The History of
THE HELLENIC AMATEUR BASEBALL FEDERATION
By Tom Mazarakis
Author’s note: This work is the sole creation of the author and represents his personal understanding of the people, circumstances, and events that he personally witnessed or researched. The author welcomes any and all comments including information that might have been missed and would need to be added, as well as information that might be incorrect and would need to be deleted or corrected. All criticisms are also welcome, provided they are constructive criticisms.
The Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation, or HABF, was first established in the year 1997 soon after the announcement was made that Greece would host the 2004 Olympic Games.
The ancient Greeks invented most of the classic track and field events and their contemporary descendants continue to compete at the highest of levels. Even the more recently added contemporary Olympic sports have almost all been embraced by the modern Greeks; all but a few exceptions. Among those few exceptions was Baseball.
Helping Greek athletes so that they can compete at the Olympic level has always been of great importance to every Greek government dating all the way back to the days of the classical Greeks and the original Olympic Games. This importance is personified by the fact that in the days of ancient Greece, any Athenian athlete who should win first place (there were no rewards for coming in second or third) in his sport at the Olympic Games, would be handsomely rewarded with various honors, the most important of which was receiving the title of “Olympionikis” or “Olympian Winner”. He also received various financial forms of support, most important of which was the fact that he would be eligible to receive one free meal per day for the rest of his life, courtesy of the “State of Athens”. In those days, that was considered to be a very significant financial award. If an Athenian who already placed first during one Olympic Games competition should win first place in a second Olympic Games competition, then he was awarded a second daily free meal for the rest of his life. Obviously, the Greeks have always loved sports of every kind, and take particular pride in their “champions”. They were and continue to be intense competitors who do everything with pride, passion and a burning desire to win!
Today, all Greek athlete champions receive assistance in the form of both moral and financial support. In modern times, the Greek people take pride whenever a Greek athlete participates in any Olympic sport. Just being good enough to participate is a huge honor. At that crucial time in 1997, the then Greek Minister of Sports, Panagiotis Fouras, recognized this once in a lifetime opportunity to establish a new sport in Greece, thus providing the possibility for a significant number of more Greek athletes to enjoy the opportunity to become “Olympian Winners”. He immediately set out on the task of establishing this new sport so that more Greek athletes could compete at the games of 2004.
Thus, the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation was to be born, but not without a great deal of effort. As with most things in modern Greece, the bureaucratic establishment is such that the process of creating a new sports federation is very difficult, time consuming, and often frustrating.
Setting up the Federation
To begin with, Mr. Fouras needed someone he could trust to follow through and spearhead the endeavor. He asked his old friend Panagiotis Mitsiopoulos if he would be interested in helping out. Mr. Mitsiopoulos was a successful and rather busy hotel owner who certainly didn’t need the headaches. Nonetheless, Mr. Fouras knew that his old friend Panos would never turn away from a challenge. Thus, Panos Mitsiopoulos accepted his friend’s invitation and set out on a long journey through exceptionally treacherous waters on a course that would lead to the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004!
Although not lacking in enthusiasm, Mr. Mitsiopoulos did not have the technocratic know-how that was needed to proceed with all the red tape involved in establishing a new sports federation in Greece. Thus, he asked the well known sports attorney Ilias Lakoumentas to provide the necessary legal advice in order to proceed. Mr. Lakoumentas is an attorney who had served as legal counsel to the ministry of sports for many years and who later helped rewrite the sports law of Greece in 1999. He knew exactly what was needed from the legal standpoint and dramatically minimized the time and effort that was needed during the setup process.
One of the first issues Mr. Lakoumentas addressed was the requirement that in order for a sports federation to exist, it must have at least 21 clubs as members. Each club needed to be recognized by the General Secretariat of Sports. Here is where Mr. Mitsiopoulos’ ability to mobilize people and resources began to take shape. He contacted friends and acquaintances throughout Greece who were in any way involved with a sports club. Within a few weeks, he was able to gather the support and membership of 23 clubs. Although these 23 different clubs sponsored various different Olympic sports, none of them had ever been active in baseball. But, for many of them, that was soon to change. Aris, Spartakos, Titans, Marousi 2004, Pelopas, and many others soon established baseball departments.
Thus, with a 23 club membership, the HABF held its first elections for its Board of Directors. The first board later convened for their first official board meeting and selected their officers as follows:
President: Panagiotis Mitsiopoulos
Secretary General: Ilias Lakoumentas
A’ Vice President: Athanassios Zissimopoulos
B’ Vice President: Vlassis Kitsos
Treasurer: Georgios Bourdoumis
Special Secretary: Panaggelos Kanistras
Members: Georgios Kalavessios
Vassilios Gounaris
Maria Papadopoulou
Georgios Kiriakopoulos
Panagiotis Lampsias
By early 1998 and with the HABF legally established, Mr. Mitsiopoulos was now able to begin the task of putting together teams and starting a league. In the beginning, this proved to be very difficult.
One of the most difficult obstacles the newly formed HABF needed to overcome was the near “cut-throat” rivalry amongst the various sports federations. Each fiscal year, the General Secretariat of Sports (GGA) is assigned the task of distributing government funds to the various different “recognized” Olympic Sports federations. Each different sports federation submits its own proposed budget each year to the GGA. The GGA reviews the proposed budget and makes amendments as it sees fit. Typically, each federation is forced to accept a lesser amount than that which it had originally asked for in its “proposed budget”. How close their allocated funding reached their proposed budget request depended on various factors, not least of which was each federation’s president’s ability to persuade the GGA to give more instead of less. The total amount of the appropriated funds available each year is a finite amount that is established by the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, everyone can understand that when a new federation is added to the list, each of the other federations stands to lose some of their funding. Obviously, when it became known that a baseball federation was now going to be competing with the others for money, the overwhelming reaction from the older federations was negative, to say the least. Each President of each federation fought for every penny they received and they certainly didn’t like the idea that a new sport was going to force them to make budgetary cutbacks. But, despite the overwhelming outcry against the HABF and its need for funding, Mr. Mitsiopoulos was able to secure the necessary funding to get the federation and baseball started in Greece.
