The British Softball Federation Hall of Fame received 14 new members on Saturday, February 18 in ceremonies held during the course of the 2012 BSF AGM in Manchester.
The new inductees included five players, an umpire, three team managers
and five administrators, of whom eight were present in person to receive their awards. All but two of the 14 were inducted under new BSF criteria that allows election to the Hall of Fame for people still active in the sport if they have been active for more than 10 years in their nominated category.
One of those inducted as an Administrator – Bob Fromer – also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BSF.
The total number of players, coaches, umpires, team managers, administrators and others elected to the Hall of Fame now stands at 35. Twelve were inducted when the Hall of Fame began in 2007 and nine more in 2010. A full list of Hall of Fame members by category is at the end of this story.
The BSF plans to elect new members every two years based on nominations received from the softball community.
The 14 Hall of Fame members inducted in Manchester were:
Players
Shaun Findlay
A South African who spent the better part of a decade in the UK,
Shaun Findlay was one of the most electrifying players British softball has seen. Tall, thin and extraordinarily fast, Shaun took baserunning to new levels with his blinding speed, and he used that speed and a great throwing arm to make stunning plays in the outfield on a regular basis.
Shaun was a key member of the first three European Champion GB Slowpitch Teams, and his home runs helped GB come back from the brink of defeat to win their third straight title in the Czech Republic in 2002. He was an impact player par excellence in both men's and co-ed slowpitch and he played briefly with the GB Men's Fastpitch Team as well.
Brett Gibbens
Brett Gibbens emerged from a recreational slowpitch team in the late 1990s to become the pre-eminent power hitter in British softball for over a decade. Starting in the 2000 European Slowpitch Championships when he hit 16 
over-the-fence home runs and drove in 43 runs in 10 games, Brett's power hitting led GB to six of its eight European titles. In the 2004 Europeans, Brett's batting won a tight final against Ireland almost single-handedly despite a painful arm injury. Brett also represented GB in two ISF World Cups, and in domestic softball, he helped three different A-grade teams to win National Championships.
Brett was among a small group of GB players who instigated the highly-successful GB Coaching Clinics that toured the country in the early 2000s, inspiring recreational players to higher achievements and helping the GB Team to uncover new talent.
Though an emotional player whose game could sometimes come unglued, Brett was also a courageous outfielder with one of the most powerful throwing arms in the sport. And when he was focused at the plate, it was almost impossible to get him out.
Brett Gibbens has been one of the most watchable and controversial players British softball has produced. But as an elite player at the top of the game, expecting the best and more from his teammates, he has been inspirational. The Babe Ruth of British softball has earned his place in the Hall of Fame.
Stephanie Jardine
Steph Jardine has been one of the best women slowpitch players
in England since the early 1990s and a player who has maximised her skills through hard work and intelligence. But beyond her playing skills, Steph has always been the most vocal and visible of team leaders, an inspiration for her teams. She was at the heart of the Baker Tomkins team that won four national titles in the late 1990s and in the 2000 European Slowpitch Championships, she dominated the tournament, batting .688 (amazing for a female in slowpitch) and making the game-saving catch in the only game GB threatened to lose.
Steph has played for the GB Slowpitch Team in three different decades, one of only two players to do so, and has been equally effective as an outfielder, infielder and catcher. In her late 20s, Steph took up fastpitch, and against all odds became a regular starter and a fine defensive first base player on a steadily improving GB Women's Fastpitch Team until she left the programme in 2006.
Bruce Saunders
Bruce Saunders, along with his brother Mark, started playing friendly games
in Hyde Park with a team from The Economist. The following year, the team was invited to join the Ad League and the next year Bruce and Mark formed Leytonstoned Again and joined the GLSML. The team worked its way up from Division 6 to Division 1 and Bruce started to get noticed.
