Mainz Athletics
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Mainz Athletics founded in 1988 |
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| Full name |
| Baseball and Softball Club Mainz Athletics 1988 eV |
| Nickname (s) |
| A's |
| Club colors |
| green white
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| league |
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| Ball park (s) |
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| president |
| Hartmut Schäfer |
| successes |
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German baseball champion 2007, 2016 |
| Website : www.mainz-athletics.de |
The baseball and softball club Mainz Athletics 1988 eV is a German baseball and softball club from Mainz . With several hundred members, the A's are among the largest baseball clubs in Germany.
history
The roots of the BSC Mainz Athletics lie in the "German-American League". In 1988 the German players of the Mainz Rangers decided to found their own club in order to compete in the Landesliga Hessen in the following year.
As BC Mainz / Wiesbaden Athletics, the team managed to march through from the regional league via the Hessen association league to the 2. Bundesliga center. This was followed by the connection to the baseball association Rhineland-Palatinate BVR, today's southwest German baseball and softball association SWBSV. As Mainz Athletics, they successfully took part in qualifying for the 1st Bundesliga South in 1991 and have been a member of the Upper House of Baseball without interruption since 1992. Despite the uninterrupted participation in the playoffs for the German championship since 1993, the Athletics were able to reach the final for the first time in 2007. As a result, they were also voted Rhineland-Palatinate Team of the Year 2007. In 2010 the play-offs of the 1st baseball league were missed for the first time in the club's history.
2007
The 2007 season was the high point in the history of the A's so far. Shortly before the end of the first half of the season, things looked anything but rosy, after the home defeat against the promoted Haar Disciples on May 12, 2007, they found themselves only in fourth place in the table with an even win-loss ratio (6: 6) and after 14 years in a row, even had to worry about getting into the playoffs. The knot burst on the last day of the second half of the season in Saarlouis . The Athletics turned a 12: 5 deficit into a 13:12 win in the last sections of the game and subsequently lost only three games - one against the Mannheim Tornados and two against the Regensburg Legionnaires . Regensburg thus secured the South Championship, Mainz catapulted itself with this race to catch up (win-loss ratio 13: 3) with 19 wins and 9 defeats to second place in the 1st Bundesliga South.
As in the previous two years, they faced Bonn Capitals in the quarter-finals . After a split in Bonn (4: 2, 1:13) they outclassed the north third on home soil with 21: 2 and benefited in the fourth game from the unsuccessful tactic of the Bonn coach Mathias Winterrath to spare pitcher for a possible fifth game in order to win the series 3: 1 with a 13:10 win and advance to the semi-finals.
With the Solingen Alligators , not only the reigning champions, who previously threw the Mannheim Tornados 3-1 out of the race, but also the Mainz ex-trainer Zeke Mitchem . But with 7: 0 in the first and a surprising 3: 2 in the second game, the defending champions took both games on home soil, so they only needed one win in Solingen to make the first final in the club's history. The first game at Weyersberg went to the hosts 13: 3, but a 3: 0 in game 4 ensured the greatest success for the Athletics to date.
In the final there was none other than the Regensburg Legionnaires, who beat Heidenheim 3-1, i.e. the team against which the Mainz Athletics could not win a game in the regular season. This series should also have existed in the first two finals, a clear 10: 0 in the first game was followed by a 6: 5 defeat in game 2, whereby the Athletics could not save a lead in this game over time. Regensburg was only one victory away from the title and was confident of victory due to the course of the season so far, especially since no team has ever been able to turn such a deficit. And the athletics showed their nerves. Manuel Möller had dominated the legionaries as the starting pitcher, but when he left the field with a 9-1 lead and put the last inning into the hands of his relief pitchers, the disaster took its course. Nils Hartkopf found just as little as Florian Arnold in his game, only youngster Max Boldt was able to stop the race to catch up Regensburg - but it was already 9: 9. After all, it was Flavio Rinaldi who defeated Boldt to 10: 9 victory point in extra time, averted a 3: 0 defeat and kept the Athletics in the race for the championship. This game also went down in the history of German baseball as the first Bundesliga match broadcast live on the internet, for which stadeo.tv was responsible.
With a never endangered 3-1 win in game 4 on the following day, Mainz forced the decisive game on the day of German unity . Manuel Möller, who was elected MVP of the final series and of the season, finally led his dominating team to a 6-3 victory and, after countless titles in the youth field, won the German championship title in the Bundesliga baseball for the first time in club history on the Rhine.
Youth area
The A's are among the top addresses in German baseball, and as a reward, some important events were held on the sandy flora: German school championships, the Bundesliga all-star game several times and the 1999 European junior championship.
In the SWBSV area, the A's youth teams have been champions of their respective classes for years.
