18 November 2002
2002 Annual General Meeting

The Brighton Buccaneers celebrated one of the club's best seasons ever, and revealed ambitious plans for the future at their 2002 Annual General Meeting on 17 November at the Imperial Hotel in Hove.

Team Awards Ceremony

CarterThe meeting featured the club's annual awards ceremony.

Alex Malihoudis won the team's Most Valuable Player award for Senior team players.

The Junior MVP award went to Kieran Lusk.

A complete list of the awards and winners can be found opposite.

Plans for 40th Anniversary

The Brighton Buccaneers will host an exhibition game against a US military wteam at the Brighton Velodrome to mark the club's 40th anniversary in 2003.

The 40th Anniversary Game has tentatively been scheduled for 3 August 2003, but it may be rescheduled to coincide with the Brighton Festival in May 2003.

The game will recreate a match in 1967 in which a US Navy team beat England 12-1 before a crowd of 5,000 at the Velodrome.

A temporary baseball stadium will be constructed at the Velodrome for the game. Sponsors including Ecovert, Juice 107, and the Argus are hoping to make this the biggest postwar baseball event in Britain.

Bucs to host 2003 Final 4

Brighton will once again host British Baseball's Final Four in 2003, Buccaneers President Craig Savage announced at the AGM.

The Buccaneers have hosted the last five National Finals at Pavilion Field, and have won three of the last four tournaments.

The format of the 2003 tournament will be changed, Savage said, to make regular season standings more significant. It will also incorporate the Kenco International Tournament.

The Final Four will be held on final weekend of August 2003.

Recap of a great season

FosterThe 2002 campaign was one of the Brighton Buccaneers' most eventful ever.

There were great collective and individual successes.

Among the highlights:

• A former Bucs player, John Foster, was called up to the Major Leagues by the Atlanta Braves.
  
  
• The Senior First Team, finished second in the Rawlings National League. In the Final Four tournament, the Bucs beat the Bracknell Blazers and the Windsor Bears to clinch their second consecutive National Championship.
  
  
• The Senior Second Team had one of its best seasons ever. Kevin Gogan's team finished second in the Division 1 Southern Conference, and beat the Bournemouth Sharks in a playoff to earn promotion. In 2003, the Second Team will compete in the Premier Division, Britain's top aluminum bat league.
  
  
• The Pony team had a successful inaugural season, winning 10 games. The team enjoyed free dinners after home games, courtesy of sponsor Bardsley's Fish & Chips.
  
  
• Seven Pony players made their Senior Second Team debuts. One Senior Second Team game featured five Pony players starting.
  
  
• Eight Senior Buccaneers played in International games with team Great Britain. In May, Nick Carter, Louis Chestney, Dave Donaldson, Martyn Dutton, Ben Gogan, Will Lintern, and Alex Malihoudis faced Sweden with at Waltham Abbey.
  
  
• Brighton players Will Lintern, Ben Lucocq, George Lintern, Michael Johnson and J.J. Vannier gained international experience with the Great Britain Juniors.
  
  
• Three Pony Buccaneers played for Great Britain in Europe.
  

Remembering Dick Gerrard

GerrardThe 2002 season was also marked by sadness for the Buccaneers.

Richard Gerrard, a fixture in the club for many years (particularly in the junior programme), passed away in May.

Gerrard's uniform number, 48, has been retired from use. In addition, an award for the Junior club member demonstrating the most promise as a player has been named in his honour. The 2002 Richard Gerrard Award was won by James Lathey.