When trials were held for a first GB squad in 1996, Bruce initially tried out as a pitcher. But he decided to give the outfield a go and that's when his career took off as a quick, brave outfielder with a strong arm who could track down almost anything hit to his part of the field, and a slashing high-average line drive hitter with power. Bruce was selected for the first GB Team in 1998, and by 2000 had established himself as the starting right-centre fielder, where he was a key player in the 2000, 2002 and 2004 Europeans and the 2002 ISF World Cup. Having retired as an international player, Bruce became an Assistant Coach for the GB programme from 2005-2010 and coached the GB second team in the 2005 ISF World Cup.
Domestically, Bruce has played with Slammers since 1998 and led them to the National Championship in 2005 as a Player-Manager. He was also a key player for the Leytontestosteroned Again Men's Team, formed in 1999.
Laura Thompson
Laura Thompson was the most promising young player in the early GB youth fastpitch team programmes run by Natalie Fox, and as a 14-year-old held her own against some of the top teams and pitchers in the world at the 2001 ISF Under-16 World Cup in Plant City, Florida. 
At 17, Laura was selected for the GB Women's Team and has been a starting outfielder for the team ever since. She was the first GB-based player to play in the Dutch League and the first to play college softball in the US, where she won All-Conference honours in her last two years at Division II Eastern New Mexico University. She is probably the best female player that British softball has ever produced.
Certainly, no one in British softball has ever played the game with more grace and joy than Laura, and her ability to charge ground balls in the outfield and make quick and accurate throws, her surprising power at bat and her speed on the bases have always been trademarks. When a high-level London Cup tournament was held in the UK in 2006, Laura completely dominated the competition, hitting over .700 and winning the MVP Award. She led the GB Women in batting and on-base percentage over the World Cup and European Championships in 2011, going five-for-six at the World Cup against the US and Japan and making what was probably the best catch in the competition, a sprawling, diving grab at full stretch against Australia. Laura also played the key role at bat and in the field in GB's 2011 European Championship extra-inning win over Russia that led to World Championship qualification.
Laura will be by far the youngest member in the BSF Hall of Fame and her playing career isn't over, but her achievements to date unquestionably merit her inclusion.
GB Women's Team Head Coach Hayley Scott, currently in South Africa, sent this tribute to Laura:
“I have had the privilege of knowing Laura Thompson for several years and she epitomises the characteristics of a GB athlete. She has always worked extremely hard, pushed herself beyond her limits and put her team's needs first. Laura is an amazingly talented player, she's speedy and knows and reads the game exceptionally well. Laura started as one the the youngest athletes in the GB Women's Team after playing in GB youth teams. It has been an honour to work with Laura and, as her coach, I am very proud of all she has accomplished and congratulate her on her addition to the Hall of Fame, a worthy achievement.”
Umpire
Jes Sandhu
Jes Sandhu got involved in softball some 21 years ago at a works recreational day
and enjoyed it immensely. He then found out there was a local league in Windsor and put in a team. As part of the entry requirements, the team was required to send someone for umpire training, and because Jes was running the team he volunteered to go on the course. And the rest is history.
The same year, Jes was asked to join the Windsor Committee as their representative on a new umpire association being put together by the London leagues.
From this, BASU was born. A few years after this, Jes became BASU Umpire-in-Chief, a position he has held ever since and to great effect. Or, as Jes says,” No one else has been stupid enough to volunteer!”
Jes has qualified at ESF level in both fastpitch and slowpitch and at ISF level in slowpitch, and has been ever-present as an umpire both in the UK and in Europe, where he travels in support of our fastpitch teams every year.
Jes Sandhu has remained committed over the years to the improvement of umpiring standards in the UK and has been a key component in the development of BASU as a professional organisation serving the softball community.
Team Managers
Maurice "Mo" Baker
Mo Baker founded the Baker Tomkins Softball Team in the early 1990s and has managed the team for almost 20 years. During the late 1990s and into the 2000s, BT was the pre-eminent A-grade team in British softball, winning four straight National Championships from 1998-2001, and competing in numerous other Nationa finals and semi-finals. Unlike many A-grade teams at the time and since, BT took the game seriously enough to practice and their dedication showed on the field, as a tight-knit group of players demonstrated superior teamwork and resilience.
