OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — In the quiet dugout hours before first pitch, as a few teammates begin their pregame routines on the nearby grass, Lou Helmig pauses and ponders his baseball lineage.
He holds a bat in his hand. It always seems he has a bat in hand, ready.
Helmig also carries a deep family history with every swing and every catch, with every sprint around the basepaths. He has carried it at every level, in every new place he plays, on whatever continent it happens to be in a given moment.
The larger-than-life right fielder for the independent Oakland Ballers is a third-generation German professional player trying to leave his own mark, just like his grandfather Claus, great-uncle Jurgen, and Helmig’s own dad, Martin, before him.
“I come from a baseball family, third-generation professional baseball player and I’ve got to make a name for myself first,” he said. “I’ve got to follow up the name. I love playing baseball, I love everything about it and I think it’s the best job in the world that you can have being out here in the sunshine having an amazing day.”
And people love to root for him. Like many of the Ballers, Helmig needed a fresh start, someone to believe in him again — and Oakland is thrilled he landed here to find it.
He represented Germany in this year’s World Baseball Classic qualifiers and played for the Phillies’ Florida Coast League rookie-level club in 2022 and ’23.
At 6-foot-5, the slugging outfielder is already a beloved face inside Raimondi Park, a huge hit with fans starved for a star to grab onto after the Oakland Athletics’ heartbreaking departure this year for West Sacramento.
Some have been sporting lederhosen as a thoughtful nod to Helmig’s native Bavaria in Germany. The 22-year-old Helmig loves seeing German flags waving in the stands.
What many might not know is that his baseball pedigree dates back to pre-World War II-era Germany.
Helmig’s grandfather and great-uncle became the first German-born players to sign with a major league club when they joined the Orioles in 1955. But that meant playing in the Negro Leagues when Germans weren’t always warmly welcomed in the U.S.
“After his playing career was over, he started bringing the game to Germany and to a lot of places. He was working with the Army bases which were still in Germany at that time,” Helmig shared. “He was also a distributor of baseball equipment and American sports equipment during that time to spread the game all over Germany.”
Father Martin played baseball, too, and still likes to chat with his son regularly about the games from across the world.
“I don’t know anything else besides baseball,” the youngest Helmig said. “My grandpa and my dad, you can change the subject on them but after five minutes it will come to baseball somehow.”
With a name inspired by Lou Gehrig, he has played on five continents and speaks three languages. Baseball has taken him all over Europe, to the Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, and also to Asia, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia, South Africa, Australia.
“Quite a lot of places already,” he said, easily listing off all of the stops.
This one has already been memorable. Just last week Helmig helped the second-year franchise clinch a Pioneer League playoff spot with the tying and go-ahead singles in the sixth and eighth innings of a 6-5 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on July 10.
“Lou’s brought a great addition to the Ballers, just the personality, everything about him. He brings great energy to the field every day,” catcher Dillon Tatum said. “I love his personality, that’s what I love most about him. Same dude every day. Love him to death and glad to have him. It’s amazing, Helmig family.”
They hope to keep him all season. While players affiliated with major league clubs and in those teams’ farm systems have processes in place with customs and immigration to secure work visas for athletes, the Pioneer League doesn’t. But Helmig, Oakland’s second-youngest player who was released by the Phillies in April 2024, still had an active visa from his recent stint with the Fargo, North Dakota, RedHawks team.
Ballers assistant general manager Tyler Petersen is a German-American and loves the energy in the ballpark and support surrounding Helmig.
“It’s a little bit of fun for me personally of course,” Petersen said. “He has the tools, he’s got the makeup. It’s the same question we ask with all our athletes, can they put it together, can they show off to scouts to say either I deserve my next chance or my first chance? For him what was it that the Phillies gave up on him for? What can he show in this league? So what is the next step for him to make the jump back to the affiliate level, because he can play at the affiliate level. We love having him.”
Just as the fans learn about Helmig, he has been educated on Oakland’s sports history, too, like how the city lost its three major sports teams — the NFL’s Raiders, the Golden State Warriors moving to San Francisco and then the A’s, who plan to move to Las Vegas in 2028. So he quickly understood how much the Ballers fill a void for this baseball-crazed city.
“When I came here they told me everything about it. They gave me some history lessons in that,” he said of the loyal fan group called Last Dive Bar. “I love this place, I love this setup. People here take really good care of me.”
Always with him is the reminder of a family responsibility, and Helmig embraces it.
“It means a lot to me. I’ve still got to make a name for myself. I’ve got to be humble, keep going and keep working hard,” he said. “I think about my grandpa a lot, too, obviously because he played the game I love, so it’s always in the back of my head.”
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