Slovak Baseball celebrated 30 years and created Hall of Fame

It has been 30 years since the formal founding of Slovak Baseball Federation (SBF) and the milestone was celebrated on Friday in Bratislava. One of the aims was to celebrate the people who made a mark on the Slovak sport in the past three decades.

SBF chairman Mojmír Jankovič was the first to speak as he reminiscent on the beginnings of the baseball in Slovakia. Then came the first awards, given to Nataša Šándorová. „I’m very happy that the group with whom I started kept together and expanded to the current level. It wasn’t a long time ago I was thinking about what I achieved in my life. I’m glad you kept my promise to Aleš Hrabě. He told me that we can’t play abroad and that’s why it’s important to improve the game in Slovakia. Another plus came from European Championship in Brno and thank the God, we could see baseball in the television, because it’s usually difficult to get it there,“ said Šándorová holding the diploma for a honorary SBF member.

The history of Slovak baseball goes as far as 1990, then under Bratislava Baseball League. Slovak Baseball League (SBL) was founded in 1993 and it was renamed to SBF in 1996. SBL was accepted as a member of CEB in 1993 in Stockholm. The country also played their first European Championship in U12 category, back then under Martin Pospíšil, Andrej Korbély, František Brunta, and Martin Marec who also took a reward at the gala.

More names were called swiftly and more people with ties to the Slovak baseball were awarded. The awards were given to Ondrej Smolár, Félix Dömény, Branislav Strečanský and Gabriel Reind. Afterwards, the award was given to an international scorekeeper Pavol Mozola.

Ronald Kupka then thanked Mojmír Jankovič for the organization of the ceremony before more awards were awarded. „I’d like to thank for this beautiful night. I’m happy you managed to get us together in such numbers.“ SBF chairman then asked to compare the levels of baseball in USA, back when Kupka played there, to current state in Slovakia. „If I compare the years when I played there, we definitely got closer,“ responded Kupka.

Gala also remembered their close friends from ČBA and awarded a honorary membership to Petr Ditrich. „I feel at home here. We don’t consider Slovaks as foreigners in many regards, I know most of the people here, after all. I also remember the congress in 1993, where we travelled in green [Škoda] Favorit. I think you are doing a good job and you should keep up with it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Slovakia to get to A-category of European Championships, because you belong there.“

SBF continued with the awards to other notable people, who took commemorative medals. Namely Genovéva Almássyová, Robert Korim, Martin Masopust, Martina Kovácsová, Roman Matulík, Peter Buček, Ján Jabrocký, Pavol Teslík, Igor Jankovič, Peter Cuninka, Viliam Jančina.

Former presidents and secretaries Tibor Brauner, Branislav Strečanský, Juraj Jankovič, František Bunta, Stanislav Horáček and Dušan Noga were awarded commemorative jerseys.

Commemorative medals for trainers

Juraj Bunta was the first ever to qualify for European Championship A-category. „I remember it. It was really difficult. We thought we had it in a bag, but then came the game against Poland and were were seven runs behind. But we were able to come back and win by a difference,“ he remembers the success.

Marián Krásny – a long term Angels Trnava coach and current coach of Ježci Jihlava and Czech U12 national team was also awarded

Marek Červen lead the national U12 team in the latest tournaments. „It wasn’t easy. We put the team together from two teams, but I’m happy the boys could experience European baseball. I believe it motivated them and they will work systematically,“ he said after accepting the reward.

Ján Jablonka – „Three titles with Draci and three with Trnava. These were my most valuable player achievements. I missed qualifying to A-category. I played the finals of B-category two times, but we were unable to advance,“ remembers Jablonka who coached Czech junior national team.

Michal Berka is currently a part of U15 national team and was the next person to take the award. Peter Palša who won seven titles with Spiders Bratislava followed. Jankovič recalled there were many funny stories surrounding him and that he started coaching the girls. „It wasn’t funny for them,“ laughed Peter Palša. „I started to coach softball. Then there was a war and another war. It was a funny period. I don’t remember everything, but I’m not the only one,“ he added with a smile.

Then came the current national team manager Matej Šišolák. „Today is a nice evening full of memories. I want to look in the future and I believe the senior man’s team will get to A-category, where we belong,“ he said as he accepted the commemorative medal.

Andy Weissman was another coach to be awarded. „He visited many countries in Europe and he also brought some emotions to Slovak baseball. He’d been in several clubs and was a part of the advancement of Slovak baseball at the end of millennia,“ summed up Jankovič.

After the coaches, SBF also mentioned the club success. They especially pointed out Angels Trnava and Apollo Bratislava. But chairmen of other Slovak clubs were also awarded.

The new Hall of Fame

Afterwards came the time to found Slovak Hall of Fame. First, the three members of the committee were introduced in Tibor Brauner, Ronald Kupka, and Mojmír Jankovič. Pavol Mozola became the technical adviser.

The first member of the Hall of Fame was announced in memoriam. The long-term player and manager Karol Reindl couldn’t come and accept the commemorative jersey and the award, and so SBF contacted his brother Gabo, who sent a message from USA. „Kajo was born during a stormy fall of 1968, which marked his entire life. He was good at everything he touched. He was incredibly active and could draw his surrounding in with his endless optimism and enthusiasm. Sport was his passion, he was active in snowboarding, rafting, but his heart always belonged to softball and baseball, where he belonged to the first generation of players and cofounders of the sports in Slovakia. His role is remembered by Slovak Baseball Federation till this day during Karol Reindl Memorial.

The second member to be inducted was Félix Dömény, whos school baseball program raised many players in the past 30 years, which he acknowledge as he accepted the award. „I’m glad to see how many players I coached are here.“

The third member of Hall of Fame is the former utility player, coach, manager, referee, and functionary all in one Branislav Strečanský. He encountered baseball in Cuba when he was a young boy and during the ceremony he got to remember the occasion. „Baseball was a part of life in Cuba. I will be celebration 50 years since I first encountered baseball in my life next year. As my wife can concur, I’ve always been such infant terrible and I picked what was better for me. But in the end, I ended up at baseball,“ he remembered the times when he played both baseball and basketball.

Mojmír Jankovič took the last award of the ceremony, given to him by Tibor Brauner. „I’d like to award Mojmír Jankovič, who is still an active player, and is a functionary for a long time. We were unable to qualify to Word Cup, but Mojo is a person who got to be there as a world-renown referee. It’s not every day you get to referee junior World Cup,“ admitted Tibor Brauner.

After accepting the award, Jankovič said he would like for SBF to organize such events every year. The following years should be aimed at the players with the best players in each category being awarded.

You can find the photo gallery from the gala on SBF page.