Mister-Baseball.com, the premier website on European baseball, runs an interesting feature in which they put together a list of the top fifty teams throughout Europe. As they admit, this is something of an imperfect science. You cannot simply look at a Dutch team’s record and compare it to a team from the Czech Republic on a like-for-like basis.  Each European league is of a slightly different standard; the best team in one league might not make it into the top five of another.Â
That doesn’t mean that compiling a ranking system is a fruitless task though. Mister-Baseball factors in the relevant strength of each league (which is subjective to a degree) and then works from there. More to the point, this isn’t a case of Mister-Baseball putting together a definitive, unquestionable ranking list. It’s intended as a guide and something to spark debate.
They updated the list on Wednesday and it’s good to see that two British teams are included. If you’ve been following Joe’s posts about the National Baseball League, you may well be able to guess which teams they are. The London Mets have literally been unbeatable so far this season and they rank twentieth on the list. The Manchester Eagles are one place behind.
The Netherlands provides five of the top twenty teams, including the first-placed Corendon Kinheim, with the strength of the German, Italian and Spanish leagues also being recognised. What really makes you sit up and take notice is the breadth of countries that are represented. From Belgium to Belarus, Romania to Russia, and Sweden to Slovakia; baseball is truly a European sport.
While the Mister-Baseball ranking list is a great discussion starter, the best way to settle the arguments over which league tops the rest is via a well-organised, regular European league. The IBAF’s plans to introduce such a competition are very exciting and European baseball fans will all be waiting impatientily for them to come to fruition in the near future. 2010 is the projected start date and it can’t come soon enough.
2 comments
Not that I want to be a pessimist but 2010 does not seem far off for starting a supposedly professional European league from scratch – and that’s not even taking into account the fact that as one of the less popular sports in Europe you would presumably need some serious pre-promotion of it. I’d be interested to know how much research or planning the IBAF/European Baseball Confederation has already done.
It’ll certainly be intriguing if the plan develops – it would raise some interesting questions. Is there enough initial fan/media interest in Europe to make money and support a pro league or would they hope that spending the money on the league would generate the interest? (It makes me think of those intrepid entrepeneurs who briefly introduced the ‘latest craze’ of pro-baseball to areas of Britain in the early decades of the 20th century). I guess we are in a global society now and with the plethora of tv channels and online coverage and the huge amount of money bandied about in pro sports there might be a chance to generate media/sponsorship interest and investment.
Then there’s the question of how the IBAF/CEB would go about deciding which teams go in the league. Will they be existing teams or completely new city-based franchises? Would it be focused on the existing ‘hotbeds’ of Euro baseball where higher interest and facilities lie (such as Holland, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic) or would they try to create interest in cities where there’s a large multi-national population, tourism and business interests(which would surely give London a chance)?
Hi Tim
Their plans certainly raise more questions than answers at the moment. It seems that with the World Cup hitting Europe next year, they want to capitalize on the momentum by trying to get a tournament in place to follow it up. Whether they achieve it or not, and what form it takes, is another matter entirely. It sounds a good idea in principle, but like anything the devil will be in the detail, and details are conspicuous by their absence at the moment.
I think we’ll just have to wait and see. Fingers crossed it will be worth waiting for (if it happens).