After considering several national candidates, the American Greg Frady entered the picture. He had a successful track record of turning around sports teams three times before and when Coach Jesco Veisz flew to Orlando where Frady was associate head coach at the University of Central Florida, he knew that they had their man. “He was the best we could get,” said Jurgen Elsishans, Vice President of the German Baseball and Softball Federation. Pictured here is Coach Frady talking to one of his German players.

When Frady moved to Germany, not only did the beautiful surroundings of the Main River seem like a fairytale to him, also the attitude and the hard work of the players were a dream come true. In just 8 months, he made a new beginning and revamped the team. “I have some German heritage on my father’s side and I am German in many ways – straightforward and to the point,” Frady says about himself. “Germans love leadership and I told the team that if they follow me, they will have great success.”

A prediction that proved correct sooner than expected when the German team brought home the Gold from the B-Pool European Championship in 2004 and rose back to the A-Pool. “We had clearly hit rock bottom the year before,” says player Mirko Heid. “Only through Coach Frady’s absolute commitment, unlimited optimism, and his unprecedented ability to motivate every single one of us, did we survive and thrive.”

With that success as a confidence booster, Frady’s team went on to place 4th in the European Championships in 2005 and 2007, and qualified for the first time for the World Cup in 2007 and then again in 2009. In 2008, his squad came just two games shy of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. Player Kai Gronauer remembers, “Five years ago, it was just a dream for us to play in a world tournament. And to play the best baseball teams so close and even win against some of them – just unbelievable!”

Coaching the German National Team alone would be plenty of a challenge for most coaches but not so for Frady. In 2006, he was also named head coach of the Panthers, the baseball team at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Last year, in his second season, he set a new school record for victories in a season. The team opened with eight straight wins and the players went on to break several individual records as well.

Sharing his time between Atlanta and Germany takes a lot of careful planning. Frady stays in Georgia for the Panthers’ season from February through June. Then he packs his bags and makes several trips to Germany to reconnect with the established players and to try out younger kids he might consider for the squad. Last summer, he took the German team to Canada and then to Regensburg in the fall. For the rest of the year, Frady is lucky to have three assistant coaches stationed across Germany who report to him weekly about his players and their teams.

Asked about the differences in coaching GSU vs. the German National Team, Frady responds, “I coach very smart kids on both sides of the Atlantic. They are hard-working and focused. The only difference is that in Germany the students have more academic time constraints and we have to plan a year ahead to get them off the university to participate in the games.”

And from the German players’ perspective? By being whipped into shape by an American coach goes beyond his initial “star power” of being associated with the birthplace of baseball. “In the US, kids grow up with a passion for baseball, the whole country shares a love for the game,” says Kai Gronauer. “Coach Frady conveys this enthusiasm in a natural, effortless way. He lives and breathes baseball and is therefore better able to inspire us to give our best at all times.”

Greg Frady has clearly developed a passion for Germany. When we first meet him, he is standing in front of a map of the country, enthusiastically sharing his knowledge about his second home, showing us where his players live and which cities he has visited. Hearing him talk, his excitement, his passion for the game and his care for his team are evident and very contagious.

Clearly Frady’s success does not only stem from his extraordinary coaching skills but also from his desire to understand the culture and the background of the young athletes. A trait that earns him high marks from his players who not only consider him their coach but also a friend.

“Training a kid to play baseball is great. But there is more to that. If I am done with them, they better be ready to lead – in business, in the community. And I can see that in many of my retired players,” Frady says proudly.

But how can baseball establish itself against the German favorite? “Not everyone can play soccer,” says Frady. There are many different stories how kids in Germany choose baseball. Many of them see Major League Baseball on television. One of his players, Tim Henkenjohann, went to the United States for vacation, brought back a glove and started playing. There are baseball clubs all over Germany now, often smartly located in cities that do not have a big soccer club.Several of the German players who retired from the national team went on to sign with MLB teams here in the US. Frady hopes that this success will also resonate with the German fans and make the sport more popular back at home. Just like Dirk Nowitzky and basketball. Kai Gronauer, one of those players, smiles about that comparison. “I am not quite at that level, but I would love to be the first German to win the National Series,” he says.

