THE Herts Ad has teamed up with Joe Gray from Project Cobb to shine a light on the British baseball scene. American Sports’ popularity is on the increase in the UK – the NFL and NBA bring games across the pond to fans – and baseball is no different. Herts has a thriving team based in Hemel Hempstead which will be the focus of a series of articles entitled “Getting on Base”. In the first instalment, Gray shines the light on Herts Baseball Club and its ground Grovehill Ballpark.

Herts Baseball Club was founded in 1996 and over the years has become one of the largest baseball organisations in the country, with five adult teams now playing in the British baseball league.

The top team in the club, the Falcons, narrowly lost out in last year’s national finals, finishing second overall. Their performance in 2012 earned them a ranking of number 38 in Europe.

The club also runs one of the largest and most successful youth programmes in the country. It is known as the Herts Little League and offers baseball to boys and girls aged between six and 16. The club’s U14 All-Star team were Great Britain’s national champions in 2010 and runners-up in 2011.

Past and present players of the club have been frequently selected to play for the Great Britain national team at a range of levels.

The club is based at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. It has made substantial investments into the improvement and expansion of the field and baseball facilities with support from the National Lottery and many other organisations and partners. Over the last few seasons, Grovehill Ballpark has been selected as the venue for the National Baseball Championships, which are the pinnacle of the British baseball season.

Next week, “Getting on base” will explore baseball’s history in Herts.