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11/19/2008 Athens, Greece

Baseball in Greece

Yesterday I went downtown and had lunch at the new Paradosiako restaurant on Apollonos street and met with my pal Tom Mazarakis. He asked me if I would come down to the old US Airbase on Saturday and play baseball. I have not played baseball in about thirty years but like any typical egotistical American I believe I can just grab my mitt and pick up where I left off and after a couple days be just as good as I ever was. Of course also being a realist and knowing that at age 54 I can injure myself putting my socks on in the morning I had to accept the fact that playing baseball again would be a process of preparation and that I would not step into the lineup and bat .300 and save the game with a leaping catch at the wall. Plus I am taking my wife and daughter to Paris on Tuesday and I don't want to explore the city on crutches. But I was intrigued. They must be pretty desperate if they wanted me to play on their team. "Actually we need you to coach another team. You would play too once you got into shape. We have a lot of guys who can play but not many who fully understand baseball strategy and the rules so you would be a valuable addition."

Tom then told me about the last few years of Greek baseball. If you read my Olympic Baseball journal (www.greecetravel.com/2004olympics/photoalbum/baseball)you remember we left off with the Greek National team being elliminated though they did manage to win a couple games and even had a chance to beat Cuba, taking them to the last out in their second game. At the time PASOK was in power, or had been until a month or so before the games. For some reason PASOK was very enthused about baseball in Greece and invested a lot of money on fields and equipment which I will get to later. New Democracy for all their western leanings did not share this enthusiasm and cut off  funding for Greek baseball. Despite this lack of funds the Greek National team went to Portugal and won the European Championships in 2008, and the baseball league which Tom is a part of has been competing in other tournaments in Greece and out. Peter Angelos who invested millions in Greek baseball and did not even get a thank you note from New Democracy has supposedly soured on the project at least until ND is voted out of power. So in order for the leagues to continue and grow Tom needs to attract sponsors because money from the Greek government is not a given even if Pasok takes over.

So I am writing this blog today to invite all able bodied young men in Greece who can play baseball and even some older men who believe they can still play to contact Tom Mazarakis. Its a weekend thing since it gets too dark to practice after work during the week and though the fields have lights, there is no money to pay the electric bill to turn them on. Regardless the fields are in good shape. Not only that but there are dugouts, locker rooms, a fully equipped weight room and eight pitching machines that can throw up to 90mph. Not that I think there is anyone in Greece that can hit a 90mph fastball, but you can easily set it to 70 mph which is about the fastest pitch you will see in these leagues.

It is my hope that we can get enough people playing and even attract some sponsors and get a serious league going, which may lead to other things, like Little League for example.

So if you want to be a part of Greek baseball get in touch with Tom right now at mazarakist@uindy.gr or phone him at 693 916 2014.

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