A second and equally important obstacle was the fact that although money is necessary, it certainly isn’t enough. The HABF needed help in the form of expertise that was not readily available in Greece.
Luckily, the United States Ambassador to Greece at that time was Nicholas Burns. Ambassador Burns was a well known baseball enthusiast and Boston Red Sox fan. When he learned about the Greek baseball initiative, he contacted Mr. Mitsiopoulos and offered his help. Mr. Mitsiopoulos gladly accepted his offer. Ambassador Burns contacted Major League Baseball and several influential Greek Americans. The most important man he brought into the picture was Peter Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Together, they created the non-profit organization “Friends of Greek Baseball & Softball”.
In the mean time, the HABF needed to start a baseball league in Greece. Mr. Mitsiopoulos knew very little about the sport of baseball and needed to find people who could assist his efforts. Asking around amongst his friends and acquaintances, he found Dimitris Gousios. Mr. Gousios had lived several years in the U.S. where he acquired his degree in physical education before returning to Greece. Although he never actually played the game of baseball at a professional level, he was very familiar with the rules and enjoyed the game very much. He immediately set out on the quest of finding athletes who would be interested in participating in a Greek league. Mr. Gousios displayed exceptional “Public Relations” capabilities and almost single handedly searched out and identified over two hundred athletes who either knew how to play the game or else were very interested in learning how. He provided invaluable services to the HABF including being an umpire for the first 2 Greek Championships in 2000 and 2001, while helping to set up all the championships and tournaments that were run by the HABF. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Greek baseball effort, he was rewarded by being assigned to the post of “National Team Coach”. Although he resigned his position only a few days before the 2004 Olympics amidst controversy over how many “home grown” athletes should be included on the Olympic team roster, his contributions to Greek baseball are generally greatly recognized and appreciated.
After receiving the call from Ambassador Burns along with the obvious interest displayed by Peter Angelos, “Major League Baseball International” decided to help the “Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation”. MLBI’s goal was to help baseball development in Greece. The first assistance was in the form of equipment. A whole container of equipment was shipped to Athens in the summer of 1999 and the HABF distributed the equipment to the various newly formed baseball teams. Later, in 2001, they sent Mike Riskas as their “Coach in Residence in Greece” for the promotion and development of youth “Grass Roots” programs.
By the year 2001, Greek baseball was looking very promising. Over 10 teams had been created, making a viable league with a championship and Cup Trophy tournament as well. Noting the support of Ambassador Burns, Peter Angelos, and MLBI, the HABF put forth their argument to the General Secretariat of Sports that they had a serious prospect of fielding a competitive Olympic team. Based on these facts, the General Secretariat of Sports decided to finance the HABF towards that goal. The HABF was allocated funding to rebuild the existing softball and baseball fields at the old American Air Force Base at Hellenikon. Funding was provided to pay for umpires, scorekeepers, doctors, grounds keepers, and administrative staff. Funds were also provided for the purpose of paying transport and accommodation costs for teams from other cities to travel to Athens in order to participate in the championship and cup tournaments. This type of government funding is relatively rare for team sports since clubs are typically expected to pay for their own expenses. Normally, private club teams of all sports pay for their own travel, lodging, and food expenses whenever they hit the road. This is a universal truth, but the HABF decided to subsidize the teams from Patra, Thessaloniki, and Kefalonia so as to support the development of the sport overall. Of course, this meant that a significant amount of the HABF’s budget was devoted towards travel expenses when it might have been used to help the “grass roots” development of the sport. But, the HABF leadership felt that it needed to help the sport to get started with teams that could compete at as high a level as possible in lieu of the upcoming Olympic Games. Thus, it was deemed necessary to initially help teams that were based outside of Athens so that they could participate and thereby increase the competitiveness of the Greek Baseball League.
The generally held belief by everyone involved in the baseball effort was that the participation of a Greek National Team at the Athens 2004 Olympics could “jump-start” a widespread interest in the sport throughout Greece in much the same way as basketball did after 1987. In 1987, the National Team of Greece won the European Championship by defeating the then all powerful Soviet Union team in the final game, which was played in Athens. Basketball was being played in Greece from the late 1920’s and many of the best athletes who participated were Greeks of the diaspora who returned to Greece. The most notable of all was Nick Gallis who led Aris of Thessaloniki to 7 straight Greek championships from 1984 to 1991 and whose brilliant play during the European Championship of 1987 brought victory to the Greek team. After that memorable and amazing achievement against the Russians in 1987, almost every young Greek wanted to learn the game. As a result, the Greek basketball league is today by far the best in Europe and is probably only second to the NBA in the entire world. Greek basketball players have established themselves as amongst the best athletes in the world landing lucrative contracts in the NBA and elsewhere. Thus, from a country that primarily depended on imported talent, Greece now is viewed as a country that produces some of the best basketball players in the world. Moreover, more and more foreign players are interested in playing in the Greek league and all this has brought the Greek basketball league’s caliber to great heights.
This is the only reason why the Greek government was willing to finance the whole baseball “adventure”. If the HABF could put together a competitive team that would be able to possibly make it to the medal round of the Olympics, then that could be enough to generate enough public interest in the sport so that more clubs would be interested in establishing baseball teams for youths, thus laying the foundation for the sport’s future. But, of course, everyone recognized that should the team be excessively outclassed and should lose each game by mercy rule, the exact opposite results would be experienced. The public would laugh at the sport and justifiably shrug it off as a “stupid” foreign game not worthy of Greek interest.
Everyone involved in the sport in 2001 recognized that it would be impossible to field a competitive team without bringing Greeks of the diaspora to help. The local Greek league players were not anywhere near good enough to play at the Olympic level. Most agreed, though, that a certain number of “home grown” players had to be included on the roster. Heated discussions and debate took place over the subsequent years leading up the Olympics as to the exact number of “home grown” players that could (or should) be included. Arguments were made by different individuals for numbers ranging from “none” to “all” and every possible number combination in between for the 24 man roster. It was not an easy decision to make, especially when the HABF leadership was bombarded with “back door” requests for certain “off the wall” players to be included on the roster. Ultimately, the HABF leadership refused to get involved with this controversial issue and empowered the Coaching staff with complete and final authority to make the roster selections as per their own judgment.
