The boys of summer are back, and they are centre stage, once again playing ball at Blackburn Park.
“We are back in the spotlight again. Playing at Elks or Klahani Park is great, but people don’t know you are playing, it’s out of the way,” says Tim Alstad, director of media and communications for the Salmon Arm Minor Baseball Association.
“Playing in town at Blackburn Park is important because we are visible and people can see us playing.”
This year baseball in Salmon Arm has seen a resurgence, due in large part to the success of the Salmon Arm Heat Peewee A team that placed third at provincials last year, as well as numerous volunteers.
“We have seen our registration increase by more than 50 per cent this year, compared to last. I think a big part of that is the publicity our successful Peewee team received last year in provincials,” says Alstad.
The peewee A team was also featured on a float in the Fall Fair Parade last year and received many praises from the community.
Salmon Arm has a rich baseball tradition.
In 2001, a peewee team not only won provincials, they also went the distance in the Western Canada Championships.
Long before 2001, teams from Salmon Arm were perennial contenders for the pennant in all age groups, including adult leagues.
Trips to provincial championships were commonplace up until around 2006, when the association saw a significant drop-off in registration.
There was even talk of dismantling the baseball diamonds at Blackburn Park to make way for more soccer fields, in order to keep up with the demand for soccer in town.
“There was a loss in interest in the sport and a real lull in registration. Our numbers were very low and it was tough to put together competitive teams and get volunteers,” says Alstad.
The lack of volunteers posed a real threat to the livelihood of minor baseball, as the association struggled to stay afloat with only two executive members on the board at the beginning of the 2014 season.
A few parents stepped up to the plate and filled the necessary positions and the association was able to field competitive teams in almost every division for the first time in five years.
It appears the ‘dark years’ are behind minor baseball and they are once again in the limelight.
With eight minor league teams from Blastball to Bantam the league is healthy once again, and currently makes use of the diamonds at Blackburn Park, Klahani Park and the Elks Park. Alstad is proud to see minor ball flourishing once again and attributes much of the success to the community.
“We were playing an exhibition game two weeks ago at Blackburn and there were at least 10 cars driving by that pulled over to watch the game.
They were stopping by and saying ‘Baseball is back! This is great,’” says Alstad with a wide grin.
He says there is a strong presence of young committed parents involved in the Blastball and Tadpole divisions, which he hopes will carry throughout the coming years and help the game continue to grow.
“There are lots of old ball players that call Salmon Arm home. We are a good baseball community.”
Alstad says the game has a lot going for it as both a team and individual sport and is great sport to play once hockey season is done.