Under Mo's leadership, BT was also one of the first A-grade teams to expand to a club structure, which at various times encompassed two A-grade co-ed teams, a rookie midweek team, men's and women's slowpitch teams and a women's and two junior fastpitch teams. The club's fastpitch teams, playing as the Monkeys, were instrumental in the development of many young players who went on to play for GB youth fastpitch teams and the GB Women's Team.
Mo also managed beyond his own club. He organised the England team that won the first Softball World Series and managed the GB Slowpitch Team to its first two European Championship gold medals.
Mo Baker has never shied away from expressing his opinions and getting involved in softball politics. But Baker Tomkins teams have always embodied the best traditions of British softball, playing the game the right way, nurturing new talent, and having fun.
Paul Riley and Doug Clouston
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around 1988 or 1989 as a works softball team in the now-defunct London Design League. Doug Clouston joined the team shortly afterwards. The team's first-ever trophy was the Leukaemia Tournament Plate Trophy around 1990, but Paul and Doug, who took on the role of joint managers, were gradually building a team that could play at a higher level. The Chromies, as they soon came to be called, were frequent winners at Triple Crown tournaments that began in 1993. The team won the London Ad League title in 1994 and first played in the Ad League World Series in San Jose, California that same year.
Chromies won their first BSF National Championship in 1997 and has been at or near the top of A-grade softball ever since as an independent tournament team, playing in six of the last seven A-grade or Premier Nationals finals and winning four more national titles. They also won the NSL title in the tournament's first season and won the Diamond Series in 2010 and 2011.
When the European Slowpitch Cup began in 2007 in Paris, Chromies were the UK's first representative and won the tournament easily, adding further European Cups in 2010 in Slovenia and 2011 in Bulgaria.
Paul Riley has become a well respected global ambassador for the game. Many know him only as “Rocket”, the guy who is generally always seen with a beer and scorebook, bouncing off objects and people with his shoe laces undone! But Rocket is tremendously dedicated and has picked up Hall of Fame and Character of the Game awards while managing the London Mad Cows for over 11 years at the Advertising Softball World Series in America. As one Chromies player said, “Rocket is a guy with a massive heart, insight, knowledge and dedication to the sport. His passion for the game is unbelievable, his personality is infectious and he makes teammates listen and perform when they need to most.”
Complementing Rocket, Doug Clouston has never been afraid to make unpopular decisions to get the best from the team. He leads by force of personality, is fiercely competitive when the team is playing, but is unfailingly loyal and protective of his team.
Paul Riley and Doug Clouston have guided the Chromies through their highs and lows for more than 20 years, building formidable squads of players, generating great team loyalty and keeping the team focused on success. Along with Mo Baker of BT, also joining the Hall of Fame this year, they have been the most long-lived, long-suffering and most successful team managers in British softball history.
Administrators
Geof Ellingham
Geof Ellingham has been heavily involved in 
both baseball and softball at a national and local level for over 15 years, including two years as BSF President and seven years as a member of BSUK's Board. He has also served as youth officer with the BSF, the LSF (London Softball Federation) and BSUK.
Geof founded the London Meteorites Youth Baseball/Softball Club in 1994, and was club director until 2005. During that time, the club ran a successful PlayBall! programme as well as youth baseball and softball teams in all age brackets. He was a founder member of the Rainbow Raiders Softball Club, and was the Manager for the GB Under-16 Girls' Fastpitch Team for its first overseas trip to Florida in 2001 for the ISF Junior World Cup.
Throughout his adult life, Geof has been actively involved in voluntary sector roles for various organisations and is currently a director of the Moneywise Credit Union and a welfare rights charity, both in Newcastle.
