Born in
Mannheim, Germany he began his baseball career at the age of 11 years. Between
1955 and 1973 the switch-hitting catcher participated in 11 European Baseball
Championships and in 1972 and 1973 also in two World Baseball Championships. In
1967 he was named as MVP at the European Baseball Championship.
He
continued to stay in involved in the sport after his active career. In 1975 he
was one of the founding members of the Mannheim Tornados, the German record
baseball champion. Between 1982 and 1993 he worked as head coach of the German
national team. Additionally he was second vice president for the DBV between
1985 and 1988 and many years chairman for the German Baseball-Bundesliga.
Internationally he was a member in the technical commission of CEB and a
longtime technical commissioner for CEB and IBAF. In 1994 he was inducted into
the DBV Hall of Fame to honor his legacy for German Baseball.
“When we founded the Ladenburg Romans in 1985 and joined the DBV leagues, Roland was our first contact with the DBV. From there we jointly walked many paths within the DBV, the German Baseball-Bundesliga, with the national team and later also as technical commissioners with CEB,” says DBV President and Member at Large for WBSC Europe Juergen Elsishans. “Roland was one of our best representatives in International Baseball, who we ever had. Legendary also was his favorite dish, coffee and cake. I am deeply sorry and will miss him. We will never forget our number one Hall of Famer and will always preserve his heritage in German Baseball.”
