Gibsons youth Thomas Scarr recently returned from playing in a baseball tour through Europe with the Collegiate Baseball League of Europe.
“It was a good experience to see the world and to see how the game is different over there,” Scarr said. “It was cool to showcase the game to kids and people in Europe, and to share the good game of baseball.”
Scarr is in his fourth year at the University of Calgary. He and some of his friends from U of C were recruited to play with other players from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) division one level.
Scarr said that the team – named the Emperors – was mostly made up of Americans, a lot of Canadians and some Europeans.
They started in the Netherlands, made their way through Prague and the Czech Republic, then went down to Barcelona, Spain, through France and finished where they had started back in the Netherlands.
“We kind of shared the game with the Europeans,” Scarr said.
Of all the countries they toured through in Europe, Scarr said baseball is most popular in the Nether-lands. Even there, however, it is not nearly as popular a game as it is in North America.
“You could really see the different cultures surrounding the game,” Scarr said. “Meeting new people and the different players and umpires. Seeing how they perceived the game was interesting.”
Scarr said the differences were small, but noticeable. The sports lingo they used was a little different, as were the calls made by
the umpires.
“It’s probably more relaxed than the North American games, it seemed like,” Scarr said.
The Emperors played 15 games in total and Scarr played in 10 of those. Primarily a pitcher, Scarr also played first base and the field.
Scarr held a 2.73 Earned Run Average (ERA) on the hill.
