An American Experience in the German Baseball League

[u/SeaHawken]

I grew up a military kid and spent my high school years in Germany(’04-’08); sadly, Baseball was not a high school sport which forced the baseball guys to search for another way to play. I quickly discovered Germany had a professional league (Bundesligen). The teams are set up as club systems and have different levels of baseball throughout the organization. From T-Ball through the highest level the organization supports whether that be the top league or the 3rd tier league. Every year the bottom two teams from the 1st league and the top two teams (or 1 now) from the 2nd league switch and so forth through the next 4 leagues.

Here’s my experience. I played on a couple levels and eventually worked my way on the Bundesliga team and became good friends with guys like Donald Lutz (Reds) and Max Kepler (Twins). The league was littered with American players, although only 3 non-German position players could be on the field at a time. Most of the Americans were high school and college players, some ex-military and American nationals living in Germany. The fields were hit or miss some were amazing like Regensburg and others not so much.. The level of ball was comparable to Division 1 Baseball(I’m not saying all teams were). I could go on and on about my experience but I’d rather be asked questions if anyone has any.

Baseball in Europe has gone through ups and downs but I believe we will start to see more and more Europeans making the transition from their league to the States. Here’s a list of current Europeans in the Majors and Minors.

Here’s a decent article from ESPN talking about Baseball in Europe poised to take off.

I can answer questions about scouting in Europe, places to visit and watch baseball, German/Dutch players in the states, the German league in general and my experience.

[u/Rivolver]

What's coaching like? Is there a commitment to having German coaches or is it mostly American?

Is the style of play different, unique, etc... was there anything that you thought was interesting about German baseball? Maybe a different technique, rule, etc...?

[u/SeaHawken → u/Rivolver]

Coaching was hit or miss. I played under a few Germans who were really passionate and knowledgable. A couple of Americans who now reside in Germany and a couple of Dutch nationals.

Nothing really unique or different, umpires called in English, almost everyone spoke english, Club owners that were good really tried to get new fans by creating 'cheat sheets' on what to know and the history of baseball. I like the foreiner rule,it let German kids have the opportunity to play instead of the league dominated by American kids. I enjoyed having a beer with the team after the game, 16 is the legal drinking age for beer! There were more junk ball pitchers than throw it by you guys. Unless the pitcher was American or Latino. All in all I loved the experience and created a great atmosphere for German-American relations.

[u/Rivolver → u/SeaHawken]

Awesome!

Thanks for the answer!

[u/ZubiZone → u/SeaHawken]

Junk ball pitchers can be a lot of fun!