Baseball’s a Hit in the Land of Homer

ATHENS —  Clinton Zavaras, a Denver businessman pitching on 10 years’ rest, throws a fastball for the Greek Olympic baseball team.

It’s outside. Ball 1.

Standing ovation.

“They were going so crazy, I thought I had missed the umpire’s call, so I turned around and looked at the scoreboard,” Zavaras says.

Chris Demetral, a Detroit stockbroker playing his first real game in two years, swings at a pitch for the Greek Olympic baseball team.

Foul ball.

Another standing ovation.

“I’ve never wanted to win a game more than I’ve wanted to win one for these people,” he says.

Meet the Bad News Arkoudas, the most unusual, under-qualified yet unconditionally beloved team at these Olympics.

They are being cheered nightly by a nation that does not know their names, does not understand their game and does not even speak their language.

Only two of the 23 players were born in Greece. Before this month, only a few had even visited Greece.

They are not from Thessaloniki or Larissa, but the Helena Brewers and Jupiter Hammerheads. They talk not in deep tones, but Southern accents.

And sometimes they don’t even recognize themselves.

Catcher Michael Koutsantonakis? As a Kansas City Royal prospect, he is known as Mike Tonakis. But his grandfather’s birth certificate says otherwise.

Both the charm and absurdity of the situation were epitomized when the players remained standing on the field after being introduced before the first game.

They removed their caps for the national anthem, then realized there is no Greek national anthem played before games here. Of course, if there was, they wouldn’t know it anyway.

“I never thought in a million years something like this would happen, or even be possible,” Demetral said.

Yet it’s Opa! Opa! Opa! for the home team, even if the home folks have no idea what that team is doing.

Watching from packed stands, flag-waving Greek fans cheered for runs that score after the third out, cheered every fly ball and refused to boo a team that is now 0-3, has been outscored 23-7, and is hitting .093.

“What makes you Greek is your blood,” said George Moskos, one of the thousands clad in blue. “And we know, whoever these guys are, Greek is in their blood.”

Oh yeah, the blood.

With the U.S. team failing to qualify, this is the only American baseball team in these Olympics. Yet it is Greek because each of the players has relatives who were Greek.

They were collected under the direction of Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos, who was asked several years ago by Greek sports officials to build a team that would take advantage of the Olympic rule allowing the host country to enter a team in every sport.

“We thought it was important not only for our heritage, but for the development of baseball worldwide,” said Lou Angelos, Peter’s son who headed the project. “And, of course, Greece isn’t the first country to use players from other countries.”

With inspirational Manager Rob Derksen scouring the U.S. for players with Greek surnames, visiting spring-training sites and minor league parks, a team of former prospects, future prospects and five former big leaguers came together.

The search for birth certificates of grandparents and great-grandparents was more difficult, taking Derksen’s crew into tiny churches on the Greek islands in hopes of uncovering enough documentation to turn Bowie Baysox and Peoria Chiefs into Greek citizens.

Once they found all the paperwork, they closed the deal by managing to circumvent the rule that Greek citizens must serve in the army.

“That was the one that worried me,” said Zavaras, 37. “I’m like, wait a minute, what if I get over there and a war breaks out and I have to stay? The Greeks have been in a few wars, right?”

Just as the team was coming together earlier this summer, Derksen died suddenly of a heart attack. Then, after his death, Greek officials began questioning his recruitment of so many Americans.

Last week, two American players were suspended for using illegal substances, even though one of them, Derek Nicholson, was taking prescribed blood-pressure medicine containing a diuretic, a wrongful suspension that Greek officials have refused to admit.

“But we have something special here, something we’re doing for the Greek people and for ourselves, and we want to make it last,” said Jared Theodorakos, that rare Greek pitcher with a Texas timbre.

So special that when Eric Karros was released from the Oakland Athletics this summer, he made inquiries about joining the team, but the final rosters had already been frozen.

“This is not about wins or losses, but about the celebration of Greek culture around the world,” said Alex Bakos, a computer worker cheering for strangers on a recent evening.

Besides, Bakos said, the Greek baseball fan and the Bad News Arkoudas are made for each other.

“They are playing hard and we are getting better at understanding the sport,” he said. “We know the basics now, like, three strikes per batter and four outs per inning.”

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read other columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.