In his roles as BSF President, BSUK Board Member and BSUK Chair, Geof showed himself to be an exemplary and far-sighted administrator, and he has had a lasting impact on both baseball and softball in the UK. Geof was the driving force behind BSUK moving from an unincorporated association to a company limited by guarantee and during this process, he developed a functional BSUK Board with a sound committee structure.
Until he stepped down as BSUK Chair in November 2011, Geof's focus was on building BSUK into a sustainable concern with financial stability as the development and change agent working on behalf of the two NGBs. Over the past five years, he fully achieved this. The fact that BSUK's governance is held in such high regard by Sport England and others is a testament to Geof's work as BSUK Chair. And BSUK's achievements in meeting difficult funding targets has been a reflection of Geof's leadership and strategic skills.
Bob Fromer
See below.
Mike Jennings
Mike Jennings has been one of the most hard-working and capable administrators in British softball for almost as long as the sport has been organised in the UK. He was instrumental in the development of BASU into the capable and well-run organisation it has become and has served BASU in the key roles of Umpire-in-Chief and Training Officer. Mike has also been a key figure on the BSF Executive for many years, currently as Treasurer, and he has always been a voice of reason and sanity.
Along with Bob Fromer, Mike organised and ran the first European Slowpitch Championship at Brunel University in 1998. He was ESF President for six years and was one of the first people from Britain to achieve a major role on the ESF, where he brought a welcome stability to the organisation. Mike was also an ISF Vice-President during that time and he has been an umpire, TC and U-I-C at ESF tournaments for many years.
Mike has been a major figure among those who have fought for more democratic and transparent governance at the ISF (and has suffered at Don Porter's hands as a result). Mike's analysis of ISF finances presented at the ISF Congress in 2011 may actually now force the organisation to live within its means, which would be a major achievement.
Libby Moss
Libby Moss has been a strong proponent of softball scoring in Great Britain for many years. A qualified scorer since her early days in Australia, Libby produced, single-handed, the statistics for the first (GB-hosted) European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship at Brunel University in 1998, before the use of computerised systems here. Over the years, she could be found behind many fastpitch backstops in Britain and around Europe, providing this essential support service.
After Women's Fastpitch Softball became an Olympic sport and the BSF decided to start its first serious national team programme, Libby was the Team Manager who worked with Head Coach Russ Snow to recruit and prepare the team that shocked the softball world by coming third in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Sydney. This team laid the foundations for the successful GB Women's Teams that have followed.
Libby was the first British softball administrator to join the European Softball Federation Executive (she served as Tournaments Officer) and after she relinquished this role she continued with her involvement in ESF Technical Commission work.
As well as retaining overall responsibility for issuing ESF Athlete Licenses, she still runs one or two ESF fastpitch events each season, with a particular involvement in men’s competitions.
Harry Somers
Harry Somers has been an active volunteer throughout the entire
20-year history of the Manchester Softball League (MSL). He has had a significant impact in several volunteer roles, and has been League Head for the last three years, during which time the league was awarded the League Glover Cup by the British Softball Federation for progressive development. Harry has been a popular leader of the rapidly growing 27-team league.
In addition to his role as League Head, Harry collates statistics from every game and makes them available online within hours, a service hugely appreciated by players within the league. Another of Harry's contributions is the weekly production of the MSL publication "Bases Loaded", formerly known as the MSL Review. This high-quality publication is used in a variety of ways to celebrate league success, improve players' game knowledge and most importantly to promote a community feeling within the MSL.
Harry also played a key role in securing funding and overseeing the construction of the first purpose-built softball diamond in the North of England at Parrs Wood School and Sports Centre in Didsbury. The diamond, which has a dirt infield and permanent outfield fence, has played a key role in attracting new players to the MSL, and the GB Slowpitch Team is planning to hold training sessions on the field. Few volunteers in British softball have worked as hard or done as much over such a long period of time as Harry Somers, and his recent selection as an Olympic Torch Bearer is a well-earned reward.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Bob Fromer
The BSF decided to make a special award this year for services to softball to Bob Fromer. Most people in softball know Bob in some capacity but what not everyone may realise is that there is almost no part of British softball as we know it today that has developed without his direct work or influence.
