A few weeks ago, senior club officials from the British Baseball League gathered online for the latest in a series of meetings to discuss various scenarios for a potential late start to the season. As an amateur league, we won’t be held back by any disputes between players and club ownership and the over-riding feeling from those in attendance was that of a keenness to get back out on the field, just as soon as it is safe to do so.

Rich Green of the Sheffield Bladerunners, as the league’s lead on scheduling, has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that we have multiple options available for when we are finally able to get underway. He presented a series of options that would include some kind of a regular season that could start as late as 19th July, and during the meeting the participants themselves came up with a couple of “tournament only” options in the event that we can’t meet this deadline. The enthusiasm to get out and play was clear to see from all those that were present, but only when we are told that is safe to do so.

Although I was encouraged that the whole league would be ready as soon as we are given the green light, it became clearer to me than it had been before that there was a very real possibility that there might be no baseball this year. This got me to think about what this meant for the club, and led me on to consider what it would mean for everyone else too.

On the field, the Trojans were due to start their fifth consecutive northern title defence and would be denied this opportunity. The Trojans have more than their fair share of players that are now well into their thirties, and time away from the game at this stage of their playing careers could be of significant detriment going forward. Could we even have seen club stalwarts such as Paul Smith, Dave Martin Baez, Paul Mason, Victor Juarez and Chris Gary take the field together at the highest level for the last time?

The Twojans were looking forward to testing their metal against the big boys of AAA for the first time. This was not only culmination of six year’s hard work in league play, the team had also been training together throughout the winter to help get them ready for the step-up. They would have wait at least one more year.

The club had also embarked on the dawn of the next stage of evolution with the foundation of a new baseball team based in Halton, and a new softball team to compete in the Liverpool Softball League. The projects were at different stages when they were put on hold, but the loss of momentum could still be damaging to the club’s ambitions in these areas.

Away from the field, we must turn to finances. Although we received some sponsorship that we are very grateful for from Langtec this year, the club is primarily funded by our membership. We offer a discount for any member that pays before the end of February, so the majority of our membership had already paid when baseball was shutdown. They don’t ask for much in return other than the opportunity to play, learn about, and be coached in the great game of baseball. These are things, at present, that we are unable to supply. By rights, everyone would be entitled to a full refund in the event of a cancelled season but this perhaps is not as straightforward as you might think.

The biggest costs that any ball club pay out are on umpires and game balls. As we hadn’t purchased our game balls yet, we would be in a position to save all of this expenditure. This would not be the case for every organisation though. There are a number of other fixed costs that we have either already paid, or are expected to pay over the coming months. These costs are for things like field rent, container hire, public liability and personal injury insurance, and along with a few other smaller costs would still take up a significant chunk of the club’s membership revenue.

Like many smaller, not-for-profit organisations, we live hand-to-mouth. We do not have significant reserves and therefore if we were to refund all fees for this season, the club would go bust. I do not mean to suggest that we are in any way in a different position to that of many other UK ball clubs. Many of which may not have collected anything in membership fees but still have financial obligations to meet over the summer months. I merely mean to explain the difficulties faced by many sports clubs right now.

All this being said, I am convinced that there are reasons for optimism. Firstly, I have already been approached by many club members, and they simply would not allow us to go bust. There are enough people that are emotionally invested in the continuance of the Trojans organisation that actually, I feel quite secure in its future, regardless of what happens with the season. Although, putting the cost onto the membership should always be considered a last resort, I am sure that many other clubs would find themselves in a similar situation. We also have an application in with Sport England, in which we hope to access their community emergency fund and, if successful, this would cover a lot of our fixed costs and, depending on the amount awarded, allow us to offer our membership the refunds to which they are entitled. I would like to thank BSUK for the efforts that they went to publicise this and remain hopeful of a positive outcome to our application.

Every club will find themselves in a slightly different situation this summer. No doubt some of have already found their answers to the questions the pandemic has raised, while others may be struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If your club needs help then ask somebody. Many people speak of the divisive attitudes within British Baseball, and while there are occasional examples of this - often broadcast loudly on public forums - this is not the general feeling that I get from the baseball community in this country. I have no doubt that if you ask for help, you will receive it.

In the grand scheme of things of course, perhaps it seems silly to talk about baseball at the moment? At the time of writing, the latest figures available suggest that 328,000 people (worldwide) have been taken from us during the COVID-19 outbreak, and this figure will undoubtedly continue to rise for a while yet. The word “tragedy” doesn’t do the situation justice, for every one of the 5 million confirmed cases could be considered a tragedy in its own right.

One thought that gives me comfort though is this - Through the years baseball has consistently played a key symbolic role in the overcoming of harrowing circumstance. Lou Gehrig’s address to Yankee Stadium following his terminal diagnosis, Sammy Sosa’s flag-waving sprint around Wrigley Field in the wake of 9/11, and the tributes paid at Fenway Park following the Boston Marathon terror attack are all prime examples of this fact, though there are many more I could have chosen. I look forward to the sport marking the worldwide recovery from COVID-19 with the same sincerity, sensitivity and enthusiasm that have made me proud to be associated with the sport on so many occasions already.

*Any views or opinions expressed in this article are that of the author and not of Liverpool Trojans Baseball Club.