The team captain and infielder/designated hitter is a financial trader. The center fielder is a high school geography teacher. One of the catchers helps his father run a business that imports baseball equipment and one of the pitchers is a firefighter. The manager? He's a neurologist.
Most members of the Czech Republic's national baseball team have regular jobs. They are a squad of mostly amateur players who share a passion for baseball that rivals any in Japan or the United States. They work to put food on the table and provide for their families. Then they spend their spare time playing a sport one member half-jokingly said might rank in the Top 25 in the Czech Republic.
On Friday night, the Czechs will play in the World Baseball Classic for the first time. On Saturday, this team of firefighters, accountants, teachers and doctors will share a field with Shohei Ohtani, perhaps the best baseball player on the planet, and the star-studded Samurai Japan team.