Bob moved to the UK permanently from the United States in 1969 and a few years later, along with a friend, started a regular – at first largely male but soon increasingly co-ed – pick-up softball game in Golders Hill Park in London that moved to Regents Park in 1974. This weekly game attracted an increasing number of British players as well as ex-pats, thus playing a role in the massive expansion of the game in London in the 1980s. From this pick-up game Bob founded the Zoo Crew Men's Team in the late 1970s, formed to play two grudge matches each season against Hypisco (the Hyde Park pick-up game that had been going since the 1960s).
In 1984 Bob was part of a group from the Regents Park game that, with help from
the British Baseball Federation, set up the first governing body for softball in London, known as SESA (the South of England Softball Association), a pre-cursor to the London Softball Federation. This group also set up the first softball leagues in London, which initially were single-sex. Bob served on the Men's League Committee for many years.
Also in 1984, Bob made contact with Don Porter, President of the International Softball Federation then and now. Through this approach Don Porter visited the UK and sent a TWA touring team over to play both fastpitch and slowpitch, and has supported British softball in many ways ever since.
The following year, 1985, Bob was part of a group that founded the GB Women's Fastpitch Team in an attempt to put together a host team for the 1985 World Games, played in London. Bob and his partner, Lynda Medwell, ran the World Games softball competition on behalf of the international organisers, which involved the USA, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Holland and Belgium. That same year Bob was the delegate to the BBF AGM where SESA withdrew softball from BBF governance.
Throughout the 1990s, Bob was active on the London Softball Federation, which at that time managed the majority of organised softball being played in the UK. In 1993, when BSF Hall of Fame member Julian Aldridge persuaded a distributor for Miller beer to invest money into softball for a couple of years, Bob became the sport's first paid organiser/development worker. As part of this role Bob founded and edited the London Softball News and continued as editor as it went on to become the black-and-white and then colour versions of Double Play.
In the mid-1990s Bob led the effort to establish a London Softball Centre at Morden Park and secured grants for backstops and lighting. He helped set up the British Softball Coaching Association (BSCA) and ran the project that brought Softball Canada Technical Director Darrell Joy to the UK for a number of months to coach players and coaches. More recently, he organised the fastpitch coaching and player clinics run by Team USA Head Coach Mike Candrea and star player Jessica Mendoza in the UK in 2008 and the Combat Coaches Tour for slowpitch players that ran last year.
In 1996 Bob joined the BSF as their paid Development Worker and worked to foster closer co-operation with the BBF, which led to the creation of Upper Heyford as a national training centre for both sports – a project that Bob managed, with help from the BOA and other user sports, until the facility closed last year. As the BSF's Development Worker. Bob spent much time travelling around the country, developing relationships with regions and leagues and gradually persuading them to join the BSF, pay fees and support the growth of softball. He and BSF President Nicola Harper approached the then Sports Council (now Sport England) and secured their first grant to softball.
In 1997, Bob organised the new GB Slowpitch Team’s tour to Georgia for a training camp with Bobby Simpson at Higher Ground Softball. He also attended the ESF Congress for the first time as a BSF delegate and helped persuade them to finally start the European Slowpitch Championships. In 1998, Bob and Mike Jennings were the main organisers of the first European Slowpitch Championships, played in the UK at Brunel University.
In the late 1990s Bob worked closely with Major League Baseball and set up and ran the fondly remembered MLB Tournament, which to this day has provided the benchmark for all other tournaments to follow. Bob's relationship with MLB led to the formation of BaseballSoftballUK as the administrative arm of both sports. Bob, along with others, represented softball in the negotiations for a joint agency and when it was officially formed in 2000, Bob was the founding CEO. He continued in this position until 2004 and then stepped back into a consultancy role in order that BSUK could continue to employ its other existing staff. Before stepping back, Bob had paved the way for increased Sport England funding, hired Tanya Price to establish the Grass Roots programme which is the basis for today's fastpitch softball activity, set up the BSUK Council (now Board) and ensured that BSUK was a viable on-going concern.
