American Sports Come to Germany

It’s pretty clear that the spectator sport in Germany is soccer (Fußball), and only soccer.  The regular club season is about 8 months long from mid-August to mid-May.  The summer break in between is all about international soccer (this summer the EURO championship and Olympics).  However, if you look really closely you can find that there is a sporting world outside of soccer.  And that’s exactly what Julie did about 3 weeks ago, when she found a small print ad about baseball and American football games here in Munich (probably a size 8 font footnote in the margin).

Ah what the heck, we set out on a Saturday with our other American friends to watch the baseball game first.  Our hometown Munich Caribes (more on the name later) were playing their final game of the season.  Our concerns about tickets and seating were alleviated when we arrived to see we could each have a bleacher to ourselves.  There were 4 sets of dilapidated bleachers and about 8 fans including us. 

We settled in behind home plate and soaked in our dearly missed national pastime.  It was a wooden bat league, which meant that most of the game consisted of small ball- a bloop here, a stolen base here, a balk there.  And while there were clearly some good athletes out there, the overall quality was on par with junior college team.  Hey not bad, considering I don’t know any Germans who even understand the rules of baseball.

We talked with the club’s marketing person/assistance coach, an American named Doug, who explained to us the structure and history of the club.  Our Munich Caribes play in the 3^rd level of competition in Germany (akin to AA baseball in America in rank – not necessarily skill).  The team was founded by players from South America and Caribbean area, hence Munich Caribes.  And currently, the team is mostly internationals of which 4 or 5 are Americans.

At the end of the game we hung around to get some memorabilia.  I think we may have been the first people to ever ask to buy something though because they really were not sure if they had anything to sell or not.   After 5 minutes of rummaging through an old shed Doug came out with a stack of hats.   I couldn’t resist the throwback letter ‘M’ and the thought of being one of the first real team fans so I bought 3 hats, one for me and for each of my two brothers.  

Our purchase caught the attention of some of the players.  We met the team’s catcher, Mateo from San Antonio!  I’m not sure who was more curious, us wondering how he ended up here playing baseball or him wondering how we ended up there as fans.  It’s always a cool feeling to run into someone from America who is here getting lost in Germany just like us.  He was a really nice guy, so nice he invited us out to party with the team later that night (more on this later).

The baseball game turned out to be a lot of fun.  Next up, we marched over to the American football stadium to watch our Munich Cowboys!  Love the name.  We could tell right away this was a more serious operation than baseball because we had to buy tickets to enter, and even more telling - there was a line.  Immediately we felt like we were transported back to high school (except Julie who never went to any high school football games).  The stadium and atmosphere felt just like a high school football game with the flags, banners, and streams of people wearing the home colors.  Supposedly this was even the homecoming game!  

We hopped right in line and bought our team shirts and settled in with the crowd chanting ‘Defense Go....Defense Go’.  It was a pretty impressive display, considering we had no idea this existed, with maybe around 1,000 fans.  The first series of game play pretty much summed up the quality of competition, which clearly was not the best.  The opening kickoff was a penalty, Munich went 3 and out losing 5 yards, and the subsequent punt was fumbled by the other team.  I think 3 extra point field goals were missed so the final score was kind of odd. 

Perhaps I am being too harsh though, because Munich is the worst team in the league of 8 teams.  It’s worth noting our favorite team name is the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, who are not to be laughed at as they sit in first place! There were clearly some talented athletes but it is easy to see the lack of experience of the teams as a whole.  Must be how MLS soccer looks to Europeans.

Both baseball and football games made it a successful American day - it was now time to party!  Being the spontaneous types (ok, normally we are not) we met the baseball team at an Irish bar downtown.  I wore my new Caribes hat which was an instant conversation starter (thanks Eddie for  ‘forgetting’ to wear yours), and I think they really appreciated our fanship because they bought us the first round of drinks.  They even invited Eddie and I out to practice on Wednesday.  Yeah man, sure, that’s just the booze talking…

We learned that most these guys were college ball players and wanted to keep playing while traveling abroad.  They all work day jobs because clearly the ticket sales are not providing any kind of salary.  I talked with one of the German players who said he started playing in high school.  It sounds like there is not much in the way of Little League, but there are young adult leagues here and there.

After enough drinks we reached that point where going to a club at 1 a.m. sounded like a good idea.  Yeah, let’s all go pay a 10 buck cover charge to pack in like sardines with a bunch of creepers.  Sounds fun!  And although the club turned out exactly like described, the whole night was an absolute blast.  We made it home and asleep about 4 a.m., which is something we only do like once a decade.

Later we learned they were serious about us coming out to practice.  How sweet is that!?!?   So Eddie and I headed out to practice on Wednesday feeling like Smalls from The Sandlot.  We had the wrong clothes and no glove/gear.  The team welcomed us in, gave us some gear, and then I could not believe it- we were actually playing baseball in Germany.  We caught fly balls for about an hour, shagged batting practice balls, and then got our turn at the plate.  And we both looked pretty good out there, especially considering there were some others who were there for their first time ever playing baseball.  I felt like Craig Biggio out there.  The next day though, I felt like I had been run over by a truck.

It was my first time hitting with a wooden bat and hopefully not the last.  I hope to make it to more practices when I have the time.   Who knows maybe I’ll see if I can get on a team (although probably one of the lower divisions)?  The problem though is that I don’t really have the time.  A 1.5-hour commute each way to work kind of limits my chances.  But I’ll definitely make it out when I can because playing baseball is living the good life.  Stay tuned for more on the Munich Caribes (maybe)!

In the meantime, it’s back to Fußball and FC Bayern Munich!