Jim Bradford – Neil Cane Invitational  - Cobourg, ON - June 7-9, 2013
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This was the 22nd running of this tournament and I wish I could say I had been to all of them, but I have not.
In its earlier incarnation I attended about three of the annual tournaments when it was held in Baltimore, On, just up the road from Cobourg. In those days it was organized by my good friend Chris Calbury. The UIC for the Blue Crew was none other than Jim Bradford, for whom the tournament was eventually named, and then Neil Cane was added to honour his contributions to ball in the community. I can recall in those Baltimore days, all the Blue Crew camped out at Jim Bradford’s hacienda and the parties are legend.
Those tournaments in Baltimore were great. I was living in Richmond Hill in those days and young enough to get up early and drive to the park Saturday and drive home late that night to get up again a few hours later and do it all over again. I always looked forward to Sunday night as I would meet up with Percy Gibbons and Jack Ferguson for dinner at the old Swiss Chalet that used to be in Port Hope alongside the 401.
The long and short of it was I loved those tournaments. I was not doing much in the way of reporting on tournaments in those days, I got to just sit and watch great ball in a very relaxing environment. The competition was good, the tournament made sure there were good teams and local teams at that. One team that stood out the first year was the Napanee Junior Express with none other than Rob O’Brien pitching for them. Trying to remember some of his team mates and Rosebush comes to mind along with Greg Webber, Jody Eidt, Shane Newson, Stephen Jesso, Chris Hartwick, and a few others who made a big mark in the game. Mike O’Brien used to fly in for those tournaments and we spent many an hour sitting there watching and talking ball.
This tournament ran in Baltimore from 1989 to 2005, an impressive 16 years. After that it was hosted in Grafton for four years before it reached its current home in Cobourg and this year was the second year of holding it at Legion Fields in Cobourg.
I have been to Legion Fields once previously for an ISC Area Qualifier Tournament years ago. Bob McGowan was the tournament organizer and our good friend Gordie Newman was along to do the game controlling. I was on hand to do some reporting.
Legion Fields was built in 1994 and I suspect they have been “fine tuning†it each years since then. It is a very impressive park to drive into and to work at in its impressive “Tower†which supports two large press boxes and enough room for the Blue Crew to have clean and dry change rooms.
For anyone interested in the facility, here is the link with a lot of information:
http://www.cobourg.ca/legion-fields.html
Steve Bedard has invited me to the Jim Bradford – Neil Cane Invitational a couple of times now and for various reasons it was not until this year, 2013 that we were able to fit the tournament into our schedule. Bottom line, I am glad we did. It was a great weekend.
The Cobourg setting has so many of the attractions that the old Baltimore location left in my memory bank. It’s in a beautiful park setting, the place is totally relaxing and the park is player and fan friendly. Add to that the quality of the teams participating, on both divisional levels, and you have a recipe for a successful fastball weekend.
When you first drive into Legion Fields you will be impressed with the whole set up. The complex has an abundance of parking, it is well laid out, and the centre piece, at least for me, is the Tower. The tower looks out over the two main diamonds, one on each side. Located within the Tower on the main level are wash rooms and a canteen staffed with friendly volunteers with lots of food choices.
I was set up with my equipment in the press box overlooking the main diamond. I stayed there all weekend even though I could have moved things over to the other diamond, but I let the pieces fall into place according to the schedule Steve Bedard and Scott Tuttle put together.
I like the idea of a tournament with more than one playing level of ball. This year Steve and Scott created a senior division and another division that included a mix of junior, intermediate and master teams. It was great seeing such a great mix of ball players. We got to see some up and coming players on the junior teams that give hope to the idea that there will be some good ball players around down the road for when some of the guys on the senior teams move to the masters level.
We got to see some great play by the masters team in the 2nd division. The interest in this level of ball is at its highest this year with teams preparing to go to Torino Italy this summer to play in the World Masters Championships.
It was interesting to see different levels of ball all weekend as the schedule flowed, bringing good teams from each division to the main diamond where I was perched all weekend.
I was working in the press box above the main diamond and the conditions were excellent. We had the windows open all weekend as the weather was fantastic. A bit overcast at times but perfect temperatures for playing ball and for watching ball.
I was sharing the press box with the announcers, score keepers, and the person running the electronic score board. Sometimes this was just one person doing all those jobs but for many games there were 2 or 3 people sharing the duties. It was interesting to see after each game who came in next. Sometimes a score keeper and/or announcer would stay on and do multiple games while for other games, a whole new crew came in. I got to meet a ton of great people from the Cobourg area.
The volunteer score keepers and announcers came from wide backgrounds and age groups. One retired gentleman was working most of the weekend, moving from one press box to another and it was clear he loved the game. (The older gentleman I mentioned was Mr. Layton Dodge and he was the sports reporter for the Cobourg paper for many, many years. and yes he does know his stuff )
There were a number of teen agers who worked some games who were involved in a fund raising from their local school for a trip to Sweden. They knew softball as they play in a local league and they were not shy about taking on the PA duties to announce the game.
There were a number of ladies who came to the press box and took on the scoring duties, sometimes also doing the PA duties as well. All knew their stuff. Some had their teen agers running the electronic score board. There was definitely a “home town†feeling to the whole process, everyone knew everyone else and it was a very friendly feeling all weekend. I am glad I met all these great people and would be more than happy to work with them again down the road.
Some the score keepers mentioned that they had a spouse working down below on BBQ duties. So it was a real family thing for the volunteers. There was a wide range of food available from the canteen including the BBQ options. Can attest to the fact that the hot dogs were great.
The quality of the ball speaks for itself, check the schedule and results page
Not that many blow outs and there were a lot of very good games to watch. To no one’s surprise, Hill United Chiefs went 3-0 in the round robin but even they had to come from behind in the championship game. The Kitchener Cubs gave them a good run for their money.
It was a very good weekend, never a dull moment. Great ball park to work in, the atmosphere was outstanding!
Home away from home when not in the ball park, was the local Comfort Inn, a great place to stay. Indeed very comfortable, quiet and clean. What more could you ask for! Well they did have a fridge in every room and a wide screen TV and a good breakfast every morning. The Comfort Inn was not far from Legion Fields and there were two, yes two Tim Horton’s on the short drive to the ball park.
One of the things I noticed right away when I first arrived at Legion Fields and climbed the long set of stairs to the Tower was I knew just about all the Blue Crew. They had a large change room just outside our press box room. Some of the guys I have not seen in years but others I had last seen either in Orlando at the AAU last January or I saw them in Midland at the ISC World Tournament last August. It was a first class group of umpires. Steve knows all these guys and knows who to invite.
A very big THANK YOU to Steve Bedard and Scott Tuttle and their band of volunteers for a great weekend in Cobourg.
Al Doran
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 The Tower and Diamond 1 at Legion Fields, Cobourg, ON
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 Team Ontario - Champions of the Masters- Intermediate – Junior Division
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