hamburg. A little later than expected. I guess no matter how many times you do this (5 and counting in Europe, plus all those others in Australia) even the best laid plans of mice and men go awry.

I’m a veteran. I can pack for 5 months in less than an hour. I can pack an entire life, and 5 years of things into two bags… I thought I had it figured it out.

Let’s backtrack. I was flying into Amsterdam Thursday night departing from Detroit at 955PM, on my favorite airlines, my frequent flyer program, the one and only DELTA. I show up about 3 hours early (learned some lessons along the way – like in 2007 when I showed up just 2 hours before my flight to Brussels at the DC airport and went through the wrong line (Domestic) in the wrong Airlines (US AIRWAYS instead of UNITED) had me sprinting to my gate and barely making it as the door was closing, my luggage – yeah that showed up a week later in Belgium. So of course I didn’t fly enough this year and lost my Medallion Delta Sky Miles status which means that even though I had 2 bags under 70lbs from Amsterdam to Detroit in August, now on basically the same flight back, 6 months later, I can only have up to 50lbs and one of the bags is charged. A small hitch, or so I thought.

Bumpy plane rides happen. It’s only a 7.5 hour journey, so I took a sleeping pill 30 min prior to take off to ensure about 6.5 to 7 hours of rest, so I could go on the Europe time and start getting my body adjusted to be ready to pitch in less than 3 days. About 30 min into the flight, even though I told the Air Hostess not to wake me for food, in a foggy-like state she still brought something, which I don’t remember eating but when she came by to pick up the food tray (waking me in about 20 min) there appeared to be some sort of bread and rice consumed, which I might still be sick from 36 hours later. From that point on I might have slept a total of 20 more minutes in the next 6 hours. I even tried another whole sleeping pill, and 2.5 hours into the flight, took another half. So that’s 2.5 sleeping pills in about 3 hours. The people behind me were clearly not interested in sleeping or getting on Europe time. They had the lights on, moved about the cabin, and chatted the entire trip. I looked for an empty seat to sprawl out on. Oh traveling. Sometimes…

So Joey picks me up at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam around 1230 in the afternoon. I’m thinking we’ll get some lunch, see my old teammates and good friends from Almere, maybe have dinner with this beautiful girl I’ve had a crush on for 2 years and then head off to Hamburg at 859 AM via Amsterdam Central. Met up with one of my best mates, Ben Merritt, my SS last year in Perth Australia, who I hooked up with the Almere job this year, and his girlfriend Caitlin. Sten, our ace pitcher and my great friend for the past two years at Almere, came along as well. But coordinating all these people, we didn’t eat until about 4. I guess that was my breakfast. Dutch hamburger and fries at my favorite restaurant at the Spui (see photo above)

Then this is where things get messy. I originally thought I should get a hotel by central station so I could be close to the station to get up in the morning with all my stuff…

Sten, however, kindly offered me to stay at his place the night. Half in a daze, jet lagged, unslept, I just said “yeah sure”… So Joey takes me, Ben, Caitlin, and another Almere guy Daan over to Sten’s place, which was a fair bit aways from Central Station, it’s alright, I thought, I’ll just get a cab in the morning, not a big worry. Well, we arrived to Sten’s place and it was the steepest flight of stairs I had ever seen. 4 flights up, he had this small apartment. We logged 2 – 55lb bulky bags up this thing. I’m a pro athlete but after a flight and not sleeping, I was panting like a dead tired dog on a hot august day. Tongue out and everything. That was the point where I strongly considered going to a hotel right then and there, but the ouwes (old men from Amsterdam) overrode my jet lagged confused state. Joey had to take the full car back to Almere anyways, so I agreed to stay at Sten’s. Fast forward about 12 hours. Its 5 AM, Sten is snoring like a slowly erupting volcano, and I honestly thought he was going to choke on his nose. I haven’t slept a wink, didn’t really eat dinner or lunch. And I don’t think having some wine was a good idea when I had the 2.5 sleeping pills a few hours earlier (although it seemed like days). As you guessed I could have called a taxi right there, woken Sten up, went to the train station and just waited for my train (for a ticket I purchased 3 weeks ago for 36 euros). Instead, I finally felll asleep around 6. Woke up around 1130 in a semi-panic. Ended up leaving one of my big bags at Sten’s, and jumped in a taxi to central station. A new ticket (90 euros) some albert heijn Kaiser Broodjes and Aquarias Orange drink, I’m about 200 euros lighter from one day… on my way to Hamburg finally.

