“To see that the city has at least acknowledged that they will be working with us is a good thing,” he said of Monday’s motion, which city council will consider for final approval Feb. 8. In fact when Stratford won the Ontario Baseball Association title in 1934, it was the League’s fifth (OBA) title in a row. A league that put together a 100-year streak of playing games before spending a season on the sidelines can’t wait to begin a new streak. The Barrie Baycats Baseball Club is a not-for-profit enterprise. When a league has been around for a century there is a story to tell. During the early years, the league expanded to include the cities of Waterloo, Brantford, Preston, London, and St. Thomas. The league now consists of 24 teams playing 162 game schedules. And 2019 marks the 101 st season of baseball and makes the IBL the oldest men’s amateur league in the country.. For the past few seasons there has been eight teams but 2019 marks a … In 2006 the league was honoured to have an all-time great, Ron Stead, inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame followed by another grad and former Toronto Blue Jay, outfielder Rob Ducey in 2013. The Internet Baseball League (IBL) is a continuous-ownership, play-by-email league which uses its own board game known as "The IBL Game" (or TIG). And while the Blue Jays were still nine years away from their inaugural season in Toronto, the new team, playing out of quirky Christie Pits, from which sand, gravel and clay were excavated for construction purposes back in the 1800s, filled a vacancy for Toronto baseball diehards after the exit of the triple-A … The league was suddenly down to six teams in 1998 after Stratford folded however St. Thomas rejoined for the 2000 season followed by two expansion teams, the Barrie Baycats in 2001 and the Oshawa Dodgers in 2002, which brought the number of teams back up to nine. The one thing I hate to see is when a coach over-coaches, and ends up hurting a player. Mills said Coates Stadium is a city facility, built about 20 years ago with donations and materials supplied at cost. The 2000 campaign will be the Inter-County Major Baseball League's 82nd as the Inter-County Major Baseball League started in 1919 and though the league's presence has been interrupted many times by the enterance of minor leagues and teams, independent and affiliated. The Intercounty was considered by the professional ranks as an “outlaw” league at that time. In the month of January 2010, The Intercounty Baseball League voted 6 votes against 2 in the favor of presenting an expansion franchise to the Ottawa Stadium Group that would play at the stadium. Baseball will return to Ottawa Stadium this summer in the form of a team in Ontario's Intercounty Baseball League, the oldest baseball league in Canada. BARRIE - Just months before the Barrie Baycats were going to enter the Intercounty Baseball League [IBL] in 2001, their team owner at the time went bankrupt. “People think it’s a little far away, but it’s actually not that far considering there are teams in London and Barrie. During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Stratford Hillers won six times in a span of nine years. “But if you stop playing for another year, people will start finding other things to do, so we have to have some semblance of play and hopefully we can do that. Waterloo returned in 1978 and the league hit a high point for teams in 1979 when the Windsor Chiefs joined. Over the years such familiar names as Ferguson Jenkins, Chris Speier, Jesse Orosco, Larry Landreth, Mike Kilkenny and Mike Gardiner have played in the IBL but it isn’t just former major leaguers who have thrilled fans. Time for Expansion Baseball (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2018), 279. The modern era has seen some great dynasties. January 21, 1999 -- The Grey Bruce Baseball League will be the premier local farm league providing top players to the new expansion franchise from the Frontier Baseball League's London Werewolves. Get a Free Community Hub Program with any annual display package. Major League Baseball arrived in the city of Toronto during the next wave of expansion, in 1977, with the Toronto Blue Jays. It says it couldn’t resolve an issue over the league’s demand that the Hillers pay a $40,000 expansion fee. Despite a rocky start the Inter County managed to survive its first season. Instead of a $400,000 expansion of the press box for local and visiting media and a mezzanine for fans and corporate gatherings at the facility, the ball park instead will get just a larger press box, costing between $100,000 and $125,000. The League has contested a championship every year save for the World War 2 years of 1942-1945. The Intercounty Baseball League was founded in 1919.The league plays in central and southern Ontario, and currently has nine teams.As of 2009, these teams are the Barrie Baycats, the Brantford Red Sox, the Guelph Royals, the Hamilton Thunderbirds, the Kitchener Panthers, the London Majors, the Missisauga Twins, the Oshawa Dodgers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. And 2019 marks the 101st season of baseball and makes the IBL the oldest men’s amateur league in the country. Baycats win sixth straight IBL title. The Barrie Baycats are changing up their pitch to expand Coates Stadium. Most Valuable Player - Jeff Pietraszko, Kitchener Panthers Pietraszko led the IBL with 55 hits, 10 home runs, 43 runs scored and was 9th in RBI's with 30 while finishing third with a .390 batting average in 34 games. Expansion franchise when the … Hamel was the secretary from 1962 to 1997. Vote By the mid 1930s, the Inter‑County had established a reputation as one of Ontario's best amateur leagues. The Intercounty Baseball League team has scaled back its plans for the Midhurst park, located at the Barrie Community Sports Complex along Highway 26. Equidistant between Detroit and Toronto, London has always been a hotbed of Detroit Tigers fans, and the expansion of Major League Baseball to Toronto in 1977 brought