Back in the United States, “The Friends of Greek Baseball and Softball”, under the leadership of Peter Angelos, began the search for existing high caliber baseball players of Greek descent. Mr. Angelos placed this project amongst the Baltimore Orioles organization’s highest priorities. He set up a task force that was Chaired by his son Lou Angelos and included corporate executive Tom Maroudas, MLBI’s “Coach in Residence” Mike Riskas, University of North Florida Coach Dusty Rhodes, White Sox scout John Kazanas, and one of the Orioles’ top scouts, Robert Derksen. With the invaluable assistance of Mike Riskas in Greece, Rob Derksen led the scouting task force that was assigned the mission of scouting out any and all baseball players who were of Greek descent that could be included on the Greek roster. “Derk” traveled throughout the country and to Canada in his quest. By the end of 2001 he had accumulated a list of over 75 capable and talented men.
The Italian Connection
While all these preparations were being made in Greece and in the U.S., others were busy making other plans. Specifically, in 1997 (when Athens was awarded the honor of hosting the 2004 Olympic Games) the late Aldo Notari was probably the most powerful man in international baseball circles. At that time he held the following positions simultaneously:
President of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF)
President of the European Baseball Confederation (CEB)
President of the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
Executive Board Member of the Italian National Olympic Committee
Knowing full well that Greece had absolutely no baseball or softball in 1997, Mr. Notari immediately started lobbying on behalf of Italy so that the 2004 Olympic Baseball and Softball events would be hosted by Italy instead of Greece. He used his powerful positions to influence not only the International Olympic Committee, but his arguments made perfect sense to the Athens 2004 Olympic Organizing Committee as well. By allowing the Italians to host the baseball and softball games, the Athens 2004 Committee would not need to build the fields nor incur all the other expenses associated with hosting eight full baseball teams, eight full softball teams, umpires, scorekeepers, and countless others. Unlike most of the other Olympic sports, baseball and softball fields were looked upon as being a waste of land and resources since they would logically not find any use after the games.
The Italians had been playing baseball since 1947 and already had several excellent baseball and softball fields that were ready for use. For Italy, this would have been an excellent opportunity to further promote the sport while generating considerable income for the Italian baseball and softball communities. Thus, almost everyone looked upon Mr. Notari’s idea favorably and as a “win-win” solution for all parties involved. Everyone except Mr. Mitsiopoulos and the HABF!
When Mr. Mitsiopoulos learned of Mr. Notari’s plans, he immediately went on the “counter-attack”. Through his political and other connections, he first “pounced” upon the Athens 2004 Olympic Committee and demanded that they completely discard any ideas about relinquishing the baseball venues to the Italians. He met with considerable resistance from the AOC and it took several months of great effort to convince them that they should not allow any of the Olympic Sports to be conducted outside of Greece, especially not baseball. It may not have been a well known sport in Greece, but it was widely known throughout the world and playing the games in Greece was worth the effort and resources needed to make it happen.
With his dream of hosting the Olympic Baseball and Softball events in Italy on the verge of collapse, Mr. Notari re-tooled his strategy. Instead of appealing to the International Olympic Committee and the AOC with arguments supported by logic and significant economic savings, he turned his attention to the Greek team participation in those sports. He knew that the future of the HABF and the sport of baseball in Greece were dependent upon Greece fielding an Olympic Team. If Greece didn’t field a team, then the HABF would be dissolved and his adversary, Mr. Mitsiopoulos, would be neutralized. As President of IBAF, he simply dismissed any notion of a Greek baseball team participating in the Olympics. This was easy for him to do. After the famous “Jamaican Bob Sled” scandal, no sports federation was going to allow its sport to be humiliated by athletes or teams that would embarrass themselves, their sport, their country, or the Olympics. Mr. Notari repeatedly informed Mr. Mitsiopoulos that a Greek team would not be able to participate. As all who were involved with the sport in Greece knew, without a Greek Team in the Olympics, the future of Greek baseball was dubious at best. Funding would logically have been terminated and the fields would never have been built.
With its back to the wall, the HABF needed to act and to act quickly. Mr. Mitsiopoulos argued that Greece could not be deprived of the opportunity to participate in the Athens Olympics with a representative baseball team. Furthermore, he insisted that the HABF could field a very competitive team that would be able to play as an equal against any other National Team in the world. Thus, after continuous negotiations, IBAF and Aldo Notari finally agreed to entertain the possibility that a Greek team could qualify. To do so, the HABF needed to put together a team that would need to travel to Holland in July of 2003 and participate in the A’ Pool European Championship where it would need to come in either first or second place. But, before the team would get that opportunity, it had to first travel to Hungary in July of 2002 where the European B’ Pool Championship would be played. The Greek National Team had to start from the B’ Pool and prove itself worthy of promotion to the A’ Pool. IBAF President Aldo Notari was very confident that Mr. Mitsiopoulos and the HABF would never be able to field a team that would be able to even come close to qualifying for the Olympics. For the tournament in Hungary, the Greek team had to finish in first place. Otherwise, the team would not be allowed to play in the A’ Pool European Championships in 2003, which was also the qualifying tournament for the Athens Olympics of 2004.
Consequently, Mr. Mitsiopoulos, and everyone else involved in the Greek baseball effort, knew very well that there was no room for error. The HABF had to assemble a Greek team that could compete at the highest possible level and then take that team to Hungary.
Greece makes its debut in its first ever official International Tournament:
Despite the dreams, aspirations, and best intentions of the local Greek league athletes and coach, ultimately, it was clear to everyone that the only way a Greek team could possibly hope to achieve its goals was if help was brought over from across the Atlantic.