Amsterdam.

Sten.

Traveling.

They’ll get you everytime.

First game in less than 24 hours. Can’t wait.

Season Preview from Mister-Baseball

2011-04-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.mister-baseball.com/2011-preview-german-baseballbundesliga-north/

Hamburg HSV Stealers (12-16)

The Stealers made a dramatic push into the playoffs over the final weeks of last season, jumping from 7th to 4th place over two weeks. They relied heavily on a team effort throughout the year, with seven players picking up at least 10 innings pitched, and six players scoring at least 10 runs; although they were one of the worst hitting teams in the league. Coach Jens Hawlitzky was busy in the offseason, adding key pieces to ensure a return trip to the playoffs. Catcher Jakub Vojak had an outstanding season for Saarlouis last year and fills the shoes of the departed Patrick Maat. Pitcher Rene Herlitzius went 5-0 for Regensburg and adds a bat to the lineup. American utility man Max Warren brings his Greek passport with him and adds important depth in the bullpen and infield, and SS Sam Boone will be a much-needed glove for the team that lead the league in errors. Also announced was the return of RHP Justin Prinstien, who pitched two complete games for HSV with a 0.51 ERA to end the season. Top players from last year’s team Daniel Harms (4.89 ERA) and Philipp von Soosten (.820 OPS) will be looking forward to the help this season, and depending on how all the new pieces are able to fit together, don’t be surprised to see Hawlitzky’s squad on top of the standings through the season.

Last week of my OP Pre-Season

2011-04-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

6 Things:

1. What does OP stand for?
OP stands for "Own-Program." I heard it for the first time probably when I was playing baseball at George Washington and one of our best pitchers, Lutz, would just do his own thing and get away with it. When I was playing for Tex Town Tigers in 2008, my manager and teammates realized that the "OP" was very positive, since my own program consisted of 2-3 times the amount of training/practice/work then what the others did, so the team practice itself did not help me since I had already done above and beyond leading up to that practice. Last winter in Perth, my pitching coach used OP as a negative connotation but I embraced it, especially when my Dutch buddy Lars came down from Holland to practice with me. Now, as I complete my personal Spring Training, or OP, I have been getting ready for the season since about Feb. 1, all on my own and with the assistance of my personal winter catcher, Pete Schneider.

2. The difficulty of throwing during the off-season in Detroit
When it comes to baseball, throughout the history of the game, there have been some very discernable facts. Baseball is a proven warm-weather sport, at its best during the summer days and nights and at its worst when muscles are tight from the cold and snow is falling enough to cover up the field. Simply stated, baseball is practically unplayable in Michigan, or anywhere up north in the U.S. or Europe during the winter months of freezing temperatures, short days and long nights. Players in the islands, down south from Florida to Texas to California can practice and play outside all year around, and that's why so may professional players come from these regions. The lovely Detroit winter isn't too helpful in producing professional baseball players, and therefore making things even more difficult to find throwing partners/places to practice my pitching or ways to incorporate long-toss and arm strengthening when there is over 2 feet of snow outside. Luckily, I met a cool dude at my law school who just loves baseball and was happy to catch for me this winter (we started the first week of February, going every other day for the first month)... however, he had work at 10AM and law school classes afterwards all day, so we could only meet at 8 AM. Every morning, I'm getting up at 645 AM, pounding a coffee and a granola bar, wading across the frozen tundra of Woodward Ave at 8 AM to go work up a sweat indoors before my body or mind is even woken up. It was not pretty, but it had to be done. We kept waiting for the weather to turn, but still in the first week of April we were throwing indoors and I only made it outside a good 4-5 times all winter, early Spring because the weather was just too cold, too snowy, too rainy... too armegeddon. It takes dedication to play this game. It takes sacrifice to play it professionally. It takes both and a lot more to continue doing it while living during the winter/off-season in Detroit, MI. And people wonder why I love Australia in the winter...

