The sport was already very important in Canada when he was a child: ice hockey, baseball, softball and running – everything was there. Phil Weller still remembers the year 1998 as the time when he and his team celebrated the most valuable sporting success and he felt really integrated in Austria for the first time.
To better understand this experience, we need to go back a year. It was the last league game of the Schwechater Blue Bats in the 2nd Bundesliga Ost and the Braustädter were about to get promoted to the top Austrian league. Then the American coach Scott Gunther made a serious mistake.
“We were clearly in front and he figured we already had the title in our pockets. Then he substituted the good players and let others play,” Weller, who was playing second baseman in the first, recalled the bitter consequences. “It went wrong. There were unexpected game results. We missed promotion.”
Open account has been settled
A year later, anger at the missed opportunity had turned to great determination. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire sporting career. It was proof that a certain event can ignite such a great will to actually achieve a goal.” Coach Scott Gunther was there again. “He had a bad conscience and traveled back to Austria from San Diego to settle this outstanding score. We’re still friends to this day,” says Weller.
After a successful season, the time had come: The Blue Bats were allowed to travel to Dornbirn for the promotion playoff to finally close the sack. “We came by bus. But the weather was terrible,” Weller recalls with a laugh.
However, the good mood among the Schwechaters remained undiminished and the competition didn’t stand a chance. The decision came after defeating the Vienna Bucks. “In this game of all things our catcher Danny Jan was injured. His replacement, an ex-footballer, stepped in and did a good job.” A week later, players, officials and fans celebrated their historic triumph at a BBQ at Batsfield. “To this day, the then champion team meets every five years to review this success again,” says the 65-year-old club chairman, looking forward to the next meeting.
A glorious evening briefly sparked similar feelings in Phil Weller as in 1998: It was autumn 2019 when his Blue Bats celebrated an unexpected final victory over the Vienna Wanderers in the regional league and hugged each other in the Vienna Prater.
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