The Nanaimo Coal Miners want to start a new baseball house league and they hope that if they build it, players will come.
Men’s baseball in the city has struggled with player numbers in recent years and is looking to rethink the game.
“We were contemplating, why is it that there’s so many teams playing slo-pitch, and we can hardly get together a single senior men’s team?” said Jereme MacKinnon, one of the organizers of a new men’s baseball league.
One of the challenges with Coal Miners baseball is the travel, MacKinnon said. If there is a four-team house league, though, then players can play most of their ball in the city. There would then be four rosters for the Miners to draw players from to travel to a couple of tournaments each summer.
He thinks there are enough interested players right now for two teams in Nanaimo and one in Duncan, so he hopes between now and ball season to find enough guys for one additional team.
If there are enough players in the 30-plus range, it will open up other tournament possibilites, MacKinnon said.
The Coal Miners are looking to hear from any prospective players age 19 and over. The ball season would start at the beginning of May and go until mid to late July, with one practice and one game each week.
“There are lots of ball players available out there, it’s just there hasn’t been anything organized for them to play…” MacKinnon said. “We look forward to contributing to the Nanaimo and Vancouver Island baseball community by providing a good space for us dads to dust off the cleats, get fit, have some summer fun and inspire our kids to play ball for many years.”
For more information, please e-mail coalminersbaseball@gmail.com. The Coal Miners will hold league registration Jan. 17 and Jan. 24 from 1-4 p.m. each day at Kirby’s Source for Sports.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com