By July of 2002, Baltimore Orioles’ Rob Derksen had put together an impressive collection of mostly minor league Greek American and Greek Canadian ball players and took them to Hungary to play in the B’ Pool European Championship. Completely comprised of Greeks of the diaspora (even the 2 players selected from active members of local Greek teams were both Greek Americans), the Greek team was invincible. They won all their games in only 7 innings due to the mercy rule and obviously by lopsided scores. Their first game was against Slovakia, which ended up in second place, and the Greek team overwhelmed them 21 – 0. The National team of Greece scored 21 runs to support Alexander Cremidan’s brilliant pitching with 11 strike outs, a complete game and a no-hitter. In the end, the team scored a total of 121 runs while smacking 25 homers and giving up only 8 runs during the entire tournament.
Mr. Notari never expected that a Greek team would be able to win the 2002 B’ Pool European Championship, but he graciously congratulated the team and Mr. Mitsiopoulos. But, he argued that the B’ Pool was relatively easy and that things would not be so easy in A’ Pool. He was confident that the Dutch and Italian teams would easily take first and second place and that the Greek team would thus be disqualified, opening the way for renewed negotiations with the AOC for the baseball venues to be moved to Italy.
In the mean time, the AOC kept postponing the start of construction of the Olympic Baseball Stadiums pending the results of the 2003 European Championships. If Greece were to be disqualified from participation in the 2004 Athens Olympics baseball event, then Mr. Mitsiopoulos and the HABF would no longer be able to insist that the games be held in Athens. Without a Greek Olympic Baseball team, the GGA would have curtailed funding for the HABF and the short lived Greek baseball adventure would have abruptly come to a halt. The AOC could then easily move the baseball games to Italy thereby dramatically reducing overall expenses. The AOC was already running grossly “over budget” and the prospect of eliminating any of the less popular sports was very appealing.
Now on to the next plateau!
Mr. Mitsiopoulos was well aware of the obstacles that he and the HABF faced. The entire future of baseball in Greece was dependent on whether or not a Greek team could achieve the impossible. The team would need to at least take 2nd place at the 2003 A’ Pool European Championships. The teams that the Greek team would need to beat were not going to be as easy as the teams they faced in the B’ Pool. For the last 50 years, European Baseball has been dominated by the Dutch and Italian teams. These teams would be the hardest to beat. The Dutch, who also had the advantage of playing the tournament in their home country that year, have a professional baseball league in Holland and many of their best players come from the Dutch Antilles. Most of their players have played in either the Minor or Major leagues in the United States and although many of them don’t speak Dutch, they do have Dutch citizenship and were thus eligible to play for The Netherlands. The Italians also have a professional baseball league in Italy where many of the players have played in the minors and Major League baseball as well. The Italian National team has always recruited the best American baseball players of Italian descent that they could. Beating either of these teams was not going to be easy.
The Greek team, which consisted of 22 players from North America and 2 players selected from the local Greek league, had played in the B’ Pool European Championships of 2002 and suddenly established Greece as a European baseball power worthy of respect. But, Mr. Notari and IBAF still insisted that the Greek team needed to place 1st or 2nd in the A’ Pool Championship the following year. Otherwise, Greece was not going to be allowed to field an Olympic Team.
Rob vowed to bring an even better team to Holland for the A’ Pool Championship and that is exactly what he did. The Greek team was even better in 2003 than it was in 2002. Despite losing their first game of the tournament against Spain by a score of only 1 – 0, the Greek team bounced back to easily defeat all the subsequent opponents including Italy in a very exciting and close game by a score of 2 – 1 . In the semi-final game, Greece faced Spain for a second time, but this time Greece easily defeated Spain by a score of 10 – 0 in 8 innings. Thus, Greece played in the final game against The Netherlands and although they lost that game by a score of 2 – 0, they played extremely well and proved beyond any doubt that Greece could play the game. By fully meeting the qualification standards put forth by IBAF, Greece justifiably won it’s right to play baseball in the Olympics.
Not willing to give up, the Italian Baseball Federation filed a protest with the European Baseball Confederation that some of the Greek athletes who were on the Greek team had “provisional” Greek passports and not regular Greek passports. They argued that those athletes were not “real” Greek citizens and therefore were not qualified to compete for Greece. But, well before the championship was played, Mr. Mitsiopoulos had secured written authorization from CEB allowing those Greek athletes to compete with only “provisional” passports. IBAF and the CEB were confident that the Greek team would never be able to qualify, even with help from the U.S. They therefore allowed the Greeks to play with provisional passports. Moreover, this was not the first time that athletes were allowed to participate on national teams with only provisional passports. In the past, almost every team in Europe asked for and received authorization to use American born athletes with provisional passports of their respective countries of heritage. Thus, the Italian’s last ditch effort to undermine the Greek triumph was defeated.
By taking the silver medal at the 2003 A’ Pool European Championships in Holland, the Greek National Baseball team accomplished that which almost everyone believed was impossible. They guaranteed the Greek Baseball National Team’s participation in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. But, more importantly, it paved the way for the construction of the two Olympic Baseball venues that were built on the site of the old Olympic Airlines Airport at Hellenikon, and for the near simultaneous construction of two Olympic practice fields that were built on the site of the old American Air Force Base at Hellenikon. The main Olympic “Field # 1” was erected as a permanent facility that could accommodate up to 9,000 spectators. The secondary Olympic “Field # 2” was erected with pre-fab structures, which were removed after the games were over. Both Olympic fields were built by the Athens 2004 Olympic Committee and have since been passed on to the Greek government owned organization “Hellenic Olympic Properties” for disposition.
The practice fields were built by the General Secretariat of Sports (GGA), which released the fields to the AOC for use during the Olympic Games so that the various Olympic Baseball teams could use the fields for practice purposes. After the games were over, dominion over the fields was reclaimed by the GGA, which shortly thereafter allocated the use and maintenance to the HABF. It should be noted that the original GGA plans called for only one practice field to have been built at the old American Air Force Base and that the second field was to be built on a site located in Ano Liosia. Luckily, Mr. Mitsiopoulos used his political and other connections to change those plans so that both baseball fields would be built on the same site. Otherwise, the second field in Ano Liosia would surely have been lost to another sport or other organization.
We’re not out of the woods yet!