3. Opening day - fantasy baseball
Opening day was last week, and my catcher Pete couldn't throw with me because he had a fantasy baseball draft. I'm not hating on fantasy baseball, heck, I used to play it religiously - 8 teams at once when I was in high school and college. My father, original JP, initially got me into it. I made him take Mark Grace when in like the 4th round in '92, Grace had his worst year in his stellar - but non-power hitting career. I never forgave myself for that. I never got past the bias that fantasy baseball can bring, as a fan, and now as a current player (not in MLB) having played against some of these guys, it just feels weird, so I haven't done it since I began playing professionally and actually put more time and effort into my own game. It pays off. 5 years later, still going strong.

4. Red Bull vs. Coffee vs. No Caffine
Speaking of going strong... Law school can create some pretty horrible codependicies. You can call them addictions. It sounds really negative though. One such of these I picked up, coffee. I never really drank coffee in my first 24 years. I love the effects in the morning to get me going for school since my first year in 2008-2009. I kind of kicked the habit over the summer playing for Almere but by Australia in the winter and returning to Almere, I was hooked by 2010. This year I’ve been trying to quit, seemingly every week because I get these caffine crashes around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Factor that into playing baseball, you have to do some type of energy drink then before a game, and next thing you know – you’ve become a caffine fiend, crashing 2-3 times over the course of a long day at the ballpark. I had 3 days in a row last week when I kicked the coffeee. But she’s back again. Too hot, rich, and uplifting. More reliable than a girlfriend. More dangerous to my season than anything else…

5. things to do before you leave, especially in law school

Anytime you go somewhere for over 3 months, as I’ve been doing for quite some time, you just have to make a list of things to do before you go. Toiletrees and medications to get, baseball gear and sunflower seeds for teammates, cleaning up your apartment, saying goodbye to family and friends, etc. In a ball player/ law student life – the two most important things, the most time consuming and somewhat conflicual – battle each other come early April. As I crank up the weight lifting, stretching, cardio, yoga, arm exercises, abdominal workouts, and pitching practice – we are also winding down the semester in law school. Immigration Clinic – I am representing about 4 clients at once, wrting appaellete briefs for court, interviewing clients, and helping others fill out various applications. Complexities in the law. Constitutional law paper, Sports Law Seminar 40 page paper, and Criminal Law readings – and upcoming exams. The life of a pro baseball player does not juxtopose the life of a law student no matter how hard you try to make it all fit, it just won’t. Priortizing and adding another hour to each day certainly would help, but sometimes you just have to accept the inherent and constant busyness of it all, don’t give up but certainly don’t stress out, realize you’re living a fortunate lifestyle and try to make the most of it. Having done 5 exams in Almere after missing the last 6 weeks of law school in 2009, I would have to fathom that taking only two exams spread out over 2 weeks will be easier.. I hope so.

6. excitement about season & 7. chances & 8. goals for the year...

I think that anytime you’ve been doing something for the majority of your life, in this case, playing baseball organized since I was 6 years old, and unorganized (throwing a ball, swinging a bat) since I could barely walk, it becomes apart of you, ingrained for better or for worse. But like anything else in life, in large quantities, it become burdensome, mundane, and you can just get burned out. With last year’s Almere debacle, losing a lot in Western Australia, and basically having played for about 18 months straight on the road, I really needed a break. I even thought that break might become permanent. My arm was sore, my brain was craving some law school challenges, and my feet beckoned to settle a bit. I got a place in downtown Detroit, and for the first time really since before college, I felt a bit settled. I had a permanent home of my own, and a place I could always come back to that wasn’t the folks place. This excitement lasted about one month. By early October and the MLB baseball playoffs in full-swing, it had been about 2 months since I pitched those two memorable weekends for Hamburg in the Bundesliga. I was itching to get back on the diamond. Sepetmeber, October, November, December, January, February – it began to wear. I was dreaming, thinking, practicing, visualizing, ignoring, everything was baseball. The burnout was replaced pretty easily with desire to do this all again. It’s hard to say no, it’s almost impossible to turn down offers to play baseball for a living, and so I would like to say the decision was hard to retrurn, but mentally I had been thinking about it for so long. When I was down in Spring Training for the Tigers, interviewing for a position with them, it really hit me watching an early exhibition game in the Florida sun, I was going to be heading back to Europe, to live out a childhood fantasy come reality… to play baseball for money. Something I think millions of kids in America, if not all over the world, dream of doing. Maybe it was the longest layoff ever, maybe it was the freezing cold Detroit winter, maybe it was the countless indoor pitching sessions at 8 AM but I’ve never felt more excited to step on a field. At 27, you never know when it might be the last time, the things you take for granted at 22 or 23, that even then I tried so hard not to, are a lot easier to appreciate, and that’s my main goal this season. To appreciate it all. Every nuance of the game, every sacrifice bunt botched, every horrible ball-strike call, every win and every loss, every sunflower seed spit while cheering my team on, every rainy-cold-windy game you wish you could crawl up in a ball and not come out until the sun shines through, every scorching hot game that drenches your whole uniform with sweat., every ball in warmups thrown over your head that you have to give chase to, everytime the muddy 3n2 spikes have to be knocked together to get your grip and traction back, every dented and scuffed ball that remains in play, every German or English or Dutch or Spanish cry from the dugout or the fielders or the stands, every sore arm, or strained calf, or home run given up. You have to appreciate it, cherish it, remind yourself that you’re one of a lucky and fortunate few, to be able to support yourself doing something you love and that makes you happy – the good and the bad, the success and the failure – that’s baseball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And sometimes it Rains… think about that.

