As the boys grew up, so did the club, eventually becoming the London Mets (a name shortened from the youth team moniker, the Meteors, and not a nod to the more famous New York team). The London Mets are the two-time defending champions of the British Baseball Federation’s National League and winners of three of the last four titles.
The National League is made up of four amateur teams, all within a 90-minute drive of one another in Greater London. Over the decades, teams and leagues in Britain have come and gone.
“A couple of year ago I was banging my head against the wall saying, ‘This is the National League, and we have dudes that don’t know the balk rule,’” Cramman said. “So, maybe it’s better that it’s a four-team league.”
Cramman is a bartender, but a good deal of his income comes from teaching top-flight professional cricket players how to properly field balls and make strong, accurate throws (he plays outfield in baseball). That helps cover the league entry fee of 200 pounds, or about $255, that is demanded of each player, except for one foreign recruit per team, who is given a stipend for travel and living expenses. For the Mets, that is Michael Hoyes from La Sierra University, in Southern California, and part of his gig is coaching the club’s minor league and youth teams.
Like many other British baseball teams, the Mets have several American-born members, including a few former college players who have visas to work in London, like the pitcher and first baseman Rich Minford, from North Carolina.
Minford, who works for a technology firm in London, achieved a flash of fame in 2007 after Madison Bumgarner, now the ace of the San Francisco Giants, struck him out in a high school game and video of it was shown nationally to highlight Bumgarner’s prowess. Now, Minford is the Mets’ ace.