The Emerald Diamond
The update

For those of you new to 'I didn't know there was baseball in Ireland!?', the Emerald Diamond is a 90-minute documentary about the Irish National Baseball Team. The film's budget of $70,000 was financed on credit cards by first-time filmmaker John Fitzgerald.

The film debuted to a sold out crowd in New York on February 25, 2006 and has been seen in over 20 theaters across the country since then. It has been featured by The New York Times, New York Post, FoxNews, National Public Radio and has also been covered extensively by the Irish media. Reuters came to Corcaigh Park, home of Irish Baseball, and reported the story as such.

Frank McNally of the Irish Times wrote this brilliant article after he had seen the Emerald Diamond at the Sugar Club in Dublin.

On November 12, 2006, "The Emerald Diamond" won the Critic's Choice Award at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival in Cooperstown, NY. The award was selected and presented by film critic Jeffrey Lyons.


Having spoken to John Fitzgerald recently he is happy with a recent resurgence in interest in the movie, driven by the Cooperstown award, the forthcoming St Patricks Day 2007 and his dalliance with myspace. The Emerald Diamond's myspace page has really taken off in the past few weeks and is now reaching hundreds of new people everyday - most of them are either Irish baseball fans or Irish music fans, or both. Naturally you don't have to be Irish or a baseball fan to like the movie, so word just keeps spreading.

John is also doing a last-minute Christmas special on the website - if people go directly to www.IrishBaseballMovie.com, they can order a Deluxe Edition DVD (it has 85 minutes of bonus features and deleted scenes). Every DVD order will get a free CD soundtrack. The soundtrack sells for $14.99 and it has 24 songs plus movie quotes. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie, you should know that the music is incredible and lots of people who buy the soundtrack end up following the bands on the CD.

Interest in the movie seems to be picking up as we move closer to St. Patrick's Day 2007. There are several screenings already scheduled beginning on January 21 in Brattleboro, VT. Other scheduled screenings are in Indianapolis, Bay City Michigan, Louisville Kentucky and Cincinnati. You can find out more by visiting the Emerald Diamond's official website. John plans to have many more screenings above and beyond those currently listed/works in progress. Most of the screenings will be fundraisers for a nonprofit organisation John founded called EMERALD DIAMOND USA. The nonprofit will raise funds to help support the continued development of baseball in Ireland. If any group is interested in holding a screening, they can contact John at vintagefitz@aol.com or through the website.

The Emerald Diamond can be shown in a movie theater or event hall and it can also raise funds for local groups and charities. Full details from John.