UEA Baseball look for Unprecedented Third Title

UEA Blue Sox seek to become the first three-time university champions.


 US sports in the UK are on the rise in a big way. I remember seeing a tongue in cheek April Fools article suggesting that Football League matches were organising fixtures to be played in the U.S. Fast forward a few years and the major players in NFL are embracing that concept by exporting their entertainment and hosting regular season games in London.

Major League Baseball is looking to follow in those footsteps but dimensions of European stadiums are proving a stumbling block. This has not however stopped baseball becoming increasingly popular in the UK with UEA’s own set up seeing membership figures triple in the past three years.

Baseball President Joe Cresswell gives The Tab the lowdown on the Blue Sox set-up.

How can people get involved with baseball at UEA?

“We welcome anybody at our training sessions with no need for prior experience or knowledge. We meet outside the Sports Park at 1pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays before walking down to the Colney Lane pitches. People can find out more about us by joining our Facebook group: UEA Baseball 2012/13 or by emailing myself: [email protected].”

What leagues and matches are the club involved with this year?

“As the British University Baseball Association collapsed a couple of years back due to management issues, UEA now organises and runs our own league where we play in the North division against both university and senior sides in places like Nottingham, Birmingham and Milton Keynes. We tend to make weekend trips to places so we can fit more games in to make the travelling worth it and get a decent night out while we are there. We also have the University National Championships to defend in the Spring Term and the annual Alumni game to organise.”

Can you run us through the club’s past successes and future goals?

“Last year we won our second national title when we hosted the competition and this year we are looking to defend out title and become the first three time university champions. We are also looking to improve our diamond and get more interest and coverage of our league from the British Baseball Federation and other organisations.”

Blue Sox Social

Social scene?

We have socials regularly on a weeknight and you will always find someone from the club organising some pre-drinks for a Saturday LCR. Our next official social is November 7th where we are creating a house crawl around the houses near campus before going to the LCR that night.”

Are you seeing an increase in interest in the team as US sport seems to be becoming increasingly popular in the UK?

“We have seen a definite increase in popularity in American sports over the last couple of years and our membership has almost tripled in three years. We have been very pleased with the uptake this year and it has allowed us to have more successful training sessions. We get a lot of people who come back from America and say they have seen the sport there and want to give it a try.”

Team Meal

Do you have any honorary Americans in the team, what do they think of the standard?

“We have two Canadians and one Japanese player in our team this year. Once they got over the initial shock of there actually being a baseball team in Britain they have been a massive help in coaching new players and helping to improve the current standard. Some of our members have been playing for years in the national junior setup or are members of the Great Britain U23 squad and we also have players who have never picked up a glove before. Everybody gets the same opportunities at training and we try to give everybody who turns up as much game time as possible to help everybody improve and enjoy the game.”

For more information contact:  UEA Baseball 2012/13 or by emailing Joe: [email protected].