After spending seven-and-a-half years in the US Army I finally got out in Oct 1976 in Fort Polk La. We had already decided to move back to my wife’s hometown of Liverpool England. I had not played baseball since I was 16 and the Army would only allow us to play softball, so I was not even thinking about the game. My first thoughts were about getting a job in a new country, heck I didn’t even know they played baseball in England. We were living with the in-laws and their house backed onto the playing fields at Bootle Stadium but with it being October, I barely saw anyone using that field until Spring came around.

In April, my wife came home with a flyer advertising baseball in the area. It listed a couple of local teams, so I decided to try and make contact. The first one I tried was listed as a number for Norman Wells of the Liverpool Trojans - I must have tried for about 20 minutes, but the line was engaged the whole time. The second team I called was the Aintree Indians’ Stan Williams. This was more productive. He said they were having training the next Wednesday and I was welcome to make my way along to the Jeffery Humble sports ground on Long Lane. I had no idea that the Liverpool Trojans were raining right behind the in-law’s house on the same day!

Having not played baseball for a long time, only softball, it took me some time to get back into the swing of things. This is where I met Rob Alger, a young man from Skelmersdale, who was a pitcher and had natural ability for a Brit. I also met Chris Gee and his brothers, Mike and Alan. Chris and Mike grew up in the States and played Little League over there so they were decent players, Alan was not so good but wanted to learn. Chris was also the catcher and the team captain. The Indians were not a great team, but they had loads of heart. I had no idea back then that Rob, Chris and Mike would be mainstays of my baseball playing career in the UK.

Playing for Stan Williams and the Aintree Indians was quite an experience due to the mixture of rookies and experienced players. At that time Liverpool and the surrounding area had 6 teams playing in the North West League. The largest was Hull who had a whopping 10 teams of different standards, it was considered the Baseball capital of the UK.

The first season at the Indians I was asked to pitch, boy was I ever shown up! Being more used to softball I must have balked a dozen times, and I just couldn’t get used to the mound which was made of old coke ash - it was awful. Being an American they all thought I could pitch, boy did I ever prove them wrong! I wouldn’t take to the mound again until much later in my career - by then I had figured a few things out.

My time with the Indians was a learning curve for me but it really gave me a good insight into the game in the UK. Due to a mixture of circumstances, they folded a few years later so the boys (Rob, Chris and Mike) and I moved to the Southport Bootleggers. There we started a new journey in our baseball careers.

The team was run by John Bennett and was made up mainly from rookies. They dubbed us the “four amigos” when we turned up to play. We  had to play with players who were not as developed as we were, but we did have the opportunity to play against a Canadian team who were travelling through Europe . We got beaten up pretty badly on the field, some said that we “really got a seeing to”. But it really showed us how the game should be played.

Not long after this, we hooked up with an American from the US Base at Burtonwood in Warrington. “Ozzie” was a lad from the base that had heard about baseball being played in Liverpool and contacted Chris who had him come down to the Bootleggers. This would be the fist step into getting Burtonwood Braves up and running. They had fielded a team known as the Burtonwood Bees in the years previous, but because of Army regulations, they had to transfer to softball which ended the team.

After playing with the Bootleggers (and getting our butts beat) all the time, Ozzie looked into starting a team at the base. There was a lot of interest the higher-ups so they decided to let them start a team. Naturally me and Chris went to play for the base, but Rob decided to play for the newly formed Skelmersdale Tigers as it was closer to home.

While we were settling in at the base a young man kept showing up at the home games and collecting (“shagging”) foul balls from the farmers field. Each time he came back we would give him a can of coke, shaken not stirred, just to see his face when he opened it… I know, it was cruel but it was funny at the same time. That young lad went by the name of Robbie Orme, he took it all in his stride and before long he was hooked on baseball. Over the next couple of years, he started to play himself, eventually becoming a regular in the starting line-up of the Braves. He turned out to be a big asset to the team  over the years and was even picked to play for the GB national team.

This would be the start of a long relationship between the Burtonwood base and baseball in the north-west. Baseball continued to be played there right up until the base had to close. Chris Gee, Rob Orme and I would join the Trojans at this time, and eventually Rob Alger came along too. A new era would begin.