The New South Africa, one escaping 350 years of white minority rule, is a vastly diverse and unique country.  With Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a sea route to the Indies in 1497, he launched an influx of European settlers that still exist today.  With fifteen percent of its inhabitant’s white, South Africa is unique not only as an African country with a large white population, but also as the first African country to qualify for the Olympics in baseball.

            Before baseball was brought to South Africa just before the turn of the century, there were many significant historical events taking place.  As the U.S. was finishing it’s civil war, gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa.  The rush was on, and the fight for land and power ensued.  The Brits and Dutch were the main sides at odds, culminating with the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902), with the Boers surrendering.  The rights to land containing these precious “gems” was a hot issue.  People came from all over the world, and with the Americans came baseball.  When the rush died down however, the Americans left, and so did the enthusiasm for baseball.

            The sports that ruled, and still do are cricket, rugby, and soccer.  The South African cricket team, dominated by whites, is a worldwide power, as is the national rugby team.  Probably the biggest sport though numbers-wise is soccer.  The sport in cities and townships across the country, it can be played with little equipment and a field cleared, if need be, by grazing livestock.

            Baseball never the less, is definitely the sport on the rise.  With Major League Baseball’s involvement, the sport has taken off.  As Major League Baseball International’s envoy to South Africa, it was my job to promote and further the game as I traveled throughout the country.  As it turned out, my five weeks in Africa were split between Cape Town and Johannesburg, two cities at opposite ends of the spectrum.

            Flying into Johannesburg my mind was filled with thoughts of a nation torn by apartheid; a country gripped with one of the worst crime rates in the world, and of course the lure of big game grazing in the Kalahari.  Unfortunately, much more is said about the crime problem than the incredible diversity and beauty of the country, such as Cape Town and the southwestern coast. 

            As we began our descent into Jo’burg (as the locals call it), I didn’t see squatter shacks but nice houses with pools scattered around, not unlike southern California or Arizona.  The occupants of the airplane were ninety-five percent white, and the airport was filled with whites also.  A bigger surprise though came when I saw the parking lot—filled with BMW’s and Mercedes’.  My host, Angelo Cavouras, was driving a tiny two-door commuter car, which he informed me he inherited from insurance when his BMW was carjacked at gunpoint. 

            My first week in South Africa was spent at Mark Alexander’s (South Africa Baseball Union president) home in Jo’burg, a nice house surrounded by a six foot concrete wall with electric wires covering the top, sending a message to armed guards if touched.  Most houses are protected in such a manner, or else have barbed wire instead of electric.  With a population of nearly five million, Jo’burg, located high up on the interior plateau, is the economic powerhouse of the country, if not the continent. 

            Cape Town, situated on the southwestern corner of the country, is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  With some of the world’s most scenic beaches, fertile vineyards, and incredible landscapes, it is easy to see what all the hype is about.   It is also famous for it’s large whale population, with numerous species of whales coming right up to the shoreline, seeking sheltered bays for breeding.  A little more ominous is the Cape’s reputation for housing great white sharks, one of the world’s biggest populations. 

            The Sir Francis Executive Suites in Green Point was a perfect venue for me in Cape Town, as a baseball coach and tourist.  Not only was it a top four-star hotel, but also it was only a fifteen-minute walk to the V and A (Victoria and Alfred) Waterfront, and a ten-minute walk to the heart of downtown.  Both areas were full of shops, restaurants, and galleries for me to peruse to my heart’s content. 

            I stayed in Cape Town eleven days, generally leaving for practice at 3:30pm and returning to the hotel by about 8:30pm.  With my mornings free, I took in the sights as well as I could not having a vehicle.  But with the help of some of the locals, I was able to see Stellenbosch (on the wine route), Hout Bay, Constantia, the beaches of Clifton, Table Mountain, and Camps Bay, among other places. 

Returning from Constantia on the afternoon of November twenty-eighth, we were rerouted off the main waterfront road in Camps Bay, and noticed a large contingent of armored, tank-like vehicles lining the streets.  My host that day, Gordon Kling, former editor of the Cape Times, seemed a bit disconcerted.  “Usually they don’t bring out the armored cars unless a bomb went off,” he said slowly, as if in contemplation.  I forgot about the incident until the next morning, when I picked up the Cape Times shoved under my door.  The headlines read “Beachfront bomb sows mayhem.”  The article began: “A powerful pipe bomb ripped through St. Elmo’s pizzeria in Camps Bay, injuring at least forty-eight people at the height of the sweltering afternoon yesterday, when holidaymakers and sun-seekers had flocked to the beachfront.” 

The next day I was downtown in a little shop when I heard a commotion outside.  As I stepped outside there was a crowd of people milling around outside the building next door.  It was a bomb scare.  I decided quickly vacating the area was probably a good idea.  As it turns out, this bombing was nothing new.  “The Camps Bay explosion was at least the twelfth high-profile pipe bomb attack in the Western Cape since the Planet Hollywood blast, in which two people were killed and twenty-six injured,” the Cape Times read.  The Planet Hollywood bombing occurred last year.  Still there are no arrests for any of the bombs, and speculation is building about corruption.  Having not witnessed the actual destruction of the pizzeria and the forty-eight injured, I was able to still enjoy my time at Cape Town, and fell in love with the scenery. 

On December third we flew back to Jo’burg and settled into the dorms of the Lions Sports Link, where we were to have training camp for eleven days, prior to our Olympic-qualifying series vs. Guam.  This training camp was an extremely important time for the South African national team, as many of the players had never played together before, and also hadn’t played for Raymond Tew, the head coach.  We also had twenty-nine guys and had to get down to twenty-four for the series.

