Manager of the Polish National
Baseball Team Introduced Before
MLB Game In Detroit
- PostEagle
- June 15, 2017
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- Featured
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By Jacek Adamski
Paul Solarski, the head coach of the Polish National Baseball Team was introduced before the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers game at Comerica Park in Detroit recently. It was part of the 47th annual Polish-American Heritage Night pregame highlights. Ethnic and heritage celebrations are popular promotions as part of Major League Baseball theme events.
Photo: Paul Solarski, Raymond Rolak and Ted Klamerus before the festivities at Comerica Park and MLB game between the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers. It was all part of Polish-American Night and had over 40,000 in attendance. Klamerus was on the original charter committee that put the event together 47 years ago. (Photo by Lars Hjelmroth )
Solarski is a veteran coach and administrator at Brebeuf College Prepatory High School in Toronto, Canada. He was joined at the event by Raymond Rolak, John Solarski and Pawel Rojek, who were educating about opportunities and events of Polski Związek Baseballu i Softballu (PZBall) and the Confederation of European Baseball.
Last year, the Polish National Team won the C-Championship of the CEB and was regulated up. This season they will host and participate in the B-Championships in Miejska Górka, Poland July, 24-30. Also participating will be Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The other regional will take place in Belgrade, Serbia consisting of Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Israel, Switzerland and host Serbia. The two winners will compete in the A-Pool which will be held in Germany in 2018.
Headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia, the Confederation of European Baseball is the governing body of baseball in Europe. The CEB has 38 National Federations and governs all European clubs and competitions such as the Champions Cup and the European Baseball Championship.
During the C-Pool Championship in Miejska Górka, the Polish team won with a 7-1 win over Romania in the final. In the championship game, tournament MVP Marek Deska led the way, scattering just six hits, a run and a walk in a nine-inning complete game. He struck out ten and picked up his second win of the week. Poland took a quick 4-0 lead and never looked back. Mariusz Grzanowski drove in two runs while Maciej Wroblewski crossed the plate two times. Kacper Kaminski went 3-for-5 with a double, a run and a RBI. Poland completed the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record.
Baseball and softball are currently played at 36 locations in Poland. Youth baseball and softball got a big boost when Little League baseball opened its first European youth baseball training center in Kutno, Poland. Stan Musial and Ed Piszek donated funds to build fields and they have since added dormitories. The Little League European and African Regional Championships are hosted at this location. Poland last qualified for the Little League World Series in Williamsport in 2003.
Polish baseball got another developmental enhancement this year when the Polski Związek Baseballu i Softballu received the CEB’s, ‘FEDERATION OF THE YEAR’ Award. At the convention this year of the Baseball and Softball World Congress that took place in Belgrade, Serbia, Poland was honored. During the CEB portion of the Congress, Poland was recognized three separate times for its achievements in 2016. These were the result of winning the Seniors C-Pool Championship and the U15 European Qualifier. CEB President Jan Esselman also recognized PZBall as its 2016 Federation of the Year. Accepting for PZBall was Christopher Sweeney. Several CEB Board Members cited improved cooperation with CEB and Poland’s success in the international tournaments among the many contributing factors for the award. http://www.baseballsoftball.pl