even more fans into the game. While London has been perennially passed by in terms of major league play, there has almost always been a home town team for fans to cheer for. The senior league appointed its first commissioner, John Gillies, a London lawyer and former pitcher in the league. July 9, 2020. Baycats president David Mills said the presentation he and vice-president Paul Marley made at last month’s city finance and corporate services committee meeting just didn’t cut it. “We’re trying to gather outside monies as well. In 1977 major league baseball came to southern Ontario. Soon after the league doubled in size with teams in London, Brantford, Preston and St. Thomas joining at various times. Following WWII, Intercounty baseball’s popularity exploded. This was after the historic Toronto Maple Leafs minor pro franchise folded and left the International League (AAA). “The problem we had was our ask was too high,” Mills said. The league survived the Second World War even though many players joined the armed forces. “Now we’ve put together a design, we’re having an architect draw up the design for us, and we are working with city staff. Bob Bruton is a full-time BarrieToday reporter who covers politics and city hall. By the mid 1930s, the Intercounty had established a reputation as one of Ontario’s best amateur leagues. The Barrie Baycats are changing up their pitch to expand Coates Stadium. It’s worth noting that this is not the first time the IBL has been in the Niagara Peninsula as there was a team in Niagara Falls in the 1990s. Panthers extend series, season. After the war, the league became professional in everything but name. Very touchy in fact, because there’s so many issues surrounding a new team entering the league. Welland’s perceived location as off the beaten path could be a factor, as could the Intercounty Baseball League’s $40,000 expansion fee. That dynasty was brought to a close by the Barrie Baycats in 2014 when they won their first title. Raymond Bowe/BarrieToday The Barrie Baycats are looking for a $400,000 upgrade to Coates Stadium in Midhurst. Founded in 1925, and is based in London, Ontario. The IBL began with a USENET post on rec.sport.baseball in 1991. The League began in 1919 with just four teams, Galt, Guelph, Stratford and Kitchener. Literally. The expansion of the Intercounty League is a touchy subject. Ottawa dropped out following the 2012 season as the city chose to pursue a minor pro team for 2015. The Baycats, six-time defending IBL champions, did not play in 2020 because of the pandemic, and the league cancelled its schedule, but there are plans to begin the 2021 season June 1. The city has spent some money on the baseball stadium since it was built, including approximately $30,000 for upgrading batting equipment, exterior building lights, rubber flooring, stadium field lighting. “Yes, we’re going to play ball this year; June 1 is the best we can do, but that again can change,” he said. Starting after the finish of the 2021 regular season teams in the 12U and up divisions will now be involved in a playoff series format instead of the championship weekends previously used. The revived Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club who joined the Intercounty Baseball League in 1969, have won eight championships themselves. “What we should have done is break it down. So many came, in fact, that the League was considered on a par with many minor pro leagues. Mills said the plan is for a 36-game schedule — 18 at home, 18 away — but there are still questions about protocols for fans at ball parks. Intercounty Baseball League The Intercounty League has been a fixture in Southern Ontario since 1919 when four teams - Berlin (now Kitchener), Guelph, Stratford and Galt (now Cambridge) -- formed the new circuit out of the remnants of several professional Canadian League operations. The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) was founded in 1919 with just four cities represented — Galt, Guelph, Stratford and Kitchener, and is the oldest amateur men's league in Canada. City police trying to identify man who kicked in door, Bradford council hears more details on bypass project, which should benefit commuters, City investing in south-end employment land to bring more jobs to Barrie. The Inter County has taken steps to change it's Championship format for the 2021 season. In 1969, the IBL welcomed Toronto to the league. There are many cities in Ontario that would be able to host the IBL based solely on population – Kingston, Peterborough, Windsor, Cornwall – all suitable for IBL baseball.… There were never fewer than eight teams in the League over next two decades. If you'd like to use any of the research from this site, please properly credit this site and provide a link back. It took a lot of dedicated people to run the league in this time period. The Intercounty Baseball League today announced the Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and All-Star Teams for the 2007 season. The league honoured its top 100 players at a banquet in 2018 and the majority of the players receiving gold bats worked during the day and played in the IBL at night or on the weekend. “We have kind of run out of space in terms of the media area and we felt it was time to do a couple of upgrades at the park,” he said. That franchise spent the last 10 years in Burlington as the Bandits but moved to greener pastures this year. In a story of three different franchises, each of which has borne the name of the Toronto Maple Leafs, … The IBL is certainly Ontario’s premier men’s baseball League and one of the best leagues in the country. IBL On Deck. The IBL, nee The Intercounty Baseball League, has been around for a century. The IBL became a bona-fide professional league with teams engaging in bidding wars for players such as Goody Rosen and Phil Marchildon. Raymond Bowe/BarrieToday. In the early years the League expanded with London, Brantford, Preston and St. Thomas joining at various times. In this file photo from 