The German National Baseball Team was listed by the International Baseball Federation # 19 in the Top 20. Frady said, “It is incredible how far the team has come in only five years and that we were able to gain so much respect. We went from almost dropping baseball in 2004 to just barely missing the Olympics. But my players and I strive to be ranked even higher. We are working on it…”

Photographs by DBV and GSU

“I want the IBAF to truly be the home of international baseball,” said Fraccari. “It is at this point that we need to shape our future…we need to take care of the development of baseball all over the world. This is the only way to truly become a global sport.”

Fraccari was unopposed in his bid for IBAF President and therefore automatically won the election. The recently re-elected 1st Vice President of the European Baseball Confederation (CEB), Fraccari also served as Continental Vice President (Europe) of the IBAF under Schiller. He said that building upon the IBAF’s relationship with the world’s top professional leagues is among the most important things he will look to accomplish in his new role.

“It is extremely important for us to strengthen our relationship with the world’s professional leagues,” said Fraccari. “They need us to help continue to develop players worldwide, and we certainly need their support both on and off the field.”

Fraccari served as Vice President of Federazione Italiano Baseball Softball (FIBS) under President Notari from 1985 to 2000 and as an Umpire Commissioner in Italy. He was President of the CEB Technical Commission and a member of the IBAF Technical Commission. He was elected President of the Italian Federation on December 8, 2001 and was recently voted into his third term.

New members of the IBAF’s Executive Committee were also elected. Among them are Paul Seiler of the United States and Tony Castro – son of Fidel Castro – of Cuba. The 14-person group will be tasked with helping the federation’s membership continue the growth of international baseball from the grassroots level to the sport’s premiere world championships – the World Baseball Classic and the IBAF Baseball World Cup. Fraccari and the Executive Committee will begin a four-year term.

The recipients of the awards and a brief summary of their achievements are as follows:

Senior Athlete – Justin Smoak (USA)

Drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 2008 MLB Draft as the 11th overall selection, Smoak is currently playing for Triple-A Oklahoma City. His outstanding performance (a U.S. World Cup-record nine home runs and 22 runs batted in) at the 2009 Baseball World Cup helped Team USA win its second consecutive World Cup gold medal. Smoak was named to the World Cup All-Tournament Team and was also named the World Cup’s Most Valuable Player.

Junior Athlete – Yung-Hoon Sung (Korea)

Sung was the MVP of the 2008 IBAF “AAA”/18U World Junior Championships. In addition to a complete game win over Chinese Taipei, he also shut out the USA with nine strikeouts in the final. He recorded a 1.32 ERA, three wins and 36 strikeouts. Sung also started his professional career with the Doosan Bears in Korea in 2009. He logged a 3.38 ERA in nine performances.

Coach – Tatsunori Hara (Japan)

Drafted in the first round by the Yomiuri Giants, Hara was one of the most celebrated players in Japanese Professional Baseball in the 1980s, replacing the retired Sadaharu Oh as the cleanup hitter. As a player, he won numerous awards such as Rookie of the Year, MVP and RBI leader to name a few. Currently, Hara manages the Yomiuri Giants, and he has led the team to the Central League Championship four times and the Nippon Professional Baseball title twice. He was also named as Japan’s manager for the 2009 World Baseball Classic and guided them to its second straight World Baseball Classic crown. He finished his successful 2009 season by adding more titles, leading the Giants to a 2009 Nippon Series win and the Japan/Korea Club Championship title.

Umpire – Paul Hyham (Australia)

Hyham is an excellent international umpire with outstanding performances at international competitions. Tournaments he has worked include the IBAF 2007 Asian Olympic Qualifications Asian Championship, the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Member Federation Executive – Juergen Elsishans (German Federation)

As the Vice President of the German Baseball and Softball Federation and the Co-Chairman of the Regensburg Local Organizing Committee for the 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup, Elsishans successfully organized the first round of the World Cup in Regensburg. The city hosted record crowds in excess of 5,000 for almost each of the three days of the competition, highlighted by a crowd of almost 10,000 fans for the USA vs. Germany game.

