The Bohol Coconuts Baseball and Softball Club will be conducting a “Book Fundraiser” to raise money to build an indoor training center for year-round workouts.
‘World Baseball Guy: The Overseas Adventures of an American Coach’ is the personal story of Coconuts head baseball coach, Marvin “Merv” Moore. The club has a goal of 2,000 book sales to raise $12,000 to build an Indoor Training Center in Cambanac, Philippines.
“Due to the annual rainy season and other weather disturbances, an indoor training center is vital to our year-round youth baseball and softball development programs,” said Coconuts general manager Lerma Moore.
The Coconuts Indoor Training Center (see sample photo) will feature three 70-feet tunnels , and will be used for hitting, pitching, and fielding drills.
“The indoor training center will be a game-changer for developing elite baseball and softball hitters, pitchers, and infielders, added the American coach. “The Philippines won the first Asian Baseball Championship in 1954 against teams from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, so the potential of Filipino youth athletes is exciting!”
Merv was one of the early trailblazers of American baseball coaches relocating overseas to teach the sport to European athletes. The native Texan played a vital role in elevating the game in Switzerland and transformed one of Europe’s weakest national teams into a legitimate B-Pool contender. However, while he was achieving success on the baseball diamond, his personal life was in turmoil.
Burdened with the guilt of not preventing the suicide of his best friend at the age of 19, Merv turned to drugs and alcohol to escape these haunting feelings. He was the one whom his friend called late at night to ramble incoherently until he fell asleep on the phone. He was the one who helped Stanley prepare a last will and testament without even considering death. He was the only one who might have saved his best friend’s life. But he dropped the ball.
World Baseball Guy is a collection of 12 real-life stories from places like Basel, Berlin, Zagreb, Vienna, Barcelona, Bandar Seri Begawan, Thimphu, and Kathmandu. Follow the wild adventures of Merv as he navigates living in foreign countries and pursuing a coaching career, all while battling his inner demons.
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From playing street baseball with kids at a Slovenian housing project in Ljubljana to having a nightmarish picnic with gymnasts in Ukraine to almost provoking a public riot in Croatia, come along for an extraordinary worldwide journey of struggle and personal growth.
Click Here to support the Coconuts and buy a copy of the ‘World Baseball Guy’ book today!