Aldo Notari’s dream of hosting the 2004 Olympic Baseball games in Italy was now lost. But, as a responsible President of IBAF, he was still concerned about how well, or more importantly, how poorly the Greek team might perform in the Olympics. Mr. Notari was well informed about the status of sports in Greece and the rules and regulations that govern it. Of particular interest and importance to him were the laws pertaining to Greek “Olympionikis” or “Olympian Winners”. As per Greek law, any Greek athlete who should place within the top 8 final positions in any Olympic Games sport wins the title of “Olympian Winner”. Besides the obvious honor of “Olympian Winner” status, the Greek government rewards these great athletes with significant cash awards, the amount of which depends on their final ranking; i.e. First, Second, Third……Eighth. Also, Olympian Winners are rewarded with the ability to obtain a civil service position within one of several different government organizations such as the police department, army, navy, etc. For example, Gold medal winners typically are rewarded with a military commission as an officer in the Greek army or Air Force. They receive full pay and benefits and retire after 20 years with the rank of general. They also receive other less important benefits as well. Understandably, this was of great importance by virtue of the fact that there were only 8 baseball teams competing in the Olympics. Thus, even if the Greek team lost all of its games and came in dead last place, the players would still automatically obtain “Olympian Winner” status and would be eligible to receive all the benefits as prescribed by Greek law. Being very familiar with the “south-eastern Mediterranean” mentality, Aldo recognized that the HABF leadership might be tempted to make some changes in the Greek roster and replace certain athletes with others so that specific individuals would be able to reap the benefits because of the people “they knew” and not because of what they could do on the field. Fearing this scenario, Aldo repeatedly warned Mr. Mitsiopoulos and the HABF that the Greek Olympic team had to be as good as or better than the Greek team that played in Holland. Consequently, the 40 man roster that was to be submitted to IBAF at least 2 months prior to the games was to be carefully scrutinized. If the HABF removed any of the names that were included on the 24 man roster that played in Holland in 2003, IBAF was going to demand explanations. For any new names on the 40 man roster, IBAF again was going to demand explanations. Obviously several names were removed and several names were added, but they were all easily justified by HABF. If the explanations did not satisfy Aldo Notari and IBAF, the Greek team’s participation in the Olympics would have been seriously jeopardized. Even if the need arose at the very last minute, IBAF was prepared to disqualify an inferior Greek team and to invite another country to take its place at the Athens Olympics. That team could quite possibly have been the team from the United States, which was eliminated during the Olympic qualification Pan-American games of 2003. The American team was eliminated by Mexico in a pitcher’s duel by a score of 2-1. America’s elimination dramatically diminished world interest in the Athens 2004 Olympic baseball event which significantly reduced the IOC’s revenues from that sport. A last minute invitation to the American team would have considerably increased interest and revenues for the IOC and for the AOC.
Indeed, the National Team coach, Dimitris Gousios, Mr. Mitsiopoulos and several members of the HABF board of directors came under fierce pressure from every direction possible. As the deadline for submission of the 40 man roster approached, they were bombarded with requests for “certain” people to be included on the Greek Olympic Team Roster. Great pressure was brought to bear by dozens of Greek athletes who played in the local Greek league. Most of these athletes were amongst the best players who played on local Greek teams, but Rob Derksen and the other American coaches all agreed that absolutely no one that they had ever seen playing in the Greek league was anywhere near good enough to be on the Olympic team. Rob had plenty of far superior talent to choose from amongst the athletes he and his assistants found in the U.S. and Canada. The final Olympic team roster was to consist of a maximum allowable 24 men. Of these:
10 were to be pitchers; five starters and five relievers.
5 were to be infielders
4 were to be outfielders
1 was to be the DH (designated hitter)
2 were to be back-up catchers
1 was to be a back-up infielder with speed for pinch running duties
1 was to be a back-up outfielder with power hitting ability for pinch
hitting duties
Rob and his fellow coaches knew that there was absolutely no room on the roster for inferior players. The level of play at the Olympics was the highest in the world and only the best Greek players could be included. Nonetheless, the HABF insisted that Rob include as many local Greek league athletes as possible. The HABF leadership felt that it was necessary to reward the best athletes who participated in the local Greek league by including them on the Olympic team roster. Although the number of those athletes was never firmly established by the HABF, the general consensus held by most was that they would be happy with four. Although that number was not absolute, an unofficial minimum was set for at least two athletes.
As the deadline approached, Rob began to receive pressure himself. Athletes wanting to be on the roster began to call him from Greece almost daily. Being on the receiving end of tremendous pressure himself, Mr. Gousios kept calling Rob and repeatedly asked him to do his best to include as many local Greek players as possible. In the mean time, many of the best players Rob had found were being lost to injuries and other problems. Of particular concern was the loss of three of the Greek team’s starting pitchers some three months prior to the Games. Before losing these key pitchers, Rob had tentatively decided to include 4 players from the Greek league. Their names will never be known, but they were to fill the following positions:
1 pitcher
1 catcher
1 infielder
1 outfielder
But, when he lost those three pitchers he had to re-evaluate his plans for local Greek player inclusion. Rob was thus forced to again go out on the hunt to replace those pitchers and about 2 months prior to the start of the games disaster struck. On June 16, 2004 and while scouting a prospect for the team in New York City, Robert W. Derksen suddenly and completely unexpectedly passed away at the young age of 44. This most unfortunate event shocked the entire Greek baseball world. Rob was a man who was always cheerful, energetic, and optimistic about everything he did. His passing had a huge impact on the entire Greek baseball effort. Assistant coach Dusty Rhodes was asked to take over the position of team manager and although Dusty was and is an extremely gifted and successful baseball team manager in his own right, Rob’s passing at that particular point in time made things very difficult for the Greek team.
With the help of Mike Riskas and John Kazanas, Dusty immediately set out on the task of identifying and recruiting replacement pitchers. This proved to be very difficult since time was not on his side. Under these circumstances, Dusty informed Mr. Mitsiopoulos that he was not going to include any players from amongst the local Greek league teams. Without enough starters who could actually last out at least 6 or 7 innings, Dusty needed to bring more than 10 pitchers. The only way he could realistically do that was by eliminating any players from the Greek league. Dusty’s request was met with firm disapproval from Mr. Mitsiopoulos and the HABF. Mr. Mitsiopoulos understood the severity of Dusty’s predicament, but he insisted that some players from amongst the Greek league teams absolutely had to be on the roster. Mr. Mitsiopoulos and the other board members of the HABF pressed for 4 or more “home grown” athletes, but Dusty argued that such a move would have been suicidal to the team. Eventually, they all compromised and agreed that ultimately two athletes would be chosen from the “home grown” players and that Dusty would make the choice as to which two they would be.