2019, fans attend Game 1 of the Intercounty Baseball League final against the Kitchener Panthers at Coates Stadium. KITCHENER — From his view at the bottom of the Intercounty Baseball League standings, Dean Castelli says the nearly 100-year-old baseball circuit has a serious competitive balance problem. The competition in the country’s top league is ramping up. As teams, organizations and players work within their local guidelines to get back on the field while continuing to battle the coronavirus pandemic, the Canadian Premier Baseball League is excited to announce that it is expanding. The IBL, nee The Intercounty Baseball League, has been around for a century. “We used to have a team in Ottawa, so distance is relative.” Two of them, long time commissioner Reuben Halpern, who was in office from 1970 until 1986, and secretary Lorne Hamel were honoured by having the league’s two divisions named after them in 1982. by Dan Krieger March 29, 2010 - North American Hockey League (NAHL) BASEBALL. Golden Baseball League: The GBL's proposed 2010 expansion … Mills says he hopes to go another way now. Copyright © 2021 Intercounty Baseball League. “We’ve got to go back with firm (costing) numbers and a pretty firm design, which we didn’t do in early January,” he said. The league ventured into Eastern Ontario in 2010 with the admission of the Ottawa Fatcats, replacing the Oshawa Dodgers who suspended operations following the 2009 season. This was long before baseball games were on television and great crowds came out to see the games, which were played under floodlights for the first time in the 1950s. It’s these players, and players like them, that are the real heart and soul of the IBL. Panthers push series to six games. All team and league information, sports logos, sports uniforms and names contained within this site are properties of their respective leagues, teams, ownership groups and/or organizations. For the past few seasons there has been eight teams but 2019 marks a change as for the first time, the IBL will be in Welland. 2 Maxwell Kates and Bill Nowlin, eds. It was that year when Stratford rejoined the League as the city went on to become one of the league’s premiere franchises. Scrambling to find a new one, team president David Mills turned Gary Inskeep, a friend of his, in order to save the team. As a coach I respect the baseball “book” but I also think that there is room for change and expansion to that “book”. “At the same time, we just feel the city should be stepping up to some degree to help.”. In fact when Stratford won the Ontario Baseball Association title in 1934, it was the League's fifth OBA title in a row. Learn about the Intercounty Baseball League's over 100 years of history. In 1969, the year after the demise of the Triple-A Leafs, a new Toronto Maple Leafs began play as an amateur team belonging to the Ontario-only Intercounty Baseball League at another diamond. Former player and manager, the late Jim Ridley, has also been inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Inskeep says he remembers that phone call like it was yesterday. Official Canadian Premier Baseball League News Release. “But Paul Marley and I, we’re not designers, we’re not developers, we’re not lobbyists. GAME RECAPS. Results > Archives >, Sign in or register for your free account, 'The problem we had was our ($400,000) ask was too high. Regardless, the Intercounty continued on. So did TSN and baseball was on television almost every day. “We should have just gone for exactly what we need right now. Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report. The bidding war for players was fierce, and many ex-major league players came to Ontario looking for a few last baseball bucks. The group says no member of the IBL that it has been made aware of has ever paid an expansion fee to join the league. VIDEOS. But we understand things are tight and our strategy probably wasn’t the right one,” he added. People like Arden Eddie, Bill Byckowski, Tom McKenzie, Denis Flanagan, Bob McKillop, Dan Collison, Alf Payne, Ron Stead, Doug Landreth and Russ Brahms. The late 1950s and early 1960s were the toughest era as teams came in and dropped out and in 1962 and 1963 the Intercounty had just five teams – it’s lowest total ever. That’s an expansion to the media box.”. Join the IBL On Deck Crew as they catch up with Intercounty Baseball League Commissioner John Kastner as he provides updates on the road to the 2021 season. Official YouTube Channel of the Intercounty Baseball League. Two years later, in 1969, his Maple Leafs officially joined the Intercounty Major Baseball League. While the crowds may have been great, the era of paying players nearly killed the IBL. In January 2010, the Intercounty Baseball League voted 6–2 in favour of presenting the Ottawa Stadium Group with an expansion franchise that would play at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium On March 10, 2010, the IBL confirmed that the application for an IBL expansion franchise had been accepted. Councillors passed a motion Monday night that city staff be directed to assist the Barrie Baycats Baseball Club with the planning for, and investigation of, funding opportunities, such as grants and sponsorships, for the expansion of the Barrie Baycats' press box and mezzanine at the current stadium, and report back to the city’s finance and corporate services committee. Literally. The Intercounty Baseball League team has scaled back its plans for the Midhurst park, located at the Barrie Community Sports Complex along Highway 26. What we should have done is break it down,' says club president, Barrie Baycats president David Mills, left, shares a laugh with ESPN's Dan Shulman at Coates Stadium in this file photo from May 2019. Barrie won the next four titles and now they have five titles in a row. Independent, minor league baseball team of the Intercounty Baseball League. It turns out Stratford won’t be returning to the Intercounty Baseball League. 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