Claus T. Helmig

Claus T. Helmig
Claus T. Helmig 1989
Second baseman , pitcher
Born: January 2, 1936 Frankfurt am Main , Germany
Died on: June 1st, 2016
Suggested: right	Threw: right
DBV tournament statistics (until the end of your career - national team only)
Hits	41
AVG	.219
RBI	22nd
Win-loss	3-9
Awards
9 × German champion 1 × baseball championship (1957) 6 × baseball championships (1955, 1958, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1975)
member of
German Baseball Hall of Fame
Recorded	2006

Claus T. Helmig (born January 2, 1936 in Frankfurt am Main ; † June 1, 2016 ) was a German baseball player , manager and official. He was the first German to receive a professional contract with an American farm team and was the first European to play a minor league game. He is considered one of the greatest baseball players in Germany. Helmig was the founder and department head of the two-time German champions Mannheim Amigos for 20 years and president of the Mannheim Tornados for four years . He has been a member of the German Baseball Hall of Fame since 2006 .

Career as a player

Helmig's interest in baseball developed during the American occupation of Germany . After school, he regularly watched the Americans stationed in Mannheim play. Later he played with him more and more often.

In 1953 Helmig founded the Mannheim Knights, a year later he was already part of the German national baseball team at the first European baseball championship in Antwerp . After another successful EM in 1955, American talent scouts noticed Claus Helmig and his brother Jürgen. Claus Helmig was the first German player to get a contract with a US professional franchise , the Baltimore Orioles . In 1956 he completed a game for the Paris Orioles from Paris (Texas) at Class D level in the Sooner State League.

Helmig has participated in twelve European baseball championships and two world baseball championships for the German national baseball team. In these tournaments he played a total of 67 games, 22 of which as a pitcher. Offensively, he achieved a batting average of 21.9%, 27 runs , 22 RBI and one home run . As a thrower, he had a win-loss of 3-9 and an ERA of 4.17. He won a total of seven medals at European championships, including six bronze medals and one silver medal at the 1957 home championship.

Career as a trainer and manager

Helmig founded the Mannheim Tornados in the early 1950s . From 1975 to 1978 he was president of the Mannheim Tornados.

Family and private

Claus Helmig was the father of Martin Helmig , probably the most successful German baseball player to date and brother of Jürgen C. Helmig , who is also a member of the German Baseball Hall of Fame. In addition to his career as a baseball player, he held salsa concerts with bands from Puerto Rico .

Web links

• Player statistics in the German national baseball team
• Player information and statistics from Baseball Reference (Minor League )
• Obituary of the German baseball academy

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} American pastime rising in Europe. ESPN, September 13, 2011, accessed June 3, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Georg Bull: The baseball godfather passed away Claus Helmig RIP. June 2016, accessed June 14, 2016 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} DBV: Claus T. Helmig. Retrieved June 14, 2016 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} History of a Baseball Clan. Mittelbayerische.de, April 4, 2008, accessed June 3, 2016 . 
5. ↑ VfR mourns Claus Helmig - the makers of the VfR-Amigos died at the age of 80. VfR Mannheim , June 7, 2016, accessed on June 10, 2016 . 
6. ^ Josh Chetwynd, Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History . 1st edition. Mcfarland & Co Inc, Jefferson, North Carolina 2008, ISBN 978-0-7864-3724-5 (English).
7. ↑ Minor League Statistics Claus Helmig. baseball-reference.com, accessed June 10, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Statistics national team men - Statistics for Claus Helmig. DBV , accessed on June 3, 2016 . 
9. ↑ 1945 - How it all began in Mannheim. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 6, 2015 ; accessed on June 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.