Thus, in July of 2004, Dusty, Mike, and John travelled to Athens where they held tryouts for the two available spots on the roster from amongst the “home grown” athletes. During the 5 days of tryouts, it became obvious that despite their leniency, none of the athletes were capable of performing at the Olympic level at any position. Thus, not having any choice in the matter and forced to choose at least two men regardless, they decided to pick one pitcher and one catcher. The pitcher would only have been possibly used in relief in the latter part of a game where there was no hope of winning or little danger of losing, and the catcher was to be the 3rd backup and bullpen catcher who might get a chance to pinch-hit in a game or two. With these spots in mind, they picked the best pitcher and the best catcher in the Greek league. This was not a difficult choice to make. For certain, the best pitcher in the Greek league was clearly Christopher Robinson of Spartakos Glyfadas, and the best catcher in the Greek league was by all means Dimitris Douros of Marousi 2004. These were the same two athletes chosen by Rob Derksen himself in 2002 for the team that played in Hungary for the 2002 B’ Pool European Championships. Dusty and the other coaches were not particularly happy about including two men that were taking the places of other players who potentially were more important to the team, but they did feel satisfaction in that they believed that they picked the best out of the pool of players that they were forced to choose from.
To make matters worse, one of the best players on Rob’s roster, Aaron Miles, was called up from the minors by the Rockies. Aaron is an extremely talented switch hitting second baseman whose bat in the line-up was crucial. His removal from the roster created a huge void that was very difficult to fill. Running out of time and options, Dusty was forced to invite 3 pitchers who were not as good as the ones Rob was depending on, but they were just going to have to do the best that they could. Thus, the Greek team was forced to compete at a lower level than that which they were hoping for. As if this situation wasn’t bad enough, a few days before the games were to begin, two players; A.J. Brack, an experienced and hard throwing starting pitcher, and Derek Nicholson, an outfielder with a powerful bat, were both disqualified from participating in the Olympics because they tested positive for use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Both athletes were innocent of any wrongdoing, but there was not enough time to prove their innocence and they were removed from the roster. No other pitcher was available to replace A.J., but at least Derek’s spot was taken by an alternate outfielder, Peter Rasmussen. Thus, the final Greek team’s roster consisted of only 23 players.
Greece makes it's debut in the Olympics
Greece’s first game:
Former big leaguer Clint Zavaras started for Greece in Greece’s first Olympic baseball game against the Dutch. Clint hadn’t pitched in a professional game in 10 years, but he hadn’t lost his touch. He gave the team 3 amazing scoreless innings including 4 strikeouts. He struck out the side in the 2nd and the Greek team was looking good after the first 3 innings. But in the 4th, his arm betrayed him and the Dutch started hitting him all over the place. After giving up a homerun and a few hits, Dusty pulled him out of the game and brought in Sean Spencer. The final score was 11 – 0, but the worst part was the fact that the Greek team couldn’t get a hit. Only Nicholas Markakis was able to get both of Greece’s only 2 hits during the entire game.
Now that we’ve warmed up, bring on Cuba!
Greece’s next game was against Cuba and everyone was expecting Cuba to demolish the Greek team after its poor showing against the Dutch team. But, the Greek team played very well against the eventual Gold medal winning team and the combined brilliant pitching of Jared Theodorakos, Panagiotis Sikaras, and Alex Cremidans kept the Cuban bats relatively quiet with a little help from the spectacular Greek defense which included amazing defensive plays by former Yankee Clay Bellinger, Cory Harris, and Robert Kingsbury. By the top of the 9th the Greek team was down by a score of 5 – 1. The Cubans were 3 outs away from another easy win, but the Greeks had a different scenario in mind. Chris Demetral led off for Greece and drew a walk. Erik Pappas struck out, but Clay Bellinger drew another walk. That second walk of the inning prompted the Cuban coach to change pitchers. That gave Greece runners at 1st and 2nd with only 1 out. Cory Harris then ripped one to the left field warning track where the Cuban left fielder, logically playing Cory deep, easily pulled it down for the second out of the inning. We now had 2 outs with runners on 1st and 2nd and the Greek team’s back was to the wall. Nicholas Markakis then came to the plate and hit the ball to the right center wall for a triple and 2 RBI’s. Nicholas Theodorou then got a single scoring Markakis and we now had a 5 – 4 game with the tying run on 1st and the go-ahead run at the plate. And who comes to the plate? Big Jim Kavourias! Most of the Greek fans in the sold out stadium didn’t or couldn’t fully comprehend the history being made on that field on that night. The Greek team was on the verge of making baseball history! Just getting this close to the Cubans was big news around the baseball world. Being faced with possible disaster and humiliation, the Cuban Coach pulled out his pitcher and brought in his “Ace” reliever Pedro Luis Lazo to throw to Kavourias. The Greek team was just one homerun away from making the baseball upset of the century and if anybody could do it Jim Kavourias was the man for the job. Jim worked the count to 3 – 2 before finally succumbing to Lazo’s overpowering pitching and struck out to end the inning and the game. Nonetheless, all the sportswriters had plenty to report that day for Greece came very close to quite possibly changing the outcome of the Olympics as far as baseball is concerned.