Goals:

I’ve never been much into putting my goals into a statistical equation. I got this perspective from my father. As much as we appreciate stats as a meaningful and essential element to understand baseball and measure success and failure, as a player, you have to put these things out of your mind. Some players are motivating by having good statistics, or the embarrassment of bad statistics, but I’ve been on both sides of that equation for so long, it doesn’t really phase me either way. I like to go into each game thinking it will be my last, and going into each inning, thinking it will be my last inning of the game, and each pitch of the inning could be my last pitch, and so therefore my goal is to throw each pitch as best as I possibly again, with the focus and fortitutde to make it successful because once it leaves my finger tips – everything, well almost everything is out of my control (except for balls hit back, bunted in front or to the right side where I need to cover first base). Personally, I would love to be recognized as the best pitcher in the country this season, but it’s a good pitcher’s league and I just want to be the best pitcher in the lifetime of me. If I do that, I’ll have success, and if I have success I think our team will. That’s how it goes as the foreign pitcher, a lot rides on your shoulders, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. HSV will be fine, I think we have a stronger team than when I came to pitch last year and help them sneak into the playoffs (4^th place)… Reinforced the pitching with Rene who is a former national team member from the best baseball club in the South of the country. My good buddy from playing summer college ball in 2005, Max Warren of Harvard University, and of the Greek National team will be another starting pitcher/relief pitcher with his EU passport he doesn’t count as a foreigner. He’s brough along a great SS, his good friend who played college ball at UMASS and recently this past winter in the Melbourne Australia league, Sam Boone. We also have a Czech national team catcher who apparently can hit like crazy, a French national team outfielder, and most of the good defense and offensive players featured on last year’s playoff team. First place is within reach, and that means anything less than playoffs will be a failure. We started last week by splitting on the road with last year’s North Division champs, perennial North powerhouse Solingen. Going into our first two home games this weekend against Dortmund, we are 1-1 and I can’t wait to get the “rock on the bump” and show ‘em what the kid from Detroit can do with a whole season.

And we're back... For Season Number 5!

2011-03-23T21:08:00.000-07:00

Finally... Spring is in the air (at least in the northern hemisphere) and with the change of season we can depend on a few certainties. The snow will melt and the weather will steadily improve (eventually). Taxes will be due (in the U.S.) and of course, the baseball season will soon begin. This means for the fifth straight spring, I am set to begin another pro season of baseball in Europe. As always, I am sending a mass email to most of my close friends, family members, colleagues, former and current professors, past and current teammates, and fans who have expressed interest in my baseball career on where I'll be playing this season and how to follow, if interested.

