Welcome to the history of the
In the summer of 1991, Harvey Brown and Hans Jonckheere were standing around watching their kids play Eager Beaver Baseball, re-living the glory days of their youth and bemoaning the fact that they didn’t have a chance to play ‘real baseball’ anymore.
...Suddenly the light came on and they decided to take a run at starting up their own league of like-minded, over the hill guys who truly loved the sport and would love a chance to play it again in a friendly environment.
They started spreading the word, Hans produced flyers and posted them all over town, including gym locker rooms, and they quickly got a great response. Obviously an unmet need was present. After we got going, Paul Cox helped out in organizing things. The LMBL had their first meeting at the Waltzing Weasel, and things got organized for the following season. Paul stopped playing after a few years but came back in 2005.
In 1992 we had four teams, with plenty of interest to set up two more, and we played our games at Labatt Park for the princely fee of $5, where Hans pitched part of the first game. Initially, the league was called Men’s Over 30 Hardball League.
Thank you gentlemen, for taking the time to make it happen!
We have matured! ...In 1992 we started with 4 teams, expanded to 6 teams in 1993,
8 teams in 1994 and 10 teams in 2010.