By Carter Cromwell To the Jeopardy answer “hotbed of baseball”, one might offer the question “What is Japan?” Or “. . . The Dominican Republic?” Or “. . . St. Louis?” Or various other places around the world. It’s highly doubtful that any contestant would come up...
Patrick and Evyn were two of three BBJO imports who signed on to play with the Wesseling Vermins in the 2019 German Bundesliga season. It was the first season that the Vermins played in the first division and although suffering some pretty tough losses, Patrick, Evyn...
Eric Brenk photo credit: Thomas Schönenborn Podcast sponsors: Llerandi Custom Gloves Hakusoh Bat (Spark Slugger) American born and Wofford College alum, Eric Brenk, has been living and playing baseball in Germany since obtaining his dual citizenship in 2014, only 4...
Jonathan Mottay is a dual passport holding (France, U.S.) pitcher who travels the world playing the game he loves. In this epi we start off in the beautiful Berlin, Germany where Jonathan is playing for the 2018 season. We then flashback to his winter ball season in...
In 2018 we had 57 of our past and present members playing in Germany and have highlighted the top performers below using the stats that were available (*some divisions were not up-to-date). To qualify for this post is the player must be a current BBJO member or a...
The epitome of a baseball globetrotter, Jimmy Jensen wraps up his 5th straight season overseas (year-round), this time with the Stuttgart Reds of the German Bundesliga. In this episode Jimmy shares his 2017 summer experience of baseball and travel while also...
This past holiday season, while the majority of us locked ourselves inside to stay away from the cold as we dreamt of the baseball (or softball) season still months away, couple Tyler Krobetzky and Chelsea Cohen flew to New Zealand for Christmas before flying to...
At Prague Baseball Week 2015, I sat down with Alex Lee and Eric Brenk, two former teammates at Wofford College took unique paths to overseas baseball which include seasons in Austria, Australia, Germany, and the Czech Republic. One used their experience to see over 15...
Josh Wyant grew up playing baseball in North Carolina and was never the standout player but always had a passion for the game and worked hard at getting better. He was a three sport athlete between cross country, baseball and swimming and as college grew closer, he...
In 2012, Tanner Leighton, the #4 ranked NAIA prospect in the country from The Masters College in California, was one of many players in the independent ball system who had been in contact with scouts during his college tenure, yet had no luck come June. After a season...
Will Thorp grew up playing baseball in British Columbia, Canada where he also started his college career at a local junior college. After a successful freshman year, he earned a chance to play at Lewis-Clark State College, one of the top NAIA baseball programs. In...
Louis Cohen spent his college baseball years at Cal State University Northridge in the Big West Conference where he spent most of his time in the bullpen chomping at the bit to get on the mound. As his college career drew to a close there were no promising...
After finishing up the 2010 season with Almere and Hamburg and achieving his long term goal of pitching in the Dutch Head Class, Boomer was undecided about what to do with his baseball career and was leaning towards focusing on finishing law school and getting a job....
As an un-drafted graduate of a small NAIA school, Mark Boyer was not getting a lot of opportunities to continue his playing career until he set his sights on third division Germany. Being a true utility guy, he knew he could help a small club in more way than one, and...
After a strong junior season at the University of Michigan (2011) in which he saw a large increase in velocity and innings pitched, Matt Broder had high hopes of hearing his name called in the MLB draft following his senior season. He had gone from minimal playing...
Late May 2014, Eric Brenk wrapped up his senior year at Wofford College, an NCAA division I school from the Southern Conference, and had hit a very respectable .268 on the season and started every game in this final season. One era had come to an end and another was...
Two players from two different NCAA Division 1 backgrounds tell their stories of their summer in Germany playing for the same club. This is part 1 of a 2 part series due to an extraordinary twist that this experience has taken for one player. After suffering shoulder...
EACH year, early June can be a roller coaster of emotions for college and high school baseball players from around the country. With only 40 rounds in the MLB draft (not counting compensation rounds), hundreds of prospects from across the country go undrafted each...
This interview with Austin Weymouth goes into areas yet to be covered on the podcast including an alternative way to selecting your team, working your way into Dutch baseball from a much lower league within one year, visa requirements, a vivid idea of what life is...
I came to Europe to play baseball for the Attnang Athletics of Austria in 1999 and returned permanently in 2004. Attnang is a small town of 8,000 and yes, during the off days, sometimes I found myself banging my head against the wall because back then, there was no...
A former import player myself, I started this website in late 2012 to help others do the same.
As a father of two, I am grounded (in Austria) and use this blog to live vicariously through our members. I hope you enjoy their adventures and stories as well.
