Basebaaalllll !!

Baseball + Bremen  Who'd have thought?

I found out that there was baseball in Bremen a while back, but so many things got in the way of follow-up.  And when I finally followed-up this year, there was only one home game left in the season.  So, I put it on the calendar and begged Werner to put up with a game he understands practically nothing about.  Of course he said Yes.  Thank you, Werner!

Baseball is so American, and somehow in my head, even more American than (American) football.  I don't think I can explain it.  Maybe because all the sportscasters and sports journalists have called baseball "America's  Sport" for so many years.  Maybe because baseball is played in the warm months. Maybe because Lee played lots of years, and Michelle and I played softball. Maybe because - since there were so many games in the season - you used to be able to buy a ticket for not much money: pay a couple of bucks, sit in the bleachers, watch a game. I do think I remember correctly that we could buy bleacher tickets for a Braves game for about two bucks in 1968.  Ah, those were the days!

Anyway ... I wanted to see baseball, and we did.  The Bremen Dockers v. the Berlin Flamingos.  (Flamingos???  Dockers kinda make sense, since we have lots of ships here that dock, but flamingos?)  The field is just beyond the Bremen football/soccer stadium.  We took the train, took our bikes, bought two tickets (4 euros each) and found a seat.  There were p l e n t y of seats available.  In fact, there may have been more players than spectators.

And it was a bit like a high school game - two women sitting at a folding table taking money, a stamp on your hand to show you'd paid, a scoreboard that was updated by hand.

But I have to say, they all looked pretty ragged.  Here in the middle of the 5th, six total errors.  I'd bet there were a few more before the game was done.

We got to see a home run, a couple of doubles, a double play, couple of stolen bases.  They talked to each other in a mixture of Spanish, English and German. 

The players do it for fun - really a lot like league play through the Parks and Recreation Department.  Most of the players belong to the sports club that sponsors the team, most are German, but they have an American coach and a couple of guys from the Dominican Republic.

I do hope they enjoy it, because they had a pretty poor showing that day - 11-7 final score - and a poor season with only three wins out of 20+ games.  Hope they have better luck next year!

We ducked out before the game was over to admire Ilsemarie and Ulli's new kitchen and have coffee and cake with them and Klaus and Johanna - a yummy homemade poppy seed cake with strawberry topping.  We'll see them all again next weekend when Klaus and Johanna have a party for their 50th anniversary.