The Emerald Diamond - The Story of Ireland's National Baseball Team (Part 1)

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:59:08 +0000

The Emerald DiamondThe story of Ireland's National Baseball TeamThanks to IrishCentral.com "The Emerald Diamond" is a 90-minute documentary about the Irish National Baseball Team. The film's budget of $70,000 was financed on credit cards by first-time filmmaker John Fitzgerald. Baseball has been played in Ireland since the early 1990s. The Irish National Team made its debut in the 1996 European Championships in England. Today, baseball is played throughout the country - the National Team is based in Dublin and youth baseball is played in Cork, Kerry, Port Stewart and Greystones. The film debuted to a sold out crowd in New York on February 25, 2006 and has been seen in over 20 theaters across the country since then. It has been featured by The New York Times, New York Post, FoxNews, USA Today, Chicago Tribune and National Public Radio. The Emerald Diamond is now available on DVD .Important Timecodes in this video: 0:00 - American Mike Kindle sees an Irish Softball Association bumpersticker while walking through Dublin in the early 1990s. The seeds for the Irish National Team is planted.1:00 - Kindle assembles a ragtag group of Irish natives and American expatriates with little or no baseball experience. They teach themselves the rules and play on rugby and soccer fields in the rain. They have no uniforms and very little equipment.4:00 - Ireland competes in the 1996 European Championships where they will be destroyed by teams with sketchy baseball pedigrees, including the Czech Republic,Norway, Poland and Lithuania. 6:00 - The first hit in Irish National Team history was by Gus Hernandez - a Mexican who gained Irish citizenship by marrying an Irish woman. Hernandez is immediately picked off first base and the Irish lose their first game by a score of 23-2.11:30 - Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to build the first real baseball fields in Ireland.18:00 - The Irish head to the European Championships with a new player from New York. The team loses all of its luggage during a connecting flight. They appear at the Opening Ceremonies in T-shirts and shorts.24:30 - After losing their first 3 games at the 2000 Euros, the Irish get drunk at the field the night before a game. They somehow win the next morning's game, their only victory of the tournament.30:15 - The Irish National Team visits Fenway Park for an exhibition game against a local amateur team.31:40 - A group of Cubans defects to Ireland and finds their way to the baseball fields that were built by Peter O'Malley.35:35 - A look at baseball in Belfast, Northern Ireland, including a story about how Kindle and his Irish teammates accidentally drove into a Protestant parade and were interrogated by the police for being in the wrong place in uniforms with weapons (baseball bats).41:00 - A group of Americans try to teach baseball to Irish kids in County Cork and Dublin. REVIEWS The New York Times "Fitzgerald's movie is a charming look at how baseball captivated some dedicated Irishmen... Think of Rudy, the Notre Dame walk-on, and multiply it by about a dozen.""A Whole New Ballgame in Ireland" by Jack Curry February 10, 2006 The New York Post "A terrific film!""Irish Have Own Field of Dreams" by Kevin Kernan February 27, 2006 National Public Radio "A tale of perseverance salted with humor and irrigated with beer.""Only a Game" review by Bill Littlefield March 9, 2006 Cleveland Plain Dealer "Remarkable baseball story!""Begosh and Begorrah! It's Irish Baseball!" March 16, 2006 The Irish Echo "A homerun!""Pitching an Emerald" by Fiona Walsh March 17, 2006 Indianapolis Star "Heart-lifting doc that tracks the incredibly earnest players as they grow from lovable losers into genuine contenders."Review by Christopher Lloyd June 2006 Paste Magazine "Endearing documentary"August 2006 eFilmCritic.com “The Emerald Diamond” restores the innocence of the sport for 90 wonderful minutes, easily rank

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The Emerald Diamond - The Story of Ireland's National Baseball Team (Part 1)