Meet the only baseball club in Wales

I went to explore Wales’ only baseball team and witnessed a rare, record-breaking occasion.

On Sunday, July 5 I made the most of the warm weather and summer breeze to watch a double header between Wales’ only baseball club- Cardiff Merlins and Bristol Brunels.

Playing in a perfect location for onlooking passers by, Pontcanna Fields in Bute Park play host to Cardiff Merlins Baseball Club. On this occasion it was the first team playing in their South West & Wales league fixture while the second team took a trip to the New Forest.

My intention of going to spectate the afternoon’s play was to find out more about baseball in Wales specifically as well as why one of America’s big four sports hasn’t caught on as much in the UK as American football, basketball and ice hockey in both competition and fanbase.

After being welcomed by a family friendly club with diversity of backgrounds and past experiences combined, it was easy to see how they’d attracted some regular families and friends to make the highlight of their weekend watching the Cardiff Merlins who on Sunday claimed their 14th win of the season while remaining unbeaten.

I was very fortunate in that my first time in attendance at Pontcanna Fields I witnessed Sri Lankan international Saliya Wijesinghe pitch a perfect game to win 17-0 to back up an earlier 12-6 win in the day; just four days after the first one to come in the MLB for over 10 years occurred.

As well as trying to further my personal learning and interest in the sport, I spoke to some players who proudly wear the Merlins jersey about their involvement in the club and how they stumbled across their experience in playing.

The club treasurer and one of the founding members of the Merlins, Ed Peebles, told me: “We’re very proud to be representing Wales when we play in the South West league and when we won the division a couple of years ago it was great to play against those English teams competing for national honours.

“It was difficult to get started but it does mean that we get the pick of the players around once we were established and we’ve got some brilliant players with experience to help us to advance quickly.

“We came out of the Cardiff Softball team, we discussed, often in the pub after training sessions and matches that it’d be great if we got a baseball team and another guy who isn’t in Cardiff now, got the ball rolling.

“We played a friendly against a strong Bristol team in September 2017 and that’s when we discovered we had something when we beat them.

“I’ve been a baseball fan since about 2002 when Channel Five used to show MLB games and I think a lot of people from the UK did get into it when they were free to watch.”

Despite a team containing Sri Lankan internationals, California-raised players and also players from around Europe, Peebles was born, grew up and has lived in Cardiff his whole life.

“The awareness of baseball is hopefully going to grow massively; friends of mine with no interest in baseball saw the London series and the crowds were massive and tons of interest which is an amazing way to get people involved. It’s a great recruiting tool for us too because people watch it and they message us about how they can join.”

I also spoke to Ben Davies, a Merlin who only began playing in recent years despite his sport-active childhood. He said: “For me it was during COVID, we couldn’t do anything and as someone who loves sport and loves training I wanted something to do.

“I found the Merlins on social media and I played cricket growing up so thought when it first opened up in August 2020, I’d give it a go.”

Interested in the UK’s neglection of Baseball despite love for other American sports, cricket and hockey, I asked Davies as one of the more inexperienced players about skill crossover and how easy it is to get into baseball.

“It’s definitely transferable, the hand-eye coordination I had from playing cricket I found so easy to pick up along with in hockey too, even now I’m still learning the terminology and little rules that rarely come into play but that’s part of what makes it great, you’re always still learning.”

As arguably one of the biggest sports without a professional league in the UK despite salaries given to UK players in both basketball and ice hockey, I asked player-manager and long-term baseball fan, Nick South about the growth of the club in years to come along with the sport in the UK.

“Bringing the trophy over the border a couple of years ago and having the privilege to represent Wales is massive for us and with how strong we are and now we have two teams in our club, hopefully we’ll see a Cardiff team in the top leagues in the country one day.

“I think the London series will be key. The era of social media will mean people are more aware of what’s going on even despite the fact it used to be on TV more and get media coverage I think the best years are ahead of us.

“When people get to realise it’s a sport for everyone I think it’ll get more people playing. You don’t need to be seven-feet-tall, you don’t need to be built massively, there’s a role for everyone; if you’re fast, if you’re strong there’s something for everyone, I just think it’ll take time.”

After spending a day around the Merlins, seeing the community get involved and be known by the players as their loyal fans as well as how welcome they felt by media attention from myself, it’s clear that the Merlins are a family friendly club with ample talent with ambition to build upon until they reach the best of their potential.

With the community aspect of the club and their enjoyment of playing in a park hoping to turn these days of being the first ever Merlins to potential stardom demonstrates the passion of everyone involved and will be something I look forward to watching progress at Pontcanna Fields for the remainder of the season and beyond.