This email might come as a surprise to some, especially considering when I last wrote everyone in August, I was contemplating retirement and going back to Detroit to work on finishing my law degree at University of Detroit Mercy. A few weeks ago, however, in the midst of the law school semester, I re-signed with the HSV Stealers (Hamburg Germany) to play in the top league called the Bundesliga. As many of you may recall I left Almere in mid-July last season and went from the Dutch Head Class to the German Bundesliga, pitching 2 complete games in August to help HSV into the playoffs. I am set to return on April 8, and will already be pitching on Sunday April 10. The management have assembled a great team, including my friend Max Warren, a former D1 standout hitter and pitcher from Harvard, who was a teammate of mine during summer college ball in Fairfax Virginia in 2005. All the German league game action and stats can be found here (in English):
http://stats.baseball-softball.de/1bln/

A unique development to this year's baseball season will be my new job as Assistant Coach and Pitching Coach of the Hungarian National Baseball team. I made some contacts with the Hungarian Federation while visiting Budapest on vacation last summer, and was officially offered the position to work with the national team in January. My role with the Hungarian national team (made up of the best players from Hungary to compete in international competitions) won't conflict with playing for HSV in Hamburg. I will be traveling to Hungary 1-2 times a month during the Spring and Summer, culminating with a week in Barcelona Spain to compete against the national teams of Spain, Ireland, Finland, and Switzerland in the European Championships Qualifier. The Hungarian press release can be seen in English here:
http://baseball.hu/en/2011/02/gottwald-marad-es-bovul-a-stab/

Seems like yesterday when I started this mass email / blogging in 2007 to keep interested friends and family members informed of my games and stories from my first season in Belgium and Israel, especially because translating team websites and league stats weren't as easy to do as they are today with the assistance of devices like Google Translate. Since that time, European leagues have also seen a dramatic increase of coverage with websites in English like www.mister-baseball.com, a very comprehensive domain that covers everything baseball in Europe. However, I will still keep the blog going strong because sometimes interesting stories from the travels and game are nice to write about from a personal perspective. A few years ago we tried an actual website, but my website maintenance skills pale in comparison to my pitching skills, so I stuck with the blog until this past off-season when my sister, Rachel, recommended to utilize facebook, as almost everyone in the world (other than China and some Eskimos) are now on the social network. The facebook athlete page, will do the best job of syncing all the various game recaps, news from the Europe, updates, and my blog posts that I recommend you visit here and add it to your favorite pages:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justin-Prinstein/159331680763120

Last week I was interviewed about my experiences in Europe by Ty Eriksen for Mister-Baseball and that can be viewed here:

http://www.mister-baseball.com/interview-justin-prinstein-hsv-stealers/

Finally, I am being sponsored this season by this great new baseball company 3n2, that specialize in cleats/shoes and apparel.
Check them out here: www.3n2sports.com

The Almere Divorice (the real story)

