Czech Your Swing? Manny Ramirez signs to play in Prague

InstaFace

InstaFace

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Yes, he's north of 50 years old. But the WBC showed us that they have quite a little thing going with baseball in Czechia. And as we know Manny's life is about hitting baseballs, so I'm sure he'd play for almost nothing. In fact I'm not sure the league is even fully professional, but it's baseball and he's got a lot to teach them.

https://nesn.com/2023/08/more-manny-red-sox-legend-reveals-next-chapter-of-playing-career/

He adorably calls it "Czechoslovakia", almost hard to know if it's a bit, even now after all these years.
 
edoug

edoug

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Why do the words "international incident" come to mind? I do love the title of this thread though, A+++.
 
The Gray Eagle

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Hopefully Rickey Henderson, Jamie Moyer, Rick Lancelotti, and Julio Franco will join him over there.
Manny just loves to hit and always has.
 
Old Fart Tree

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They’re actually pretty good. Italy and the Netherlands are the best in Europe, Spain and Czechia (I think that’s what it’s called now?) are next then Belgium and France and such. At least that’s how it was 20 years ago (!) when I was there. Don’t think it’s changed a ton since though.
 
jose melendez

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Old Fart Tree said:
They’re actually pretty good. Italy and the Netherlands are the best in Europe, Spain and Czechia (I think that’s what it’s called now?) are next then Belgium and France and such. At least that’s how it was 20 years ago (!) when I was there. Don’t think it’s changed a ton since though.
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How's the Swiss League? I've got some time on my hands.
 
johnnyfromspain

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Old Fart Tree said:
They’re actually pretty good. Italy and the Netherlands are the best in Europe, Spain and Czechia (I think that’s what it’s called now?) are next then Belgium and France and such. At least that’s how it was 20 years ago (!) when I was there. Don’t think it’s changed a ton since though.
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Things are presently just as you describe, except for German baseball, which has also grown considerably.
What has made things more interesting is that the difference between the top tier (Netherlands and Italy) and Spain has virtually disappeared. On any given day, depending on the pitching, Czech Republic and Germany can also give the top three a run for their money.
There is a European National Team Championship in mid September.
If interested, you can follow daily streaming of games on the World Baseball Softball Confederation- Europe website (www.wbsc.com , if my memory does not fail me!).
Enjoy!
 
Rasputin

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Boston Brawler said:
I go to Prague about 4 times a year, so I really hope he’s out and about in the city often.
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Is Prague as gorgeous as they say? It's rapidly rising my list of cities I want to get to before I'm too goddamn old to enjoy it.

I also want to be the first person in history to go to Amsterdam for the baseball, so there's that.
 
Old Fart Tree

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johnnyfromspain said:
Things are presently just as you describe, except for German baseball, which has also grown considerably.
What has made things more interesting is that the difference between the top tier (Netherlands and Italy) and Spain has virtually disappeared. On any given day, depending on the pitching, Czech Republic and Germany can also give the top three a run for their money.
There is a European National Team Championship in mid September.
If interested, you can follow daily streaming of games on the World Baseball Softball Confederation- Europe website (www.wbsc.com , if my memory does not fail me!).
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Ah that’s cool. I had a buddy playing in Dresden who was a decent ballplayer but nothing special and he was on their top team for a stretch. That was like ten years ago so it’s cool that the Germans have made progress against the Italian/Dutch hegemony.
 
wallythe24

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European Baseball is slowly but surely getting better.
The British got to the recent U23 Euro Championship final where the Dutch showed us how good they are winning 23-5.
We have however qualified for the 2024 U23 World Cup.
France came third , Germany fourth , Italy fifth and Czechia sixth.
 
shaggydog2000

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wallythe24 said:
European Baseball is slowly but surely getting better.
The British got to the recent U23 Euro Championship final where the Dutch showed us how good they are winning 23-5.
We have however qualified for the 2024 U23 World Cup.
France came third , Germany fourth , Italy fifth and Czechia sixth.
Click to expand...
Is the Dutch team heavily Caribbean?
 
Boston Brawler

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Rasputin said:
Is Prague as gorgeous as they say? It's rapidly rising my list of cities I want to get to before I'm too goddamn old to enjoy it.

I also want to be the first person in history to go to Amsterdam for the baseball, so there's that.
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Yes, I think it’s a great Summer/Fall destination, but honestly I love the place so much I would go any season.
The people are all generally really nice and aside from some tourist scams (which are pretty well known if you research/ask around), it’s an awesome city and culture to explore. I used to be stationed 3 hours away so I’ve probably visited like 30 times since 2008.
 
Tokyo Sox

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Man and I had made a joke in the Bhutan thread about him playing there; I didn't think he'd actually go on another one of these adventures.

Old Fart Tree said:
Czechia (I think that’s what it’s called now?)
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During the WBC they went by Czech Republic, but since a few friends at the time were saying Czechia I, uhh, checked, and you can call them either.

If folks want to familiarize themselves with Czech baseball a bit, their road to the WBC documentary is well worth half an hour of your time:
https://www.mlb.com/video/small-country-big-dreams

While its focus is mainly the national team and not the day to day of the Czech Baseball Extraliga, there is still a bit of that, and either way it's a fun primer.

The Czechs were great while they were here for the WBC and made a lot of fans. Ohtani got off the plane in Miami for the semis wearing a CR WBC hat, which then led to them quickly selling out online.
 
Tokyo Sox

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InstaFace said:
Yes, he's north of 50 years old. But the WBC showed us that they have quite a little thing going with baseball in Czechia. And as we know Manny's life is about hitting baseballs, so I'm sure he'd play for almost nothing. In fact I'm not sure the league is even fully professional, but it's baseball and he's got a lot to teach them.

https://nesn.com/2023/08/more-manny-red-sox-legend-reveals-next-chapter-of-playing-career/

He adorably calls it "Czechoslovakia", almost hard to know if it's a bit, even now after all these years.
Click to expand...
Just read the article and the Glob link therein, and looked for others news but, "signs to play in Prague" seems a bit premature, no? So far it's just him saying it right?
 
wallythe24

wallythe24

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Jun 21, 2011
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johnnyfromspain said:
Things are presently just as you describe, except for German baseball, which has also grown considerably.
What has made things more interesting is that the difference between the top tier (Netherlands and Italy) and Spain has virtually disappeared. On any given day, depending on the pitching, Czech Republic and Germany can also give the top three a run for their money.
There is a European National Team Championship in mid September.
If interested, you can follow daily streaming of games on the World Baseball Softball Confederation- Europe website (www.wbsc.com , if my memory does not fail me!).
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Great Britain are gradually making a name for themselves.
Thanks for the nod about the Championship in September.
 
Zupcic Fan

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I love Manny unconditionally. He lived in the same condo complex as my friend VINNIE on Avery Street
One day we walk into the lobby and Manny is sitting on the couch waiting for a car. About 10 people in the lobby, and VINNIE announces “Sitting on that couch is one of our greatest Americans”. Manny burst out laughing and puts his hands in the air and goes “no no no no no !“ big smile on his face. He just loved to hit. Always seemed happy. A pleasure to watch.
 
Manuel Aristides

Manuel Aristides

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I... I would probably fly to Prague for this? Yeah, I would fly to Prague for this. How often do you get the chance to see your childhood hero take one last cut?
 
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