2005 BASEBALL WORLD CUP IN HOLLAND

Lately we have been spending quite a bit of time in Holland preparing the stadiums and fields for the 2005 world cup of baseball that will be held fro Sept 2-18Th.  This is the largest official international tournament of 2005.  The 18 team tournament will be utilizing a large group of Minor League players from Major League Organizations.  We have been assisting with the renovation of the 5 fields in rebuilding of the mounds, plates, turf etc.  Chad Olsen, Dennis Klein, Josh Viet and myself are heading up the field improvements for the International BAseball federation and the Dutch Organizing Committee. The USA team will be managed by Davey Johnson so hopefully we will have a winner under his guidance.  He is a great manager to work with as it relates to field operations

The final games are to played in Rotterdam and Haarlem while Amsterdam, Almere and Eindoven will take part in the first 2 rounds of play.

As far as the fields go our greatest challenge is the mounds and home plates. We are using local clay material which is somewhat below the average material most of the professional guys are used to throwing on but I am sure they will do fine. 

More to BLOG on this tournament as it begins Friday.