I was lucky enough to get to the MLB International Baseball Festival in Covent Garden in June 1999, just another great way to get people in the UK involved in baseball. If you get a chance to go to one of these they are fantastic, everything is free and you can try your hand at pitching, batting and fielding, great for big and small kids. Johnny Gould (see option 1) has heard a rumour that within three years we may actually get an in season baseball game here in the UK. How good this rumour is we will just have to wait and see. We are lucky just to have three games a week, only two of which are live!
For fans of the sport, there are British baseball teams and to find out more about them check out the British Baseball Federation You might be surprised to find there is a team near you. Milton Keynes has the Milton Keynes Bucks, as a senior team, Pitch Hit and Run in the schools and we have Play Ball in the area too for kids aged 9-12 years
If you are a fan of Major League Baseball, you have three choices.
1. Watch it live on Wednesday's and Sunday's on Channel 5. Also now there is a taped game on Thursday. The show is great, at present the presenters are Todd Macklin, Mr Baseball or the Mooseman as he is known; and Johnny Gould, who is the novice so to speak. Johnny helps us all understand the game, asking the questions those new to the game want to know. They have recently gone all modern and even got themselves an email address. You can contact Todd and Johnny at Major League Baseball on Channel 5 at: mlbmailbox@sunsetvine.co.uk. They also run regular competitions for pretty good prizes.
2. Subscribe to Sky Sports, and get one game a week, not live, and Baseball Max, which is a round up program. Baseball Max, is a good program, doing in depth interviews and plays of the week, alas it is only half an hour. Be warned though, you need to check the listings each week as they change the times.
3. Get a job with an airline so you can fly to America regularly to get the games! Hence I am going to college to study Travel and Tourism....
For fans looking for more ways to get information about Major League Baseball, I am going to steal something that I believe was put together by MLB International for Channel 5. If any one has a problem with this please email me and I will remove it. Also check out the British Baseball Federation page for any other information.
| Magazines/Books | Baseball Weekly is the best source of baseball information.
A weekly (obviously!) newspaper that as far as I know is only available
through Sports Pages: 0171 240 9604. They also have a selection of
other magazines, books and videos. Of course the internet itself is
a good place to look for books one to try is
Amazon Books Most team pages
have their own merchandise and books, including team magazines. Last
but not least Major League Baseball
sell their own goods. Magazines I have tried myself are ESPN Magazine
and Sports Illustrated, but of course these cover all American sports not
just baseball.
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| Merchandise | If you have a credit card again there is a lot available on the
internet. Team sites have a good selection, as do
Major League Baseball .
Here are a list of some other places in the UK.
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| Information | Best to refer to my Links Page. Some
good ones though are
For individual teams refer to the map below.
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If you have any other information or comments please Email Me.