Richmond Baseball & Softball Club is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

club based in

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in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was founded in 1992 by Wayne Nash. The club had three registered teams in the British Baseball Federation's league system for the 2013 season; Richmond Knights in the BBF AAA South Division, Richmond Dragons in the BBF South AA Division and the Richmond Dukes in the BBF Single A South Division. The club also runs a summer camp for youth players and entered a team in the BBF Pony league (ages 14–16) for the 2014 season. Richmond has entered into a club affiliation with three time NBL champions Southern Nationals for the 2014 season, allowing both clubs to benefit from player movement and development. With more than 70 active members, the club is one of the largest clubs in the British Baseball community.

History

Richmond Baseball Club was founded as Fulham Flames by youth worker Wayne Nash in 1992 after he had watched a baseball movie at a local cinema and became very interested in the sport. Initially consisting of only one team, the club has grown, adding a second team; the Knights in 2000 and a third team; the Dragons in 2003. Development teams have been added to the club's roster as needed and in 2012 the club added the Dukes as a rookie/Single A team in the BBF leagues. Due to player and coach departures the top team Richmond Flames, a National League mainstay and multiple champions, was withdrawn from the National Baseball League in 2012, but the club established an official affiliation with Southern Nationals, the three-time National League champions, in 2014.

Facilities

The club plays its home games at Connare Field in Richmond, named after player

Vincent Connare Vincent Connare (born September 26, 1960) is an American type designer and former Microsoft employee. Among his creations are the fonts Comic Sans and Trebuchet MS, as well as the Man in Business Suit Levitating emoji. Besides text typefaces, ...

who helped construct and fund the field in 2002 when the club was looking to upgrade its facilities to fit BBF National League standards. The club also has a second diamond on nearby

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, nicknamed Flood Field due to its proximity to the Thames river. Together with Kew and Ham Football Association, RBSC also shares a clubhouse with multiple changing rooms, full bar and kitchen and a lounge with

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and TV. Connare Field was completely refurbished in 2014 thanks to a grant from Sport England's Inspired Facilities fund. New dual batting cages were also installed, improving the playing facilities. The club is looking to further improve the playing facilities by adding dugouts and spectator seating.

Honours

The Flames became the 2006 National Champions by defeating the

Croydon Pirates The Croydon Pirates, known between 2012 and 2019 as the South London Pirates, is a British baseball club based in South London. They have two diamonds in Roundshaw playing fields in Sutton, UK the main one being Dave Ward Field. Previously, Ro ...

two games to one in the final. The Flames then finished runners up in 2008 and again in 2009 before regaining the National League title in 2010 with a 10-1 victory over the Bracknell Blazers. Farm teams the Richmond Knights and Richmond Dragons have had successful seasons, most notably the Knights marathon 20-19 defeat of the Leicester Blue Sox in the 2010 BBF AA Championship Game and the Dragons pennant win in Single A in 2010. After promoting the Knights to AAA and Dragons to AA in 2011, the club added a new Single A team aimed at rookies; the Richmond Dukes, named after the local history and the location of the field on Dukes Avenue/Riverside Drive. In 2013, only the second year of existence for the Dukes, they overcame a slow start to win the Single A National Championship.

Management

The club elects the club management every year at the Annual General Meeting, normally held in the off-season. The current committee consists of: *Club President: Nicholas Hadley-Kamptz *Secretary: Patrick Igoe *Treasurer: Daniel Collett *Director of Player Development: Gerry Perez *Member-At-Large: Alvin Michael *Member-At-Large: David D'Urbano *Member-At-Large: Charles Pratt *Member-At-Large: Per Nilsson-Eklöf *Member-At-Large: Karl Murray *Member-At-Large: Paul Tiley Former board members: *Ian Cox *John Walmsley *Vincent Connare *John Irving *Jesus Gandara *Steve Falla *Brad Harris *Nigel Stephens

External links

Richmond Baseball & Softball Club

References