2010-08-02T02:34:00.000-07:00

In 2008, while playing for Tex Town Tigers in the Dutch First Division I had an outstanding year. During the year, as a DH I hit .411 and slugged .589 and had a .533 On-Base Percentage, while striking out only 3 times all year in 101 at bats. I also paced the team as the #1 starting pitcher, pitching 117 1/3 innings, striking out 100 batters and averaging 6.9 innings per start, I threw 4 complete games, 1 shutout and had a 3.8 E.R.A. in 17 starts. As the pitching coach I also helped take a team that finished 11th out of 12 the prior year, to the middle of the pack and we were competitive against even the strongest First Division clubs including recently demoted from the Dutch Head Class, Almere Magpies. Against Almere I pitched 9 innings and giving up just 1 earned run in an extra innings loss, then followed up the performance by going 3 for 4 with a double and home run at the plate the following game against them. This was enough to warrant serious interest from Almere and over the winter they made me an offer with the goal in mind to promote back to the Head Class for the 2009 Season. When I arrived in Almere things were very disorganized and I started the year living in the attic/laundry room in a student house with three 18-year old students who partied late until the night. I slept on a bed no bigger than a small couch and did not have the necessary living environment for a professional athlete. The team moved me to a new house after a couple of weeks and I stayed in a small room in the house of a couple my age who supported the Almere'90 baseball club. It went very well but there was definitely a lack of privacy for a 25 year old male and when it came time to renegotiate after the season I made the living arrangements the number one point. The 2009 season with Almere was nothing sort of magical. We started the season on a 16 game winning streak and only lost 3 games during the entire regular season. I started the year as the closer converting every save chance successfully, then moved into a long relief role when our young starting pitcher who was pitching for the national team, Jim Ploeger, went down for the season with an injury. After the summer stop, I moved into the starting rotation and was the starting pitcher in the first game of the playoffs against PSV when we clinched the First Division Championship with a 7-3 victory in mid-August. I finished the regular season with 74 1/3 innings pitched, in 20 appearances and 5 starts. I had a won-loss record of 7-0 with 3 saves. I struck out 54 batters, gave up 52 hits and had an E.R.A. of 2.30 with an opposing batting average of .192. We earned the right to play against the last place team from the Head Class, RCH, in a 5-game promotion/degradation series after the Dutch Baseball governing body ruled that despite some financial woes the series should proceed even if Almere was not in a situation to actually promote. The 5 game series was to take place over 5 days, however, which made us a long shot, having only 2 starting pitchers and 2 able bodied relievers against RCH's pitching staff of over 10 pitchers. I started Game 2 and out-pitched RCH's foreign pitcher, leaving the game in the 7th inning with 2 runners on base and a 5-3 lead. The bullpen blew the lead and the series was tied 1-1. The next game, the following day, was rained out after 3 innings, and I was asked to start Game 3 (on 1 day rest after over 110 pitches) and did not make it out of the 2nd inning. We won Game 4 the following day to even the series at 2 games a piece and force a decisive Game 5 at Home. I came out of the bullpen in the 3rd inning, trailing 3 to 1, and pitched 6 innings in relief again on one day of rest, while holding RCH to just one run, we took the lead for good in the 7th inning and hung on to win 5-4 and clinch the promotion series. There was still one last hurdle to promote to the Head Class and Almere had to plead its case to the KNBSB that it had proper finances in place to play the 2010 season in the Head Class. Because the promotion series went far into September I was unable to return to Detroit, Michigan to begin my 2nd year of law school, so instead of just taking the semester off, I chose to play winter ball in Perth, Australia to prepare for a possible opportunity to play Head Class with Almere. It isn't very often that a player, like myself, a foreigner with no U.S. pro ball experience gets the chance to be a Head Class import, in fact, Almere's previous import was Ivan Coffie, a former Major Leaguer. When I received word in late October , while in Australia, that Almere was choosing to bring me back for another season after they successfully won their chance to play in the Head Class I was elated. In negotiating my return, I agreed to the same payment (no raise even though I was the winning pitcher in the decisive game to promote) and the only thing I harped upon in my return was that proper and adequate housing was provided. I was even successful in recruiting a phenomenal shortstop, Mitch Graham, an Australian born former Philadelphia Phillie minor leaguer, who was in the Australian national team selection, to come to Almere as our additional import. We were given our contract during November, which included the standard return flights, proper transportation, housing costs, meals at the club to go along with our decent salary even though we were the most underpaid foreigners in the Head Class. When we arrived at the end of March there were problems from the start. The house that Almere provided was nice, but only with 2 livable rooms, and in order to cut costs, the organization decided to place an American softball pitcher in the house. This was troubling because for an entire month, Mitch and I had to alternate sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor because there was not enough room in the house for everyone. After a few weeks it became