Greece’s third game was against Chinese Taipei and Peter Soteropoulos did a great job for the first 4 innings during which he gave up only 2 earned runs. Peter Sikaras came in to pitch in the 5th inning and shut the Chinese down in the 6th inning as well. Then, in the top of the 7th, the Greek team got on the scoreboard. Cory Harris led off the inning with a gigantic homerun over the left field wall to make the score 2 – 1. The next batter, Nick Markakis, singled up the middle. Bob Kingsbury then flied out, but Peter Maestrales drew a walk to put runners on first and second with only 1 out. George Kottaras then hit a deep fly ball to right center that was caught for the second out, but Nick Markakis tagged up to move to 3rd. Then, Nicholas Theodorou drew his 3rd base on balls for the day and Greece was poised to do some serious damage with the bases loaded. Chris Demetral came up to the plate and struck out to end the inning. Everyone was disappointed that Greece only was able to get 1 run in that inning, but that is baseball! The Chinese team beat up on Greece in the bottom of the 7th scoring 5 runs.
Game four was against Canada, which played against Japan for the bronze medal. Mel Melehes started for Greece and pitched a great game giving up only 2 earned runs in 6.1 innings. Sean Spencer closed the game and shut the Canadians down, but the Canadians silenced the Greek bats and so the game ended at a very close 2 – 0 score.
Game five was against Australia, which took the silver medal home, and it couldn’t have started off better. By the second inning, Greece was ahead 4 – 0 and Greece’s starting pitcher, Clint Zavaras, had shut down the powerful Australian hitters for the first 2 innings. But, by the third inning Clint had run out of gas. He gave up a single to the lead-off batter and the next hitter slapped a 2 run homer to put the Australians on the scoreboard. Clinton’s arm was hurting and Dusty knew it. The relievers started throwing in the bullpen. The next Australian grounded out to third baseman Peter Maestrales and the next batter hit a long fly ball to center that was pulled down by Cory Harris for the 2nd out. At that point Dusty called in Alex Cremidans to pitch for Zavaras only to give up a solo home run to the first batter he faced. The inning ended and Greece was ahead by only 1 run. During the game, Greece got 14 hits and 6 runs, while the Australians got 10hits and 11 runs. Final score Australia 11 Greece 6.
Game six was against Italy, which hadn’t won a game yet either. In their first game, which was against Japan, they lost 12 – 0 in 7 innings. Both Greece and Italy needed to win this game, but it was Greece that came out on top at the end of the game by a score of 12 – 7. Jared Theodorakos started for Greece, but the Italians scored 1 run in the 2nd and clobbered him for 4 runs in the 3rd. Peter Soteropoulos came in for Jared in the 4th inning and pitched well until the 6th inning when sidearm throwing Pete Sikaras was called in to shut the Italians down for good. The Greek team scored 2 runs in each of the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings in order to make the game close with the Italians still ahead by a narrow score of 7 – 6. But, in the top of the 7th, the Greek team exploded for 4 runs to take the lead and added 2 more in the top of the 9th.
Greece’s last game was against Japan. Japan came to Athens for the Gold medal, but was upset by Australia in the semifinal game by a score of 1 – 0. Mel Melehes started for Greece and pitched a great game. He gave up only 7 hits in 5.2 innings and allowed only 2 earned runs. At the end of 6 innings the score was Japan 2 Greece 0. Then in the top of the 7th, the Japanese team knocked in 4 runs to take a 6 – 0 lead. The Greek team was only able to score 1 run off of Erik Pappas’ solo home run in the bottom of the 7th.
And so ended Greece’s first appearance in Olympics Baseball.
The Greek Olympic Team Roster was:
Clayton Bellinger Infield
Michael Koutsantonakis Catcher
Cory Anthony Harris Center Field
Erk Daniel Pappas 1st Base, Catcher
Chris Demetral 2nd Base
Robert Kingsbury Left Field
Nicholas Markakis Right Field
Nicholas Theodorou Short Stop
Vasili Spanos Designated Hitter
Clinton Zavaras Pitcher
Dimitris Douros Catcher
George Kottaras Catcher
Meleti Ross Melehes Pitcher
Peter Maestrales Infielder, Outfielder
Sean Spencer Pitcher
Peter Rasmussen Outfielder
Jared Theodorakos Pitcher
James Kavourias Outfielder
Laurence Heisler Pitcher
Christopher Robinson Pitcher
Alexander Cremidans Pitcher
Peter Soteropoulos Pitcher
Panagiotis Sikaras Pitcher
Some of these players played for Greece for the first time. They were:
James Kavourias: Both of Jim’s parents are Greek. His father was born in Ikaria, and his mother was born in the Peloponese. His father migrated to America when he was about 24 years old while his mother was taken to the U.S. while she was still just a baby. He has many aunts, uncles, and cousins still living in Greece, as well as his grandmother. He played three years of college baseball at West Virginia U, Pensacola JC, and the University of Tampa. He was drafted out of Tampa by the Florida Marlins in the 5th round of the 2000 draft, and spent six years in the minor leagues.
Career highlights:
1st team all American at University of Tampa 2000
Midwest League All Star 2001
Greek Olympic Team 2004
In 2005 Jim had an excellent year with the Joliet Jackhammers of the Independent League. He asked to be released at the end of the season so that he could take some time off from Pro-ball in order to complete his College Studies. We all expect Jim to go back to Professional baseball once he finishes with his higher education.
Michael Koutsantonakis: Mike’s grandfather migrated to America in the early 1900’s and shortened his last name to “Tonis”. Therefore Mike’s name on his U.S. birth certificate reads: Michael Timothy Tonis . Mike was an outstanding College baseball player who played for the University of California “Golden Bears” . Mike was the 2nd round draft pick for the Kansas City Royals in 2000 and had been playing in the minor leagues until 2004 when he was called up. He made his Major League debut on June 20th 2004, but only got to play in 2 games and had only 6 at bats. On August 13th he was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for RHP Matt Kinney who was released on waivers from the Brewers. This made it possible for Dusty Rhodes to bring Mike to Greece for the Olympic Games.
Jared Theodorakos: Jared was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1981 and went to college at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He was the 25th draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2003 and was signed to a professional contract with them in 2004. The highlight of his amateur career will certainly go down as his amazing performance against mighty Cuba when he kept the Cubans down to only 3 earned runs.
