Baseball: Devils tapping into rich seam of potential Diamonds in Capital

A NEW central "home base" in the Capital and a Nintendo games console craze - two reasons for the upturn in popularity of a minority sport first played in Edinburgh in the 1930s.

The city has been home to a baseball club for almost a quarter of a century, and now a combination of interested passers-by at Edinburgh Diamond Devils' new Warriston ground and kids who have been versed in the rudiments of the sport at home on their sensor-activated Wii console are helping to increase membership. The president of the club, Jason Derr, a native of Seattle, has revealed that the growing popularity of baseball in Edinburgh led to the Devils spawning a second competitive outfit, and that they have submitted proposals for the development of a dedicated "diamond" over the road from the Royal Botanic Garden.

"Now we're settled at Warriston," he says. "Since we've moved here, more people notice the fact there is a baseball club in Edinburgh. The numbers are up.

"We've had people just cycling or walking past in the past few months who have come in and asked about joining.

"We're getting most of our younger players from the Wii - I never expected that to get kids into baseball. At the club, we have a junior team for seven to 14-year-olds and we can show them the basics, and we have a new pitching machine donated by Activcity (City of Edinburgh Council's sport and physical activity initiative], which helps a lot in players' development."

Although baseball was played by US airmen stationed at Kirknewton and East Fortune from around the 1930s, Edinburgh's only club has formally represented the city in the sport since 1986.

The club's roster, providing players for the Devils and its new sister outfit the Cannons, now numbers around 30 regulars, with many more taking a more casual approach.

"We have players from all over, from Canada, South Africa, Venezuela, Australia, Germany, Japan and the US," says Derr. "We're trying to promote the Scottish National League as much as possible. Ideally, in five years' time there will be an eight-team league from all over Scotland."

To find out more about how to join the club, call Jason on 07921 713 615 or email [email protected]

For more information on the club, visit www.diamonddevils.com