The 1000th game: Bundesliga baseball in Regensburg – a 28-year success story – sports – news

Regensburg, Stadt.A YouTube hit heralded everything: Andreas Lehner sealed promotion with a home run in Ladenburg in 1994. From then on, the baseball players of the Regensburg legionnaires never looked back. What followed is 28 years in the 1st Bundesliga and a success story whose end has not yet been written.

Characterized by many highs, but also some lows, today’s Guggenberger Legionnaires rose to become the largest baseball club in the country. This Saturday, the Schwabelweiser will play their 1000th Bundesliga game at record champions Mannheim Tornados. Only opponents Mannheim and Mainz bring it to more.

Club icons look back

Three club icons look back on the most moving first division games of the five-time German champions.

It all started in chapels. In that part of the city of Grevenbroich between Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf, the Bundesliga adventure of the Regensburg Legionnaires baseball club started on April 8, 1995. “We were highly motivated and excited for the first Bundesliga season. And optimally prepared thanks to the training camp in Florida,” remembers Stefan Ondracek, founding member and one of four members of the Legionnaires’ Hall of Fame. The guest performance with the local band Turtles was immediately a success. The Oberpfälzer celebrated their first Bundesliga win at the premiere with a score of 9:2.

First highlight – Mannheim

The first major highlight for the newcomers to the baseball House of Lords followed a week later. The journey went to the Mannheim Tornados and thus to the cradle of German baseball. “Very special”, is how Ondracek describes this experience: “Back then, the tornadoes were something like the FC Bayern of baseball and the Roberto Clemente Field was one of the few real baseball fields at the time.”

At the time, head coach Bernhard Schmeilzl described the 11:4 surprise coup against the record champions as the “best game in the club’s history”. Of course, the really big highlights for the Regensburg baseball team would not follow until many years later. Nevertheless, the first first division year developed into a Cinderella story. With a double win against the Leonberg Lobsters, the Legionnaires made their first playoff participation perfect. Only in the quarterfinals against the Lokstedt Stealers with today’s assistant coach Michael Wäller was the final stop. “Michael Wäller was one of those greats that people looked up to. I think that’s when I saw a slider for the first time,” says Ondracek: “Ultimately, Lokstedt was a size too big for us.”

With Paco Garcia leading the southern squadron

It took a few years for the legionnaires to take the next step in sport. It was not until 2002, under coach Paco Garcia, that a dramatic 10:7 win at the Heidenheim Heideköpfen made them the first in the southern season and in the same year they made it into the playoff semi-finals against the Bonn Capitals for the first time. However, the Upper Palatinate still had to wait for the big hit. And on the way there, suffer what is possibly the most dramatic defeat in the club’s history.

In an unbelievable way, Regensburg lost game three of the 2007 final series at the Mainz Athletics 9:10 in extra time, after coach Martin Brunner’s team had equalized a 1:9 deficit in the last round. “Definitely the most bitter game of my career,” explains home run record holder Klaus Hopfensperger: “We could have literally walked the championship home and practically just gave the title away. I will never forget this experience.”

Farewell with a home run

A year later it should finally work. With a 10:0 win against Mannheim in game five of the final series, the Legionnaires secured their first German championship on September 27, 2008 with the newly hired star coach Martin Helmig. Four more were to follow between 2010 and 2013. The Schwabelweiser prevailed in the decisive fifth game in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Both Hopfensperger and Legionnaires’ record player Matt Vance made a lasting impression of the 2010 success. In the last of his 441 Bundesliga games, Hopfensperger turned a home run against Heidenheim. “It was really very special. The drama of the game and Klaus saying goodbye with a home run were some of the most emotional moments I’ve experienced,” reveals Vance.

After years of series championships, Vance and the Legionnaires had to deal with a few disappointments. Game four of the semi-final series in Bonn on September 16, 2018 went down not only in Legionnaire history, but also in the annals of the Bundesliga. After 5:21 hours and 19 innings played, Regensburg lost 2:3. It was the longest playoff game in German baseball history.

Another painful experience that record man Vance had to go through was the 14:15 defeat in the semifinals of 2020 in Heidenheim. “It was a wild game. We were leading going into the last inning. Heidenheim turned the game around and won with a walkoff. We not only lost the game, but then the series. It was very bitter,” admits Vance.

“Perhaps one of our worst games and probably the worst experience for me” said the Regensburger by choice in the pre-season in the semifinals against Paderborn (0:6) in front of a home crowd. Surely Vance and the Legionnaires would like to replace their recent pain with another positive chapter. Game 1000 offers the first chance.