Holden confirms PBL participation for 2010
Posted January 25, 2010
The 1987 and 1992 Powerline Baseball League champion Holden Blue Jays are reigniting a renaissance.
League president Larry Lewsaw received confirmation that the town 14 and a half clicks east of Ryley will join the six-team men’s baseball league for the 2010 campaign, upon league approval at the March 17 meeting.
“Steven Hrabec has advised me that the Holden Blue Jays will have a team in the PBL for the up-coming season,” Lewsaw said.
The Blue Jays, who haven’t had a team in the league for well over a decade, won the league in 1987 with a championship victory over the rival Ryley Rebels. They then defeated Sherwood Park in 1992 for their second title in six years.
All three of those franchises, each of whom had a great deal of success in the 80s and 90s, vanished. Now, with Sherwood Park possibly coming back, all three could re-enter the league, and bring it back to the hay days – retro night is back.
“During the 2000s we saw a lot a great in-flux of new players who added some new looks to the league, but we also saw a lot of teams come and go like Chipman, the Camrose Colts, Lamont/Ardrossan and the Brewers,” said league statistician Jason Buzzell. “I think we’re seeing a revival of some young teams who have players that had dads who played for the old guard back in the day. It’ll be neat for all those grey-beards to look at the standings this year.”
Armena, Camrose, Bardo, Ryley, Tofield and Holden, all of whom had the same nicknames two decades ago, are back in the mix.
“With the history of this league, it’s good to see these towns going back or still using the old names,” Buzzell said.
The league is still awaiting word on the two other possible franchises of Sherwood Park and the Camrose Midget Cougars. Those teams are supposed to let league president Larry Lewsaw know in February if they would enter.
Sherwood Park had tentatively agreed to enter the league if it was under Baseball Alberta so an official decision on that team may have to wait until the league meeting on March 17.
