In europe, it’s still diamonds in the rough

Previewing the Article

Baseball, a relatively unfamiliar sport to Europeans, used to be played only by the rich in France. Now the French, who are hosting the European baseball championships, are trying to create enthusiasm for the game on the continent. They have hired David Daniels to coach their national team. He was once a player for one of the America’s minor league (or lower-level professional) teams. Now he is responsible for turning an inexperienced French team into “gems of players” on the baseball diamond (the shape of a baseball field) - hence, the title of the article you are about to read.

Other developments are also occurring that will increase the popularity of a sport that was first introduced to Europe in Italy during World War II.

Before You Read

Before you read the article, discuss these questions.

1. Has any new sport recently become popular in your native country? Why do you think this sport has become popular in a new cultural context?

2. What is the role of television in popularizing new sports in your native country?

As You Read

As you read, look for answers to these questions.

1. What is the status of baseball in European countries?

2. What are some reasons for European’s interest in baseball?

In europe, it’s still diamonds in the rough

by John McMurtrie

International Herald Tribune

Paris - David Daniels was amazed when he first saw the baseball team he was to coach.

As a retired American minor league player who had coached in Italy and in the Netherlands, Daniel had been recruited to help prepare the French national team for the European baseball Championships that begin Friday in Paris.

What Daniels saw before him was not the makings of a national team. “It was a disaster”, he recalled of that first training session last winter in Florida. “I had guys scattered all over the infield who couldn’t even catch a ball. And I won’t say anything about what it was like when they had a bat in their hands”.

Daniels, now, is still hoping for the best as the French will host, for the first time, the European Baseball Championships.

5 As a taste of a sport that is fast gaining popularity in Europe, and continue to attract attention with baseball becoming a medal sport at the Olympics, the 21st edition of the biennial championships featured nine days of competition between eight teams belonging to Group A of the European Confederation of Amateur Baseball (CEBA).

Group B, the second division that includes teams newly joining the CEBA, such as the Russian Federation and Czech Republic, also holds its own series every two years.

CEBA officials rate Italy and the Netherlands as the best national teams in Europe now. France, Spain and Belgium will likely vie next week for third place in Germany, Sweden and Great Britain battling to avoid becoming the team that is demoted to Group B.

Baseball has its largest European following, by far, in Italy and the Netherlands. Each has as many as 30,000 amateur players, each has hundreds of baseball fields. France, by contrast, has just put the final touches on its capital’s first field.

Aldo Notari, president of both the Italian baseball federation and CEBA, and vice-president of the International Baseball Association, attributes baseball’s initial success in Italy to the American presence there during and after World War II.

10 “We opened up to the rest of the world after the war”, said Notari. “Baseball was a form of cultural exchange with the Americans. We held on to it and, with good direction, have made it the national sport it is today”.

Peter Laanen, president of the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation, attributes the sport’s popularity in his country to promotion.

“If we’re getting better at baseball in Holland”, said Laanen, “it’s because we know how to sell it and how to educate our audience through the media. The size of our country also lets us reach people more easily”.

In France, where baseball is only slowly being discovered, federation officials hope that by hosting the championship they can lower the sport’s image.

“Baseball in France used to be the sport of the rich”, said Bruno Lesfargues, president of the French federation. “Today, it’s attracting people from all classes and is played all over France”.

15 Germany’s baseball federation also has been a dramatic increase in the number of those playing the game. A decade ago the federation there consisted of 10 teams; today there are 200. Still, the German and the British federations are the only ones in Europe that do not receive governmental financial backing. That worries German’s group president, Martin Miller, whose main objective in Paris will be to avoid a demotion to Group B.

“Our biggest problem is money”, he said. “Without it, we can’t really do more than to hope for a fifth place in the championships”.

Although baseball is quickly taking root in Europe, even those involved in the sport are the first to admit that it is not yet popular in most of the 19 countries belonging to CEBA. For those with any ties of the game, learning about baseball had more to do with meeting Americans, Canadians or Asians abroad than it did with taking a turn at bat.

Reto Blum, the Swiss federation’s president, recalled first playing baseball when visiting family in the United States as a teenager. “My cousin was a Red Fox fan, so I had to be a Yankees fan”, he said. “It all started there”.

20 While European players have a passion for the game, most think of it as only a hobby. Some have gone on to play in American minor leagues - at least one, pitcher Win Remmerswaal of the Netherlands, made it to the major leagues, with the Boston Red Sox - but their numbers are few. And the European Confederation does not foresee a continental professional league, at least not for years to come.

“If we grow to the point of being able to have a professional league”, said the CEBA’s president, Notari, “we’ll become professional on our own. What we don’t want is to be of a colony of somebody else’s pro league. Besides, our focus is on the Olympics”.

For most, though, even the Olympics are out of reach. Today’s underdogs have not given up hope. Jeff Milleras, a French-Canadian who has played in past championships is one.

“May be it isn’t realistic to think we can beat the Italians and Dutch”, he said. “But five years ago it was an embarrassment to go out there and play. Now, we’re competitive. Others may be better than us, as who knows, this is the sport of miracles”.

I. Getting the Message

A. After reading the article, indicate if each item is true (T) or false (F).

___ 1. David Daniels was pleased by the high quality of the French team.

___ 2. Italy and Czech Republic have the best European amateur teams.

___ 3. Most European players think of baseball as a hobby rather than a profession.

___ 4. The European league hopes to join another nation’s professional team.

___ 5. Baseball’s growing popularity in Europe is directly related to the sharp decline in interest in soccer.

___ 6. A major interest for the growing interest in baseball is that baseball is a sport in which a country’s team can receive an Olympic medal.

B. List two reasons for European’s growing interest in baseball.

II. Expanding Your Vocabulary

Getting Meaning from Context

Use context clues to determine the meaning of each word, found in the paragraph indicated in parentheses. Choose the right definition.

1. recruited (2):	joined the army engaged for service
2. rate (7):	to place in a particular rank to value for taxation
3. promotion (11):	advertising advancement at one’s work
4. objective (16):	uninfluenced by emotion serving as a goal
5. admit (18):	agree to be true allow to participate
6. competitive (23):	capable of winning a contest winning

III. Working with Idioms

Study the meanings of these idioms and expressions.

the makings of (3) = the materials or ingredients necessary

put the final touches on (8) = complete construction of

open up to (10) = give access to

take root in (18) = become established in

ties to (18) = connections with

make it to (20) = reach a place or goal

out of reach (22) = beyond one’s ability to do

Answer these questions.

1. In paragraph 8, what will the French do after they put the final touches on the Paris field?

2. In paragraph 10, when did Italy open up to outside influences?

3. In paragraph 20, have any European players made it to the U.S. major leagues?

4. In paragraph 22, why are the Olympics out of reach to most European baseball teams?

IV. Making Sense of Sentences

1. Paragraph 12 gives three reasons why baseball has become popular in the Netherlands. Two of the reasons are introduced by the word because. List the two reasons.

2. Complete a sentence of your own about baseball.

Baseball is /isn’t popular in Russia because ______.

You can also reverse the sentence you’ve written, and put the because clause at the beginning.

Because _____ .

V. Talking and Writing

Discuss the following topics. Then choose one of them to write about.

1. Most Europeans regard baseball as a hobby. The article makes a distinction between thinking of an activity as a hobby or as a profession. How do you distinguish between these two terms? Do you know someone who has made a hobby into a profession?

2. Discuss an activity, food or custom that entered your native culture only long ago. Where did it come from? How was it popularized?

3. Have you ever played baseball or watched it being played? How did you like it? Did it remind you of any sports played in your country? What are some similarities?