a bit uncomfortable... we were cramped, every night one of us was awaken when our third housemate would come in the house and walk over us to get to the stairs, even the night before games, and we repeatedly requested and were told that we had to deal with it and reach a solution within the house. No one making decisions at the club had ever looked at the house or been inside long enough to realize it was not made for 3 foreigners to live in simultaneously so our requests went ungranted. There was even a confrontation during this time with our manager during a conversation regarding the sleeping/living arrangment he actually pointed at me (in front of Mitch) and said for the rest of the week I should "sleep on the floor because I'm only a pitcher and Mitch is more important (as the everyday shortstop)." We couldn't believe our ears. This guy wasn't kidding. Who says that to your #1 starting pitcher, a foriegner, and after all the guy who got you into the Head Class by winning the championship last year???
By our third week there we had to make a stand because the resolution was not in sight. We decided that we would no longer do training/coaching for younger players until there was a solution on the living arrangements. This actually brought about some action, but after we spoke up on a Monday and were assured that third person would be moved by Wednesday, then again by Friday, then again after the weekend, it was unfulfilled promises and our conditions were not changing. In a meeting the following week, our other foreigner, finally declared that if the housing was not adaquetely restored to what we agreed on, he would leave. Simply put, after another round and few days of guarantees, promises and a heated meeting amongst concerned parties, no action was still taken. The other person in the house (the softball girl) was left with a ton of options (living with a teammate, a hotel, or going home) but she wouldn't move. The woman on the softball side of Almere, responsible for bringing her over (a 9 or 10 player team in the Dutch 3rd division) also wouldn't budge. They stymied any sort of solution by holding up the big trump card: they payed for 1/3 of the housing costs and therefore they would withdraw their financial support if she was moved. Almere Baseball's lack of fortitude was disturbing, they couldn't see the writing on the wall - chalk up the extra 300 euros a month for a few months and save the season or keep fighting only having regard for finances and not a player's well being and happiness. Mitch didn't bluff, he re-booked his flight and left on May 1. On April 30, the American softball player finally moved out, a full month after we requested a solution. So in the end the team ended up having to pay the entire housing costs, and all for me (one player). The meetings also brought about a new glitch in our season, in which we were told it was becoming problematic to secure a proper sponsor (that we assumed was in place) and that our salary could not be guaranteed the rest of the year (factoring in the other foreigner's decision to leave). I stuck with the team... too much history, some really great teammates, I enjoy playing in Holland especially at arguably the highest level in Europe, the importance of making my mark on coaching and training some of the most talented youth players in the region, and my other job scouting for the Houston Astros throughout The Netherlands. For the following two months I had to deal with the constant strife of never getting my salary on time, (our contract stipulated that I would be paid on the first of every month but this did not happen until June), there was a disagreement over not being paid for arriving and playing the last week of March (a squabble where the club refused to pay me a meager 150 Euros)... I also dealt with the strange phenomenon of literally receiving no run support until my 7th start of the season. Without complaint I went out every first game of the series, routinely facing off against every other Head Class team's number 1 starting pitcher, and except for facing the top 2 teams in Holland, almost always pitched into the 6th inning. I had some strange splits. Pitching away, I started 5 games, 27 2/3 innings, yielding 24 hits, 10 Earned Runs, Walking 13 and Striking out 19 for an E.R.A. of 3.25, with 2 losses and 3 no decisions. At Home, things were quite different - in 5 starts, or 19 2/3 innings I gave up 23 hits and 15 earned runs, yielded 15 walks and only striking out 9 for an E.R.A. of 6.86 and a Won-Loss record of 0-5. This could be attributed to facing one of the best teams in Europe, twice, DOOR Neptunus, although I did not pitch well in either start, I really wasn't given the chance to pitch much past the first few innings. In the first start I lasted 3 innings giving up 4 earned runs, not great but not that terrible either, however, we were no-hit in 7 innings. I was pulled early because I was told I could come back later in the weekend in relief if needed since it was clear we were going to lose the game anyways. Later in the season, I started again at home against Neptunus, was pulled in the top of the 2nd inning with the bases loaded and down 1-0. We went on to lose by a lot again. Puzzling as it may have been, when I came in relief in the final game of the series with the bases loaded to and 2 outs in the 4th inning to strike out the cleanup hitter, which was a Tuesday make-up game from the no-hitter weekend the last week of April, our manager actually violated, despite being warned, a new import pitching rule for this season where a starting pitcher can not be used in relief. We lost 2-points in the standings (and of course the game). Aside from the Neptunus games I had a pretty good season pitching for the last place team - 43 1/3 innnings as a starter, 42 hits given up, 17 earned runs for a 3.53 E.R.A., 27/19 Strikeouts/Walks. In all those innings I only