PBL Cancels 2020 Season
Posted May 8, 2020
News from Baseball Alberta came down like a hammer earlier this afternoon. The provincial governing body for baseball announced that they were cancelling all sanction activities and events until September 1, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the Powerline Baseball League has made the very difficult decision to cancel the 2020 season.
President Stephen Hrabec informed the teams this afternoon with the following statement:
"The Powerline Baseball League has made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 season. This decision was made following Baseball Alberta's announcement that all in-person Baseball Alberta sanctioned events and activities are cancelled until September 1st, 2020. At our PBL executive meeting, team representatives agreed to follow Baseball Alberta's decision and we will continue to do so."
"The cancellation of our season is extremely disappointing but we agree that the health and safety of our players, coaches, umpires, and fans would not be worth compromising in any attempt to play baseball. We will now look forward to the 2021 season. Thank you for your support.”
In March, teams convened online to discuss possible scenarios for the season that ranged from Opening Day set on May 16, 2020 as normal to Opening Day being pushed into June or July due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussion around the possibility of cancelling an entire season was necessary but brief as at that point no one seemed to see it as a real possibility. Teams agreed that they would follow any guidelines and recommendations that are placed on the sport by Baseball Alberta should the situation change. Which brings us back to the disappointing news today from Baseball Alberta.
Things have changed drastically across the province in the last month and a half or so since that meeting and now here we are, announcing the first cancelled PBL season since 1945. In the eighty seven years of PBL baseball, five seasons were cancelled due to World War 2 (1941-1945) and now one season is cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2020 cancelled season is unique in that there will be no baseball at all as far as we know currently. From 1941-1945 teams were still being put together when they could to play in local Red Cross Fundraiser Picnic Tournaments, local Sports Days Tournaments and even some exhibition rivalry games despite many regular players away at war.
Sad times for baseball in the province. Stay safe out there everyone.
