Courtesy of The New York Times

and also thanks to Chris Fraser

February 10, 2006

It's a Whole New Ballgame in Ireland, and a Movie, Too

By JACK CURRY

The plucky crusade to introduce baseball to Ireland ignited because of a bumper sticker. Mike Kindle, an

American who moved to Ireland in 1990, saw an Irish Softball Association sticker on a car and begged the

driver to tell him where he could find the group. He prayed it was no joke.

Kindle found the co-ed softball players tossing high-arc pitches on a mushy field. Softball was obviously a

recreational activity, like flipping a Frisbee. The discovery still motivated Kindle, who preferred the more

serious style of hardball that he had left behind in San Diego.

So Kindle persistently pushed the sport of baseball on a country without a single baseball diamond at the

time. Eventually, there were about 30 regulars, some taking awkward swings, some making tortured

throws and most, they said, falling in love with baseball and the notion of possibly playing it for Ireland.

"We decided we should try and form an international team," Kindle said. "We said, 'Let's get some

uniforms and funding and go play.' We were sitting in the boozer over a couple of pints. Over a couple of

pints, it sounded good."

The story of the recent birth of baseball in Ireland, its growth and its baby steps in international

competition is told in "The Emerald Diamond," a film by John J. Fitzgerald. The film will be shown in 20

cities and towns throughout the United States, starting Feb. 25 at the Jacob Burns Film Center in

Pleasantville, N.Y.

Fitzgerald's movie is a charming look at how baseball captivated some dedicated Irishmen. Those young

men, supplemented by American-born players who had a parent or grandparent born in Ireland,

transformed themselves from bumbling weekend warriors into respected competitors. Think of Rudy, the

Notre Dame walk-on, and multiply it by about a dozen.

"I found out about them and I said, 'This is amazing,' " Fitzgerald said. "I had no idea Ireland had a

national team."

The Irish are still minor players on the international scene and are not one of the 16 federations competing

in the inaugural World Baseball Classic next month. While Ireland won the bronze in the B Pool of the 2004

European Championships, the 10-year-old Irish team remains a neophyte.

But Fitzgerald said some players dreamily speak about qualifying for the next classic. The team has

playfully wondered if Derek Jeter. who has Irish roots on his mother's side, could be coaxed into playing

for Ireland. That dream of Jeter wearing green would be impossible, since Jeter's grandmother was born in

New Jersey.

Before Fitzgerald decided to do a documentary, he wanted to be on the team. Fitzgerald played college

baseball and thought he was eligible because his grandmother is a dual citizen. After four months of

workouts, Fitzgerald found out that he was ineligible because his grandmother was born in New York, not

Ireland.

By then, Fitzgerald had communicated with the coaches of Baseball Ireland and heard about their humble

start, their endless obstacles and their snippets of success. If Fitzgerald, a 28-year old from Valhalla,

N.Y., could not play for Ireland, he wanted to follow the team with a camera and recount an intriguing, and

mostly unknown, tale.

"Even now, when I talk to people from Ireland about the baseball team, they think I'm talking about hurling

or an Irish-American team from the U.S.," Fitzgerald said. "Outside of Dublin, no one has ever heard of it."

Cormac Eklof, a pitcher who has a tattoo of Nomar Garciaparra, added, "Nobody knows who we are."

When Kindle, Eklof, Sean Mitchell, John Dillon, Darran O'Connor and some other originals initially played

in Ireland, they trudged across rugby or soccer fields. There were no mounds, so the pitchers dug foot

holes, and no backstops, so they hammered beams into the ground and attached netting. Rain was almost

as predictable as the ball being white. They did have bases, which Eklof said were swiped from the

softball team.

The film shows scenes of players with choppy swings and players fielding balls as if they were catching

shot-puts. The Irish were learning on the fly. Dillon, a strong rugby player, was 25 when he made his

baseball debut, an age when many Americans have stopped playing. He has now been the starting center

fielder for a decade, combining grit with grace.

Ireland debuted in the 1996 European Championships and lost to the Czech Republic, 23-2, but the proud

players were content because they had succeeded in at least competing. Losses to Norway (19-1), Poland

(20-10) and Lithuania (15-5) followed, and exasperation bubbled. Could they be that terrible? The answer

was no. Ireland stopped Yugoslavia, 8-6, in the final game, and the team was ecstatic and relieved.

Still, to continue growing, the Irish needed a real place to play. Peter O'Malley, the former owner of the

Dodgers, donated $140,000 to build adult and youth fields that sit side by side in West Dublin. Some

locals who did not know a double from a double play had to be told not to tear up the infield while

practicing golf shots.

The diamond gave Irish baseball a home and an identity. Ireland won two games in the 1998 European

Championships and one in the 2000 tournament. By 2002, the Irish, who had followed the practice of other

European teams by adding a few American-born college players who possessed dual citizenship, thought

they were threats to win the title. They finished fourth.

But, in 2004, with the additions of Joe Kealty, who hit .337 at Boston College; Chris Gannon, who was

11-4 for the same university; and Brendan Bergerson, an intimidating left-hander from the University of

West Virginia, Ireland beat Serbia-Montenegro to win a bronze medal.

"It feels like we've been on a good trip," said Chris Foy, who is from Seaford, N.Y., and moved to Dublin

and joined the team in 2000. "It took guts for the guys who were playing softball to pick up baseballs and

say, 'Let's give this a try.' "

One of the challenges has been developing pitchers because the popular sports, like hurling, soccer, rugby

and Gaelic football, do not involve throwing. When Ireland adds talent from America, the focus is on

pitchers.

The Irish are also wary of keeping their team from becoming what Eklof called "a bunch of ringers" who

could ruin team chemistry. So the roster is limited to one-third American-born players.

As important as the national team is to the future, the current players are also concerned about having

successors. Rory Murphy, a sturdy catcher, hit .538 as a 16-year old in the 2004 championships and is

considered the premier prospect in Ireland. In a country where 300 children play baseball, that Murphy

favors the new sport over rugby is a coup.

"We need to keep the kids coming," said Will Beglane, the youth director. "If we don't do that, the national

team will end."

Several players will be in New York to see "The Emerald Diamond" before returning to prepare for the

European Championships in August. The two top teams from the B Pool advance to A, and keener

competition in 2007 against the likes of Italy and the Netherlands.

If Ireland can rumble into the A Pool, Kindle, who spied the softball bumper sticker, thinks Fitzgerald

should plan a sequel.

"Even if I wasn't involved, I'd think it was a great story," Kindle said. "You've got a bunch of knuckleheads

running around playing in the rain because they love baseball. It's a writer's dream."