received 4 Runs in support on 18 hits. So even if my E.R.A. was 1.00, I would have still lossed 6 of the 7 games I did during the season. (My only win came in relief against Kinheim the first week of the season). The last loss was especially tough to swallow. During the week I was in 3rd place for the All-Star game voting on the internet for the North squad, and pitching against Amsterdam Pirates in the last start before the 5-week summer stop I was prepared to leave it all on the field. During the previous week game against Sparta-Feyenoord, I was clinging to a 3-2 lead heading into the 7th inning having thrown 110 pitches already. With 1 out, the leadoff batter smashed a base hit, the next batter was the first walk of the game and I was clearly tiring with the #3 hitter coming to the plate (who was already 2-2 against me). Our manager left me in, and the batter sent a 1-1 fastball to the wall for a stand-up triple to take the lead. I exited the game shortly after, disappointed with the outcome, and still hungry to prove I could win without great run support.
After he pulled, our manager, actually said to me - "see that's what happens when I let you decide..." He really had a knack for timing and for understanding how baseball managers should handle game situations. The next week, against Amsterdam Pirates in my last start before the month-long summer stop, I faced off against Rob Cordemans (possibly the best European pitcher over the last 10 years and also a member of various Dutch Olympic baseball teams and Dutch World Baseball Classic teams )... I came out firing but in the 2nd inning two of their players from the Dutch WBC team put 2 consecutive hits together, and they opened up a 2 run lead. They wouldn't get another hit. I knew this was my last start before break (in the back of my mind maybe thinking the last start of my career with the way things had been going in Almere) and so I just started to literally throw so I can blow my arm out. It's funny, with a change in mentality, the complete disregard for my health, I started pumping gas. I usually get hit on my 4-seam fastball, it's not THAT hard and it's too flat. Well against one of the best hitting teams in Europe, I started dominating with my fastball. mixing in some sliders here and there, they were late on everything. I got like 6 pop ups to 1B, it was strange. In the 7th we were still trailing 2-0, Cordemans had given up 3 hits to our punchless lineup but we could never push a guy across. I got an out then walked a guy full-count with the #8 hitter who i have scouted and is about 0-7 on me lifetime coming up. With a pitch count of 77 and absolutely getting better as the game went on my manager just walks up and pulls me. The previous week he asked me how i was doing with 40 more pitches under my belt, and then to be pulled in that situation while we're trailing is again, beyond puzzling. The reliever proceeded to give up 4 straight hits and 3 runs, which is too bad because in the bottom frame they had pulled Cordemans and we finally put up 3 on their bullpen. the managerial tactics (if you can call them that) are frightening. pull your starter on 77 pitches, with a 4 week break coming up, down 2-0 with a #8 hitter who is 0-7 lifetime against him. don't pull your starter when he is at 120 pitches up by 1 run, with still a week of games left, and a #3 batter coming up who is 2-2. Before the game I had read on team's website (in Dutch) that they were looking for a new house for me. This was the first I had heard of it. The previous week against Sparta, they mentioned they wanted to meet with me after the Sunday game, but when I went looking for our team president he told me the meeting was cancelled. When I asked what it was concerning, he mentioned that the house was too expensive and we had to talk about it. His exact words. After our last game Sat July 3, we had a team bbq and the team informed me that the cost of the house was too high for one person so I had to move out. The argument being quite flawed of course, because, if the other foreigner was still here, they would also have to be paying his salary in addition to the rent (which would be the same). I found out later that they actually hadn't paid the rent in 2 months since he had left and the owner said if they didn't pay by july 1 i would have to leave. Instead, I was told they couldn't renew it for another 2 months because it was too expensive. They were also aware of my plans for vacation, leaving on July 5 to Hungary for a week, and in the meeting the mentioned if I could give them 3 weeks they would hope to have a new place for me to live (probably a room in some random person's house).
1. we agreed before the season to having my own (or with another player) private place. I lived like that last year, I lived like that in Australia, this was no way for a 26 year old single male to live. Sorry. I uphold my end of the contract I expect them to uphold theirs, no excuses about the costs, we have an agreement - this wasn't it.
2. i wasn't going away for 3 weeks, i was away for 1 week and the fact that they couldn't guarantee a place for me to come back to, means I am going to be homeless by my own team. That is not how you treat an employee. One of the board guys I was meeting with said I could stay at his place when I come back, for a few weeks, until they found something more permanent, and of course - that's great for maybe a 22-year old guy out of college who has never had this experience before, but I am a professional, I've been on the road for 4 years, we are marred in a last place season and I've been treated like crap all year, I said this was unacceptable. they said it was my choice what I wanted to do. I said my choice was to stay where I was at, they said it wasn't an option - so I said - it's not really a choice then is it. You better send me home.

http://www.mister-baseball.com/almere-magpies-hold-pieces/