German Youth Championships
Juniors
1996/1997/2000/2001/2002/2009
Vice:
1994/1998/1999/2006
youth
1996/2003/2009/2016
Vice:
1992/1998/1999
student
1993/1994/1995/1996/1999/2002
Vice:
2000/2016
Placements
| year | Place BL South | Postseason |
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| 2019 | 1st place |
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| 2018 | 4th Place |
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| 2017 | 2nd place |
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| 2016 | 1st place |
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| 2015 | 4th Place |
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| 2014 | 5th place |
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| 2013 | 3rd place |
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| 2012 | 3rd place |
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| 2011 | 4th Place |
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| 2010 | 5th place |
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| 2009 | 4th Place |
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| 2008 | 4th Place |
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| 2007 | 2nd place |
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| 2006 | 3rd place |
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| 2005 | 2nd place |
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| 2004 | 1st place |
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| 2003 | 4th Place |
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| 2002 | 2nd place |
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| 2001 | 2nd place |
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| 2000 | 1st place |
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| 1999 | 1st place |
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| 1998 | 2nd place |
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| 1997 | 3rd place |
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| 1996 | 4th Place |
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| 1995 | 2nd place |
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| 1994 | 2nd place |
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| 1993 | 3rd place |
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| 1992 | 3rd place |
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Awards for players of the A's
2004
- Best pitcher in the South League: Manuel Möller
- MVP: Ryan Balan
2005
- League South's best pitcher: Ryan Balan
- MVP: Ryan Balan
2006
- Best pitcher in the South League: Manuel Möller
- National players: Manuel Möller, Sascha Lutz, J. Rodriguez
2007
- MVP: Manuel Möller
- Best pitcher of the final series: Keigo Miyagi
- MVP of the final series: Manuel Möller
- National player EM 2007: Sascha Lutz, Manuel Möller (including no-hitter against Austria / only walk against leadoff)
- International World Cup 2007: Sascha Lutz, Nils Hartkopf
2016
- Best pitcher of the final series: Jan-Niclas Stöcklin
- Best batter of the final series: Thomas de Wolf
- MVP of the final series: Max Boldt
- National team EM 2016: Tim Stahlmann, Jan-Niclas Stöcklin, Max Boldt, Kevin Kotowski
successes
German champion 2007, 2016
DBV Cup winner 1993
Just like the softball team, the A's won the Southwest Association's Cup several times. There are also several German championships for the youth teams.
Retired Numbers
- 18 Toni Ciminiera
- 26 Marc Wiedmaier
- 66 Stephan Kaus
Roster
Player of the A's
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Coaches
- Head coach: Max Boldt
- Manager: N. N.
More teams
In addition to the Bundesliga team, the A's have three baseball teams in the 2nd Bundesliga South, the regional and association leagues. The women's softball teams play in the association, national and junior leagues. In addition, the club maintains two leisure teams , the AAA’s (Fastpitch Softball) and the Fan Team (Slowpitch Softball) in the Rhein-Main-Liga as well as teams with juniors, youth and schoolchildren in all junior competitions of the Southwest German Baseball and Softball Association (SWBSV )
Ball park
The home games of the Mainz Athletics were played until 2010 on the sand flora in the border area of the Mainz districts Mainz-Mombach and Mainz-Gonsenheim . The square was previously part of the US military facility Lee Barracks . On the sandy flora, the A's had a baseball and a softball field. Since the places overlap, both could not be played at the same time.
Since the place was in the middle of a residential area and it got very noisy during games, the A's had to vacate their place. Therefore, the club planned to build a new ball park on Hartmühlenweg (around 500 meters east of the current facility) from 2007 .
After a long planning and construction phase, this project was completed in 2011. On May 28, 2011, the Mainz Athletics played their first home game in the completed new ball park against Heidenheim Heideköpfe. The first night game (floodlight game) took place on June 3, 2011 against the Bad Homburg Hornets. The new facility offers expanded training and play options: the baseball field and softball field are now separate and can be played on in parallel. There is also a baseball training field and a hall for batting training. The floodlights now available mean that games can also take place in the evening. Professional catering is now possible in the clubhouse, changing rooms, showers and storage facilities are also available.
The All-Star-Game of the baseball-Bundesliga has already been played several times at the Sandflora, as well as a European Cup tournament and in 1999 the Junior European Championship and in 2002 the first All-Star Game in Softball.
Web links
swell
- ↑ kanal8.de: Baseball: About wrestling and the third victory - The legionnaires are facing a historic opportunity ( Memento from May 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Mainz baseball players start the final series with two defeats
- ↑ stadeo.tv: Bundesliga Final - Mainz vs Regensburg - Game 3
- ↑ stadeo.tv: Bundesliga Final - Mainz vs Regensburg - Game 4
- ↑ Change of coach at the Athletics. March 10, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .
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North: Bonn Capitals | Berlin flamingos | Cologne Cardinals | Dohren Wild Farmers | Dortmund Wanderers | Hamburg Stealers | Paderborn Untouchables | Solingen alligators
South: Hair Disciples | Heidenheim Heideköpfe | Mainz Athletics | Mannheim tornadoes | Bookbinders Legionaries | Stuttgart Reds | Tübingen Hawks | Ulm Falcons
| North | ||
| south |