Hard to believe, but the 1st Stockerau baseball and softball club, or Stockerau Cubs for short, is celebrating its 30th birthday this year. After successfully defending the title in the 2nd Bundesliga East, there was recently even more to cheer on at a great party on their own facility, the Stock City Cubs Field.
With perfect weather there was an emotional meeting of the generations. The Cubs, the name is derived from the English term for bear cubs, devoted themselves not only to exchanging memories of the beginnings of baseball in Austria and Stockerau, but also to the sporting part.
“We were real pioneers back then, baseball was more than just exotic,” says President Wolfgang Talir with a smile. “But in the meantime we have firmly established ourselves as part of Stockerau’s sporting life.” Incidentally, he himself got to baseball through a sports channel on television. “Then I called the then president of the association, who sent me a rule book and contact addresses, and then I ended up in Stockerau.”
We were real pioneers back then, baseball was more than just exotic. “
Wolfgang Talir President of the Stockerauer Cubs
Back to the celebration: Colorfully mixed teams, consisting of former and active Cubs / Rag Dolls (the club’s former softball team) as well as friends and family members, matched each other in a slowpitch softball tournament. Even if there was only one winner in the end with the Yellow Submarines, all members were celebrated at the award ceremony.
President Talir received the golden medal of honor of the baseball association from ABF President Rainer Husty himself. In addition, the long-serving club president was given his shirt number as a reserved number that can no longer be assigned. The sign with the 24 will soon decorate the outfield fence.
Sports Councilor Herbert Pohl was also the guest of honor at the celebrations. In addition to his speech, he did not miss the opportunity to hit a few balls in the cage himself under the guidance of head coach Martin Langlois.
Incidentally, after winning the championship, the Cubs also defeated the winners of the 2nd Bundesliga center, the Centurions from Wels, 14: 6 in a friendly match. The next item on Thursday is the General Assembly. There it will probably also be decided whether the Stockerauer want to climb back into the top division.
“But I don’t think we will do it because our focus is on the next generation and the requirements are significantly higher at the top,” says Talir, who after 15 years in office will no longer run for president: “It is time that I pave the way for the youth. We have already established ourselves as an association in Austria. “
Who would have believed that a group of US ball game enthusiasts who met regularly to play baseball on the old grounds of the Heid machine factory in the early 1990s would become such a large club with so many successes?
.