Robert Kingsbury: Bobby was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1980 and played college ball at Fordham University in New York. He was the number 8 draft pick for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2002 and has been playing on Pittsburgh farm teams in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Vasili Spanos: His Greek heritage is from both parents. His mother was born in Piraues, Greece. She is the eldest of five siblings. Her parents were born on the island of Kalymnos of the Dodecanese. Her parents are George Ypsilantis and Sevasti Mouzourakis (maiden name) Ypsilantis. His mother, a brother and her parents migrated to America in 1947.
His father, George Spanos, was born in Planeterou, Kalavriton Greece and went to America in 1951 after the Greek Civil War. His father was Vasilios Spanos and his mother was Vasileke Kamberos (maiden name) Spanos. He has hundreds of relatives from the Kamberos side who migrated to America from the early 1900's.
He played College Baseball at Indiana University from 1999-2003. He was selected by the Oakland Athletics as their 11th round draft pick in 2003 and has since been playing in the minors.
In an email message he wrote to the author with these closing remarks:
“It was a great honor to play on the Greek Baseball Olympic Team! This was an experience that will always be memorable. I'll never forget the overwhelming and enthusiastic FAN support that the Greek Olympic Team received from our fellow
HELLENES!
Good Luck,
Vasili Spanos”
Clinton Zavaras: (Born Clinton Wayne Zavaras) Clint was born in Denver, Colorado in 1967. He made his Major League debut in 1989 with the Seattle Mariners where he made 10 starts and was then sent down to the Minors. He was traded to the Colorado Rockies in 1993 and he finally called in quits in 1994. Since then he has been working as a professional pitching instructor and is currently a scout for the San Diego Padres.
The Coaching Staff:
Dusty Rhodes Manager
Dusty has an outstanding track record as a “winner”. His lifetime record of 1072 wins versus only 428 losses is a testimony to that fact. He was an assistant coach for the 1996 Australian National Olympic Team and worked as an assistant coach for the USA National Team in 1993, 1994 and 2001.
Mike Riskas Coach
Mike speaks Greek since he is of Greek descent. His mother and father were both from Greece. He is a former Baseball Coach of Pomona College in California. This is not the first time he has coached an international team. He coached the French National Junior Team in the 1988 European Championship, in which he led the team to the Bronze medal. He also coached the French National Senior Team in the 1999 European Championship and led the team to the Bronze Medal. It’s also worth noting that Mike was an outstanding athlete and played both football and baseball for UCLA, where he earned both his BA and MA degrees in Physical Education, from 1954 to 1958. In 1954, his football team won the NCAA Division I National Championship undefeated. He also played in the infield and outfield for the UCLA varsity baseball team where he was voted “Most Outstanding Senior” and “Most Inspirational Player”. He was inducted into the UCLA Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. While in Greece, Mike conducted several clinics and seminars for Coaches and Players.
Scott Demetral: Coach
Scott played three years of professional baseball in the Pioneer and Frontier leagues. He is currently an assistant coach with the Akron Zips. Scott comes from a baseball family of 4 baseball playing brothers including Chris, Ted, and Mike. Chris played for Greece in the Olympics.
John Kazanas Coach
John is a graduate of The University of Missouri at St. Louis where he played baseball. As a senior in 1976, he led the team with a .385 Batting Average. He stayed with the school for several years as an assistant coach. He is now a very successful scout for the Chicago White Sox.
Alex Anthopoulos Scout
Alex worked for the Greek Olympic team diligently searching for players of Greek descent that could help the Greek team’s effort. He was hired as the scouting coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays and has since been assigned to be the assistant to the General Manager, J.P. Ricciardi.
Brian Bradshaw Trainer
Brian is an assistant athletic trainer with the Towson Tigers and his professionalism proved crucial in keeping the Greek players as healthy as possible for the games.
Post Olympic Games Baseball in Greece:
Since the Olympic Games ended, the Olympic Baseball stadiums have been left to just rot away. No one is allowed anywhere near the facilities. Fortunately, the two practice fields that were also built for the games have been released to the care and use of the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation. The Federation has since used the fields to host the 2005 Greek Baseball Championship from March to June.
In July of 2005, the Greek National Team traveled to the Czech Republic in order to play in the European Championship. Unfortunately, only 7 of the original 23 Olympic athletes were able to join the team for this tournament.
They were:
Erik Pappas
Chris Demetral
Pete Rasmussen
Jim Kavourias
Mel Melehes
Laurence Heisler
Jimmy Douros
Several other players weren’t allowed to come either because their teams wouldn’t let them go or due to the fact that bureaucratic delays caused the late issuance of their Greek passports. They included Clay Bellinger, Cory Harris, Michael and Ted Demetral, Jared Theodorakos, Peter Maestrales, Peter Dallas, and Louis Raptopoulos. But, 10 players selected from the Greek league were selected to help the team in the Czech Republic.
They were:
Harry Assimakopoulos Spartakos Glyfadas
Panagiotis Cheilakis Spartakos Glyfadas
Vasilis Arvanitis Spartakos Glyfadas
George Andronakos Olympiada Peristeriou
Marino Soteropoulos Pelopas Patron
Mike Koumpounis Pelopas Patron
George Lebessis Marousi 2004
Ioannis Apostolopoulos Marousi 2004
Roberto Kalderon Milonas
Miguel Georgopalis Milonas
This significantly weaker team was able to win 3 games and placed 9th out of 12 teams. This guaranteed that Greece will stay in the A’ Pool of the European teams and will compete in the A’ Pool of the European Championship in 2007. The team that wins that Championship will automatically go to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The National Team was supposed to participate in the World Championships in the Netherlands in September of 2005, but financial difficulties forced the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation to withdraw Greece from the tournament at the very last minute. Fortunately, the Czech Republic fielded a team to take the place of the Greek team.
On November 26th and 27th 2005, the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation hosted an international tournament in Athens. The first Balkan Invitational Baseball Tournament in which teams from Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria participated. The Greek team completely consisted of players who belong to Greek teams that participate in the Greek league. Despite rain and inappropriate behavior on the part of certain Greek players and certain Greek fans, the tournament was a great success. The Greek team played very well winning 3 out of 4 games and took 2nd place behind the Bulgarian team, which also won 3 out of 4 games, but took 1st place because of a run difference.