Why is it that to play in a provincial baseball tournament in the province of Newfoundland you have to be on an All-Star team?
By Jason Pike
ST. JOHN’S, NL – From the time that kids leave t-ball and enter into Minor Baseball in the province of Newfoundland any aspirations of winning or even competing in provincial competition is contingent on one thing and that is if you are talented enough to land yourself on an All-Star team. Yes that’s right you heard me correct. If you aren’t talented enough to land yourself a spot within the top 30 kids in an organization that comprise single A, double A or Triple A teams, then you have no option to compete in provincial competition.
Even though the number of kids competing in minor baseball in St John’s in particular have been elevating every year and there are many many teams in the league, only a small fraction of them will ever have the opportunity to compete in a provincial tournament. It poses an interesting question as to why it’s that way. Not in any other sport is this true. Not with soccer, not with softball, not with hockey, not with any other sport. So what makes baseball the exception?
Sure even between the cities of Mount Pearl, St John’s and Paradise, there are enough teams within the club leagues to have multiple divisions of provincial baseball championships and that doesn’t include other communities that play baseball, such as the whole Flat Rock region and Conception Bay South just to name a couple, as well as other regions of the island such as Gander, Grand Falls and corner brook. Unfortunately, these young players will never have or have never had the opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie of the Great American Pastime.
On another point it makes exactly 0 cents as to why these club leagues that are so close to each other, do not engage in interlocking tournaments throughout the summer months, because there are at least 15 teams in St John’s and at any given time at least another four in Mount Pearl and a fair number of teams in the paradise program as well.
I sent out several emails back in the summer of 2022, inquiring as to why things are the way they are and they were met with no response. I can only assume they didn’t have an answer, or they didn’t want to answer because with any type of a response it would just allow the opportunity for more questions to be asked and I feel like that’s a can of worms they were not willing to open.
I can only further assume that it’s because there’s no justifiable logical reason. Once again we find ourselves in a classic Newfoundland mentality of “this is the way we’ve always done it” which is code for we don’t want to change anything because it will just create more work for us. Unfortunately it seems to be an ugly trend among a lot of things in our Province over the decades, but it’s more than noticeable when it comes to sports in our province because it seems like we are adverse to outside of the box thinking and trying new things or different formats.
It’s sad really because it really limits what our people can be capable of if given the right opportunity whether that be placements in games and tournaments or the creation of future nostalgia and creating great memories and experiences.
A lot of it boils down to gatekeeping! The people who are at the top of the food chain or the people in charge of said organizations gate keep newcomers from becoming involved in the organizational process which furthermore keeps anything new and Progressive from happening. People need to be allowed to come forward with their ideas and the opportunity to foster and grow those ideas are essential to this province as a whole.
