Manitoba Senior Baseball League folds

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This article was published 01/02/2017 (3269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Senior Baseball League is finished.

After a one-year hiatus, the senior AAA baseball loop announced on Tuesday that the board of directors had made the decision to shutter the league for good.

The Brandon Cloverleafs and Neepawa Farmers left the MSBL following the 2015 season, leaving just the Oak River Dodgers and Brandon Marlins as active members.

League vice-president Ian Milliken said a number of teams were approached about potentially joining the 55-year-old organization, which was the only AAA circuit in Manitoba, but none were interested.

“It’s very sad and certainly all the people were very disappointed that it happened on their watch,” Milliken said. “It was just a sign of the times. I think there is less commitment by ballplayers and are less younger ballplayers coming up than in the past. There are a lot of good ball teams at the AA senior level in Manitoba but it’s just extra commitment and time and schedule.”

He added that the towns that might have been interested lacked local ballplayers and would have needed American imports, which added an extra level of expense and organization.

The closest the MSBL came was with a team in Yorkton, but they only wanted to play exhibition games rather than becoming full-time members.

Past president Richard Lochhead said it was a sad but inevitable day.

“The writing has been on the wall for the last few years unfortunately,” he said. “There really wasn’t a whole lot that they could do. There just didn’t seem to be players who wanted to commit themselves to playing.”

The league formed in 1961, with its champions including teams from Brandon, Hamiota, Dauphin, Reston, McAuley, Binscarth, Birtle, Riverside, St. Lazare, Souris, Neepawa and Minot, N.D.

The Dodgers will go into the record books as the last league winner — at least for now — after they beat the Marlins 6-4 on Aug. 11, 2015 to win the best-of-seven championship series 4-1.

Many of the smaller communities that once had an MSBL team now have a team in one of the four senior AA leagues in the area: the Santa Clara Baseball League, Andrews Agencies Senior AA Baseball League, South West Baseball League and Border West Baseball League.

Oak River manager Gord Paddock, who saw his team move to the SWBL last season, said it was sad news when the league took its hiatus.

“It was almost expected but in the initial stages it was a shock,” Paddock said. “… All good things come to an end. It was unfortunate.”

Lochhead said the senior AAA loop provided a couple of things for younger players.

First, it gave them a high level of baseball. Second, it gave American college scouts a place to watch the young players.

“It was good for development of baseball in Manitoba,” Lochhead said. “I think it was so important for there to be a league to showcase the talent and give the kids a place where they could play and I think it really promoted the younger kids going to university to play ball and then coming back to play.

“It really got the interest going. It showed them that there was a place to play at a higher level.”

Milliken said the league’s legacy wil be the quality of the baseball, and the ability of the players who were on the field.

“I would think it will be remembered as a league that had a lot of exceptional ballplayers over the years,” Milliken said. “I think if you went to the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame you would see that.”

Paddock agreed.

“It was the best league in the province so we have to take pride in being involved in it,” he said. “I think everyone who was involved in it over the years can take pride in the fact that they kept it going. Obviously it just wasn’t meant to work out for the future.”

If there were any silver linings, they was seen in the creation of a Brandon Marlins team that joined the junior AAA ranks and the talent infusion in senior AA baseball in Westman as MSBL veterans found themselves in new uniforms. While Oak River went to the South West league, the Marlins joined the Brandon league.

“The dispersal of some of the players made the other leagues stronger and they were competitive this year,” Paddock said. “We saw the South West all-stars win the province and Wawanesa with some pickups winning this side of the province. I think the future of baseball here is strong for a lot of years.

“It’s unfortunate that AAA is no longer running but I think the communities in Westman are supportive of baseball and looking forward to the future.”

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