Baseball in Germany

Before World War II

The first mention of baseball in Germany was found in a 1796 book on sports by German writer Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths, where he was writing about a game called schlagbal, a very old German-Austrian game. Although Germans were exposed to bat-and-ball games from an early stage, baseball never hit big in Germany until after World War II. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a lot of European countries received interest from major league players, one of which was the infamous John McGraw. Germany was not included though, partly because of inclement weather. This likely was a reason why baseball was left more undeveloped than other European countries like Italy or the Netherlands.^[1]

During World War I, American GIs played baseball in Germany but the first official game on German grounds took place in Berlin at the 1936 Olympics. The plan was to have a demonstration tournament where the United States was supposed to play against other nations like Japan. Unfortunately, all the other nations could not afford to send teams because of the worldwide depression that was happening during that time. Nonetheless, the Americans decided to play a split-squad exhibition game in front of the German audience on the last day of the Olympics. On August 12, 1936 the World Amateurs and the U.S. Olympics played in front of 125,000 spectators, the largest attendance ever to this point in time. The field conditions obviously were not perfect, since the Olympic stadium was not build to host a baseball game. The lights only went 50 feet into the air, and more disturbingly, Adolf Hitler's box reached into right field fair territory.^[1] The World Amateurs won the game 6-5 in 7 innings on a walkoff-inside-the-park-homerun by Les McNeece.^[2]

After the game, the players were congratulated and praised by Dr. Carl Diem, the secretary of the German Organization Committee. "I have come officially to advise you that this has been the finest demonstration of any sport that any nation has ever put on at any Olympic Games," Diem said. After this event there were multiple teams that appeared around Berlin and even in southern Germany. When the war started though, the "American pastime" was no longer welcomed, and there was no more baseball played by Germans until after the war.^[1]

During World War II

During World War II, baseball was played in a lot of POW camps by American GIs. About 90% of it was what we would call softball nowadays. Players used the equipment they had and tried to make the best out of it, sometimes it was even necessary to modify some rules.^[3] Baseball was seen as a lifesaver. It reminded the troops of their homeland traditions and it boosted their morale. In almost every camp housing Americans, some Baseball was being played. There were hundreds of teams that played in organized leagues. As the war came to an end, baseball was now played outside of POW camps. Several professional Major League and Negro League players took part in those military competitions, including Hall of Famers Warren Spahn and Leon Day, as well as six-time All-Star Ewell Blackwell. Unfortunately, those games were mainly played for military personnel, which is why it is likely that those events did not have a big impact on the native Germans.^[1]

1945-1980

After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, one of which was controlled by the United States. One of their goals was to expose the German youth to the "American way of life". In order to do that they created the GYA (German Youth Activities), where they used different sports like boxing, athletics and gymnastics, but also baseball, basketball and American football to teach them American values. In the years following the war, baseball did indeed flourish in certain parts of Germany, mainly in Berlin and in the south around cities like Mannheim, Ramstein, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Munich.^[1] In the non-U.S. zones of Germany, baseball was not able to put down roots. By 1948, there existed 140 teams around Germany, and in 1949 the Frankfurt Juniors, the first German baseball club was founded. In 1950, the Allgemeine Baseball-Foederation Deutschland (ABFD) was formed and in 1951, the first German championship tournament was being held.^[4] By 1954, there were more than a couple of European countries playing baseball, and Germany became one of the five founding countries of the Confederation Europenne de Baseball Amateur.^[1] Germany played at the inaugural European Baseball Championship in 1954 where they placed fourth and last.^[1]

In the mid-1950s, many of the American troops returned to the United States, which hurt baseball in Germany a lot.^[5] The next generations of kids were not exposed to the game anymore, and since most clubs were coached by Americans, the necessary knowledge went missing. In the 1970s, Germany traveled to Managua, Nicaragua twice to compete in the Baseball World Cup, but they failed to win a single game, placing last in both tournaments. In 1970, the ABFD was disbanded, and between 1969 and 1981 there was no national champion crowned. By 1979, there existed only one club, the Mannheim Tornados.^[1]

1980 to now

In 1980, a process to rebuild baseball in Germany began. That year, the German baseball community officially registered the Deutscher Baseball und Softball Verband (DBV) as the governing body with German authorities. In 1982, the 1. Baseball Bundesliga was reformed and it is still active today. The number of active players grew from less than 2,000 in 1989 to almost 30,000 players today.^[1]

It is believed that Germany's baseball culture still has a lot of room to grow. The 1. Baseball Bundesliga is one of the most competitive leagues in Europe, just below the Honkbal Hoofdklasse in the Netherlands and the Italian Baseball League. Unfortunately, the Germans have not been able to force themselves into the European elite yet, as they have not had a first or second place finish at the European Championship since the inaugural tournament in 1954.^[1] Nevertheless, there have been several German players that were able to sign with Major League Clubs in the past 18 years, with Max Kepler and Donald Lutz being the two players that made it all the way to the MLB.^[6] With Max Kepler having had three very successful and consistent seasons in a row, there is hope that his success could have an enormous impact on the popularity of baseball in Germany, and that he could be a role model for young kids.^[7] Since 2017, it is now also possible to watch some MLB games on German pay and free tv. The channels SPORT1, SPORT1 US and DAZN are showing more than 75 games a season, which will hopefully increase the popularity of the sport as well.^[8]

American-born players with German ancestry

German Americans represent the largest non-English speaking ethnic group in America since the eighteenth century, and it is no surprise that they comprised a significant percentage of players in baseball history. Between 1871 and 1875 they made up 30% of players, and between 1900 and 1920 roughly 28% of players were of German heritage. Famous German American players include:^[9]

• Levi Meyerle, won the batting title in 1971 with the highest batting average of all-time (.492)
• George Zettlein, who was considered the hardest thrower of the 1870s
• Addie Joss, Hall of Fame pitcher with the second lowest career ERA (1.89), and no losing season, pitched a perfect game
• Ed Reulbach, who completed 201 of 300 starts, and had a 2.28 ERA
• Frank Schulte, who won the first National League MVP award in 1911
• Rube Waddell, Hall of Famer, 2.13 ERA
• Honus Wagner, one of the first 5 inductees to the Hall of Fame, 0.327 career batting average, 8 batting titles, 17 consecutive seasons with a batting average over 0.300
• Chuck Klein, Hall of Famer, Triple Crown in 1933
• Babe Ruth, greatest player in baseball history
• Lou Gehrig, 2 MVPs, 1 Triple Crown, played in 2130 consecutive games, the iron horse
• Cal Ripken Jr., 2632 consecutive games, the iron man, 3183 hits, 19-time All-Star

German-born players in the MLB

In total, there have been 44 German-born players, that played in the MLB. 25 of those players played in the Majors before 1933, and 11 players played between 1933 and 1999.^[10] During the latter time period, only one German player appeared in a Major League All-Star Game,^[11] Glenn Hubbard, a former second baseman and first base coach of the Atlanta Braves.^[12] Since 2000, 8 German-born players have appeared in the MLB, one of which is Edwin Jackson. Jackson was an All-Star in 2009, and he threw a no-hitter on June 25, 2010. In 2018, he also tied a Major League record when he made a pitching appearance for his 13th Major League team.^[13]