Portrait
BTVF: Who are you, Benjamin Witte?
B.W.: I’m a journalist and professor at a communications school. I currently live in Montpellier with my daughter, who is almost 10 years old. I grew up in the United States but moved to France 11 years ago after spending about a decade in Chile.
BTVF: Your journalism career and American background led you to cover French baseball in English. Tell us about the origins of Baseblog?
B.W.: I’ve always loved baseball since I was a kid, and I discovered by chance about two years ago that the sport is also played here. It was a time when I was doing more teaching than journalism, which I really missed back then.
I decided to write what I thought would be just an article about the Montpellier Barracudas, but I quickly realized how much fun it would be to dive deeper into the subject. The blog idea came a few months later.
At first, I wrote for what I thought would be an international audience, so all the early articles were published in English. But over time, I realized that most of my followers were French, so I try to translate articles into French when I can. Recently, I even translated one into Spanish.
BTVF: Today, you cover all kinds of topics. How do you find and approach your subjects?
B.W.: Many ideas come from simply following the Federation and the different teams on social media. But I’ve also made an effort to reach out to different players, knowing that each has a great story to tell. I really missed hands-on journalism, so the most rewarding part for me is being able to sit down with the person, take photos, and truly get to know them.
BTVF: The health crisis and the baseball off-season are low points in terms of news. How do you handle these times?
B.W.: It’s true that with the pandemic and last year’s canceled season, I considered stopping the project at one point. During the winter months leading up to the 2020 season, I really tried to find as many topics as I could just to keep the platform ready for the season, and when it was canceled, I felt extremely disappointed.
But then I decided that no, I wanted to continue despite everything. I first wrote a few articles about the pandemic and its impact on players. I also wrote a very long profile on Ariel Soriano, who had the opportunity, starting in July, to play in Italy. And when the French Summer League started, I decided to get back into reporting. I went to Toulouse for Opening Day and to Sénart for the Final Four tournament.
BTVF: The D1 season is back on. After three matchdays, do you have any idea of the favorites and dare to make a prediction?
B.W.: Good question. Sénart obviously has a great team this year, especially offensively. This lineup will be a nightmare for any opposing pitcher. Montpellier is also an interesting team this year. On the pitching side, they have a rotation with Ozanich, Canelon, and Cassanova that is rare in D1. The question mark is whether these guys can stay healthy and if their lineup can score enough.
Savigny and La Rochelle also have talented teams. I’d say Sénart is probably the favorite right now, but there’s still a lot of baseball to be played.
BTVF: What can we wish you?
B.W.: Covering French baseball and trying to give it more visibility is really a labor of love, as they say in English. I’d say the most important thing is to keep the faith—to keep working hard on your platform with the idea, as they say in the movie « Field of Dreams, » that if you build it, they will come.
Interview conducted by D.C.