My first experience with baseball in South Africa came my second night in Jo’burg.  I arrived at the field along with another imported coach, Lazaro Sole from Cuba.  South Africa apparently has a sports agreement with Cuba, and thus the governments work together, with Cuba supplying baseball coaches for a fee.  So in broken English, Lazaro told me about the nine players in the Jo’burg area that he had been coaching (the majority of the players are from Cape Town, with a few from Durban).  It turns out, that of these first nine guys I saw two had played professionally in the Dodgers organization. 

Ian Holness and Nicholas Dempsey impressed me right away with their swings during batting practice.  Both nearing twenty-one years old, they were signed and released by the Dodgers a few years back as teenagers.  With enormous pressure on them as two of the first Africans to play professional baseball, they represented their country and continent well.  Nick in fact hit near .300 with seven home runs in a short season, all-star quality numbers.  With a limited supply of visas, the Dodgers decided to let them go. 

As it was, the baseball executives all expressed their concern about the status of their hitters heading into the biggest baseball series the country had ever been a part of.  As Major League Baseball’s answer to their request for a hitting coach, I felt a little pressure myself.  Not nervousness but the pressure of knowing I could be a part of history, and a part of something these kids and myself would remember the rest of our lives.

Getting to see the other players play at Cape Town and then training camp in Jo’burg, I noticed an obvious jump in ability between the ex-Dodgers and the rest of the players.  The problem is baseball in South Africa is so little known or followed, so the level of play is still in its early developmental stages.  The pitchers’ in the country’s highest league for example average about 75 mph.  That’s similar to the high school level velocity-wise in the states.  Overall however, I put the level of play of our national team at about the junior college level. 

One of our other bright spots was our number one pitcher, Tim Harrell from Liberty University in Virginia.  He also was signed by the Dodgers, and this year played ‘A’ ball in the California league.  With a fastball around 90 mph and a good slider, Tim would dominate the Guam hitters in Game One. 

As the hitting coach, I worked hard with the guys not only on mechanics, but trying to get them to think at the plate.  I wanted them to learn to hit in situations, move runners over, get the bunts down, things like that.  Also I spoke extensively about the mental aspects of the game, from visualization, to self-talk, to learning from their at-bats.  The players were very receptive and continually wanting to learn.  It was exciting to be there and feel like I could really help them.  We talked about studying pitchers, and learning the umpire’s zone, sitting on pitches; things they could work on in the short five weeks I was there. 

Game One was a huge victory for us, winning 5-1.  Tim went 8 2/3 striking out nine.  They threw a knuckleballer at us, a pitch many of the players had never seen.  It took most of our players a couple ab’s to figure it out.  As it turned out, our eight hitter had the clutch hit of the night, lining an outside fastball down the right field line for a two-run double.  He told me he was looking middle-away against the lefty like we talked about, and it worked. 

Game Two was the pivotal game in the series I felt.  Now we no longer had our ace pitcher, and they had some good hitters, some former professional players as well. Things would be much more even I felt, and I knew we had to hit.  Five runs probably weren’t going to work today, and is it turned out, I was right.  They scored six—we scored 15.  Ian went four for four, hitting for the cycle and collecting seven rbi’s.  His home run was arguably the longest I had seen all year, including the ones I saw this summer in the South Atlantic League with the Texas Rangers. 

Game Three loomed just as large as the first two.  Guam had been down two games to none against American Samoa, and came back and won three in a row to get into this qualifying series.  Heading into the series our players were a bit nervous, and I wanted to instill confidence and focus in each of them.  After the coaches and I went to see them practice (it got rained out), the guys were all asking about how good they looked and how big they were.  I told them whether they were a U.S. territory or not, whether they were bigger than us or not, they still had to beat us to move on, and we weren’t going to lie down.  The night before the series we had a little team meeting. A lot of things ran through my mind as Raymond and Lazaro spoke.  I thought of how I could help motivate the guys and I decided on a little quote I heard from legendary football coach Frosty Westering (Pacific Lutheran University).  Frosty said, “They’re here to beat us, we’re here to BE us.”  I explained that that meant if we play our game, do the little things we had been harping about the last five weeks, we would win.  And that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with Guam.  In Game Three we ended up ten-running Guam in seven innings, 16-5.  It was all over.  We had upset the Guam team who undoubtedly was coming in looking for a sweep.  Their head coach, Rob Derkson, with over 15 years of professional coaching experience in the states, had been hired to lead them to the Olympics.  As the previous head coach for Australia, they had beaten South Africa easily, he told me, and I’m sure he was expecting similar results.   Instead, it was Guam who got swept.  It was an incredible feeling to know that as part of Raymond’s team I was a part of history. 

In the dugout before Game One, the radio announcer from Guam came in and we had a little chat.  (Each game was carried live back to the island).  I introduced myself as the hitting coach and told him if we don’t hit well, don’t mention my name, but if we do my name’s Jim Murphy.  He said it’s a deal.  I hope that radio station had lots of listeners.

As the 2000 Olympics in Sydney approach, the entire team and baseball community of South Africa eagerly awaits approval from the South African Olympic Committee to be the first African team to ever play baseball in the Olympics.  There will also be one American in Vancouver eagerly awaiting the announcement.  The announcement of a team that deserves to go and make history.

Jim Murphy