Smoak and Taillon were presented with the award in recognition of their performances on the 2009 USA Baseball World Cup Team. The award recognizes USA Baseball’s Athlete of the Year and honors the organization’s founding Executive Director/CEO. This will mark the first time the top USA Baseball international performance has been recognized by the organization formally. It will be awarded on an annual basis to the individual with the best single-game, on-field performance across all competing USA Baseball age groups.

“Both Justin and Jameson provided USA Baseball with unforgettable record-breaking performances in 2009,” said USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO Paul Seiler. “Justin was the leading offensive force behind our gold medal-winning World Cup Team, and Jameson authored one of the best pitching displays our organization has ever seen. We congratulate both of these exceptional young men for their achievements.”

A prospect in the Texas Rangers farm system, Smoak helped lead Team USA to the gold medal at the 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup in September in Europe. He set a U.S. World Cup record with nine home runs in the event, and he was named to the All-World Cup team as well as the event’s Most Valuable Player. Smoak finished the tournament with a .291 average, and in addition to pacing the team in home runs, he also topped the club with 22 RBIs and 16 runs scored. His performance earned him USA Baseball’s nomination for the USOC September Athlete of the Month award, and he was later named the 2009 IBAF Senior Athlete of the Year.

Taillon led the 2009 USA Baseball 18U National Team to its first ever gold medal in the COPABE Pan American “AAA”/18U Championship in Venezuela, defeating intercontinental rival Cuba, 6-1. In the final, Taillon was awarded the win after striking out 16 Cuban batters in 7.2 innings pitched, with no runs allowed and one walk. The 16 strikeouts set a single-game record for a Team USA pitcher in an 18U Pan Am game, breaking the former mark of 15 which was set by Scott Kazmir (vs. Cuba in 2001) and Jeff Manship (vs. Netherlands Antilles in 2003). Taillon was USA Baseball’s USOC October Athlete of the Month nominee.

Past USA Baseball Athlete of the year award winners include Huston Street (2003), Ryan Zimmerman (2004), Ryan Shealy (2005), J.P. Arencibia (2006), Jayson Nix (2007) and Stephen Strasburg (2008).

But nowhere along this meandering career as a baseball manager has Bailey, 52, found the success he has here in Venezuela. His team, Tigres de Aragua, has won five championships this decade in Venezuela’s professional league, where the season runs from October to January. This record makes him a household name in this baseball-obsessed nation, worshiped by some, reviled by others but ignored by no one with a notion of the game.

Bailey’s fame also makes him among the rarest of persons here: an American who has attained public success and admiration in President Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. His feat stands out in a country where the government makes distancing itself from the United States and quarreling with Washington central features of its existence.

“At first it was like, ‘What in the world are you doing?’” said Bailey, referring to the reaction of family and friends when he moved to Venezuela in 2002. “But baseball is baseball,” he explained. “Everywhere I go, the pitcher’s mound is at 60 feet 6 inches, and the bases are 90 feet, so it’s the same everywhere.”

Baseball does seem, at first, immune to the deterioration of political ties between Caracas and Washington. American scouts still venture to villages deep in the interior to find talents ballplayers. Venezuelans like Johan Santana are still plucked from obscurity to become stars in the United States.

The exchange goes both ways. Some aspiring American players and managers, going back at least to the 1960s when Pete Rose played second base for Leones del Caracas, still spend their winters here polishing their skills and earning salaries that rival or top those in the American minor leagues, This season, the Leones will be in the playoffs under another American manager, Dave Hudgens, a veteran who worked with the Oakland A’s.

Even the language of Venezuelan “beisbol,” introduced here by Cuban émigrés in the 1890s, seems phonetically impervious to politics. A strike is still “estraik.” A hit is “jit.” A foul is “faul.” A home run is “jonron.” And a manager, as any Venezuelan fan will tell you, is simply a “manager.”