Since 2004, Bob has continued to work for BSUK and to provide continual support to the BSF. He has been the reporter of record in softball magazines, the monthly Softball Bulletin he wrote over many years and over the last decade on the BSUK or BSF websites for most of the major happenings in British softball since 1993. He helped organise the BSF Hall of Fame and provided most of the nominations for its first three induction groups. He helped to organise and run the London Cup as an international fastpitch tournament from 2002 through 2006 (the year it was a major tournament and the first timesince 1999 that almost the full GB Women’s Team ever played here) and regenerated it last year along with Stan Doney and Hayley Scott. He has run the Softball World Series, a perennial favourite event, for the past ten years. And he was the first to hold the post of Slowpitch Development Officer on the ESF Development Commission, a post he relinquished after several years in 2011 after seeing the European Slowpitch Championships grow in size and scale along with the introduction of the European Slowpitch Cup.
As impressive as his resume is to this point, if you were to ask Bob what he is most proud of he would say, “overseeing the GB Women’s Team programme through various crises to where it is now one of the top teams in European and World softball.” Back in 1999 Bob covered the astonishing performance of the GB Women’s Team at the Olympic Qualifiers in Parma for Double Play and made a pledge at an emotional team meeting that he would somehow find funding for the programme, which had none. Within a year, with the help and support of the BOA, funding was secured that gradually built up to the £528,000 UK Sport grant for the Beijing Olympic cycle and that only ended after softball was dropped from the Olympic programme.
In 2000, Bob and Natalie Fox picked up the GB Women’s Team programme after Russ Snow and Libby Moss resigned and Bob has been the General Manager and sometimes Team Manager for the GB Women and GB Under-19 Women ever since, and for the past few years General Manager of the female fastpitch programmes as a whole.
It should also be noted that Bob also deserves recognition as a player and team manager in his own right. He played for and captained the Zoo Crew for many years and won several National Men’s Championships, receiving the MVP for one national final. In 1990 Bob founded and played for the team still known as SPAM. He also played for several years for Slammers and was selected to the London All-Stars in 1996 as a pitcher, the precursor to the GB Slowpitch Team programme. But he could never have been selected to the GB Team for lack of a passport!
Bob plays less and less these days, but was seen back on the field in 2011 pitching for the GB Under-19 Team at the Diamond Series that reached one B-grade final. He also turned out once more for SPAM for a one-day tournament where he pitched seven games and batted close to .900 for the day. Few who have played against Bob will forget his wicked high-arc pitching or his consistent line drives to the left side.
It is not hyperbole to say that no single person has been more important to the development of softball in this country.
Hall of Fame Members
The complete list of members inducted into the Hall of Fame is now as follows:
Players
Julian Aldridge (also inducted as an Administrator)
Kate Allen
Chris Bayman
Shaun Findlay
Paul Gambaccini
Brett Gibbens
Stephanie Jardine
Tim Richey
Eddie Sanchez
Bruce Saunders
Laura Thompson
Coaches
Gary Crock
Umpires
David Allen
Vince McGuire
Jes Sandhu
Scorekeeper
David Ballheimer
Team Managers
Maurice “Mo” Baker
Mark Berman
Doug Clouston
Paul Riley
Administrators
Julian Aldridge (also inducted as a Player)
Elissa Baird
Andy Cannon
Geof Ellingham
Bob Fromer
Rikki Gemmell
Sarah-Jane Glover
Chris January
Mike Jennings
Libby Moss
Russell Porter
Harry Somers
Development Achievements
Richard Andrews
Natalie Fox
Allan Mole
Media Achievements
Nigel Davies