INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT

Hot prospects: Russian players sweat it out on the sidelines.

Rocky IV Redux

Russia’s Olympic baseball hopefuls defeat Philly’s boys of summer.

by Daniel McQuade

It had started to cool down a bit by the sixth inning. The wind had picked up, and the sun had gone behind the clouds, if only for a while.

This had to be good for the Russians. Up only 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning against an all-star team from the Greater Philadelphia Men’s Adult Baseball League (GPMABL), the Russian national baseball team was also battling Philadelphia’s heat and humidity, at its peak during last week’s mini-heat wave. Though Philadelphia didn’t look like it was going to solve Russian pitching any time soon, the pitchers from the 10 teams of the GPMABL similarly baffled the Russians.

In the bottom of the sixth at Hank DeVincent Field at La Salle University, Philadelphia had a runner on first with one out. If only for a minute, it was cooler. Right on cue, Chris Drobish’s ground ball up the middle went second to short to first like lightning for a double play. The Russians were out of the inning.

Russia has never qualified for the Olympics. The official Russian baseball website carries this slogan: “Soviet hockey obtained world-class status in only 20 years. Soviet basketball obtained world-class status in only 20 years. Why not Russian baseball?”

It seems unlikely. The Russians have lost more games than they’ve won on the worldwide trip. They lost to the United States national team 6-0 and the Chinese team 6-1.

In the swing: Though the local boys held their own,the Russians won 6-0.

Heat is a problem. The Russian players aren’t used to August in America. “They were dying last night,” GPMABL commissioner Brett Mandel says of a trip the Russians took to Citizens Bank Park last week. Making matters worse are the jerseys the Russians wear.

According to the Russian baseball website, “These special flannel ‘Throw Back the Clock’ uniforms are patterned after the 1956 USSR Olympic Team outfits from the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, however of course instead of the CCCP jerseys of the time the Russian National Team will be sporting the Cyrillic spelling of Russia … that includes America’s favorite backward ‘R.’”

America’s love of the backward ‘R’ notwithstanding, the jerseys aren’t quite right for a tour of America. They’re old-time baseball jerseys made out of flannel. While the Philadelphia team wore modern, breathable jerseys to last week’s game, the Russians were sweating in flannel. (The fashion conscious will be happy to know the official Russian national team hat will be available in the popular New Era 5950 model.)

Still, the Philadelphia team held its own against the best players of the top two Russian leagues. Each of the 10 teams contributed a handful of players to last week’s game, giving the Philly league a team of talented players who could also get off work.

During last week’s game, the players joked loudly to each other on the field. After a Philly player tripped in the outfield, his own bench was on him the rest of the game.

Although there were stands, a decent number of fans watched the game simply standing behind the fence. With his father in the batter’s box, a young boy leaned up against the fence with his encouragement: “I hope you don’t strike out, Daddy.” (The response: “Me neither.”)

When he’s not serving as commish of the GPMABL, Brett Mandel heads up Philadelphia Forward, a tax-reform advocacy group. Mandel is well known by media types for his ubiquitous emails about tax reform, including one with the headline, “CAN TAX REFORM SAVE THIS PUPPY?”

He seems to put as much energy into the baseball league as he does into tax reform. He spent the day before the game running around, stuffing trinkets into bags and picking up vodka in preparation for a goodwill dinner for both teams at the Golden Gates Restaurant in the Northeast.

In the days leading up to the game, the International Visitors Council—which was welcoming two Russian players from Philadelphia’s sister city Nizhny Novgorod—was still looking for a vodka sponsor for the postgame party. After a notice in the Sunday Inquirer, a vodka sponsor was found to donate 45 tax- deductible bottles.

“The press won’t be invited to the postgame event,” Mandel says. “But there will be Russian food and Russian women.”