Still, Venezuela has few managers quite like Bailey, who will also manage the Daytona Cubs in Florida this year. He chews tobacco as if he were still in his hometown, Amherst, near Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. He refrains from peppering his southern American English with Caracas slang, even when he hauls his stocky frame onto the field to argue with umpires. And in a country that prizes an informal approach to many aspects of daily life, Bailey is anything but informal. He does not befriend the players in his dugout. He does not make time for small talk. Sportswriters here scoff at his jovial sounding nickname, knowing that behind it lies his given name, Welby Sheldon Bailey.

“Maybe he’s not very friendly, maybe he’s not very easygoing with his teammates, but he’s a leader who knows how to win,” said Alfredo Villasmil, a baseball columnist for the newspaper Ultimas Noticias. “Since baseball is a religion to Venezuelans, that’s what matters in this country, no matter what your politics are.”

Such are the passions surrounding him that Bailey has various Facebook pages devoted to him here. One is for those fans who think he is Venezuela’s best manager, with many of them expressing sadness last week after the Tigres lost their chance to be in January’s playoffs. Another is for the fans of opposing teams, who cannot stand him. Yet another is for fans who want him to manage the national baseball team instead of Luis Sojo, a former major leaguer who was part of four World Champion teams with the Yankees and who held the job this year. Few events in the world of professional sports in the United States approach the intensity of regular season games in the Venezuelan league, according to Bailey and other Americans playing here. Some compare the Venezuelan games to a traditional rivalry in American sports, like an Alabama-Auburn college football game.

And many in the stands sip not beer but whiskey, adding to the passions. They spew vulgar epithets without quarter, sometimes touching off brawls. It is an environment in which Bailey has learned, in his own way, to thrive.

In a society in which so many values have been turned on their head, he described a personal philosophy that sounds almost revolutionary here. “If you’re being paid to be a professional, you have to put your nose to the grindstone and go hard all the time,” he said. “I believe in hard work.”

Cook, whose grandmother hails from Sweden, has previous experience working with the Swedish team as he worked with them during the 2009 training week in Florida. Cook also was intended to be the pitching coach during the 2009 Baseball World Cup, but other commitments made it impossible.

According to Team Sweden GM Ulf Steinvall, Cook’s name quickly moved at the top of the candidate list after Knutsson announced his resignation from the national team. During the 2010 ABCA Convention in Dallas, talks picked up and Steinvall knew that they had the right man for the job. Photographed here is Cook flanked by GM Ulf Steinvall, left, and SBSF President Mats Fransson, right.

Cook made his debut in the Major Leagues for the San Francisco Giants in 1988 and stayed in the big leagues until 2002, pitching for a total of nine teams. He won two World Series rings during his career, one with the Florida Marlins in 1997 and another one with the Anahaim Angels in 2002. The left-handed veteran had an ERA of 3.91 in 665 appearances (71 starts) overall, accumulating over 1.000 innings.

The rest of the coaching staff for the Swedish national team is also completed. Cook will be joined by fellow Texans Scott Scudder and Stephen Labay.

The 41-year-old Scudder pitched five seasons in the MLB for the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians between 1989 and 1993, winning the World Series in 1990. The 48-year-old Labay was a pitcher in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system between 1984 and 1986. Nine-time Swedish champion Rickard Reimer, who retired following the Baseball World Cup, and longtime third base coach Doug Skiles also will be on Cook’s coaching staff.

It will be the third stint for Stoeckel as head coach of the Dutch national team. He was the manager between 1981 and 1983, and from 1989 to 1991. He won the European Championship in 1981 and their first World Port Tournament title in Rotterdam in 1989.

Stoeckel grew up in Miami and attended Harvard University. He was recruited by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but decided to play football in the Canadian Football League instead. He returned to Baseball becoming a coach for several colleges and summer leagues.

Between his two stints as the Dutch national team head coach, Stoeckel was a minor league pitching coach in the Dodgers organization. From 1990 to 1998, he was the international scouting coordinator for the Dodgers. Since 2007, he has worked with the Reds. Stoeckel succeeds Delmonico, who chose not to come back for a second season to be closer to his family in Florida.

The two most important tournaments for the Netherlands this summer will be the Haarlem Baseball Week at home and the European Championship in Stuttgart, Heidenheim and Neuenburg, Germany.