Langdon: Monarchs’ baseball passion glows through dark times

From left to right, Gary Foran (left), Jen Donaldson and Eric Anthony are shown here. Foran and Anthony are co-leaders of the Nova Scotia Monarchs organization. Donaldson leads the Monarchs’ new four-team women’s league. Photo supplied.

September 30, 2023

By Scott Langdon

Canadian Baseball Network

The devastating hurricanes and wildfires that have smacked Nova Scotia hard in recent times were “mentally discouraging” for Gary Foran.

He faced the possibility of summers without the baseball passion he had relied on for fun and friendship for more than a decade.

Foran, 76, is the founder and co-leader with friend Eric Anthony, 64, of the Nova Scotia Monarchs, a baseball organization in the Halifax Regional Municipality for players ranging in age from 45 to 83. Burris Devanney, 83, and Foran’s former high school teacher, is the oldest player. Umpire Darryl Clark is 84. Foran says baseball is a vehicle to reach a broader goal.

“The idea behind Monarchs’ baseball was to encourage people to participate in activities as they age and to benefit from friendship and the opportunity to meet new people. In other words, to age gracefully through participation,” he explained.

But a changing climate put up roadblocks for what Foran calls his “Monarchs’ baseball journey”.

-Hurricane Fiona, a category 4 Atlantic hurricane that became one of the most powerful, destructive and costliest storms in Canadian history hit the region in Sept. last year.

-The Tantallon wildfires this past spring caused more than $165 million in insured damage and forced more than 16,000 people from their homes in the suburban community 32 km from downtown Halifax. Two hundred buildings were destroyed including more than 150 homes.

-Historic rainfall with up to 300 mm of rain falling in 12 hours resulted in deadly floods in July this year.

-Hurricane Lee hit in Sept. resulting in downed trees and power lines, washed out culverts and roads and closed parks and recreation facilities as well as other damage.

“There are always sad stories during times like our community has experienced in the last few years. One of our players works for the Halifax fire department and he lost his home to fire while battling it for the rest of us,” Anthony said.

“Baseball is not important at times like this, but it was very important to help many of our players put some normalcy back into their lives when the storms and fires ended,” he added.

The Monarchs’ summer schedule was interrupted when one of their ballparks, Robert Lenihan Field, was under 10 feet of water. Anthony remembers people jumping off the baseball screen to swim and others paddling kayaks across the submerged field.

“We have managed to play a full schedule this summer, but there was a delay of about two weeks. The fields were not in bad shape believe it or not,” he said.

The Monarchs organization

Foran and Anthony started a Monarchs summer league in 2016 with four teams. This summer they ran a six-team league for players 45 years and older, plus a four-team league for players over 60 years of age. There are 130 players in total. The four-team, Monarchs’ Women’s Baseball League recently completed its first season.

Each season begins with a player draft to ensure the make-up of each team is different year to year. Foran says this makes sure “everybody knows everybody,” helping to build camaraderie across the league. Indoor turf practices begin in January and run weekly through the winter for interested players.

The players practice twice weekly from May to the end of September and play league games two weekends each month from June to September. Many of the players also participate in what they call the School Yard League where anyone interested just shows up to play. This typically runs from April until after Christmas, weather permitting.

The Monarchs travelled to Maine and Boston, Mass. for exhibition games this season and then hosted the Monarchs’ 45+ Fall Classic Tournament with teams from across the Maritime Provinces in September. The league’s season ends with the Playoffs and League Championship Tournament in early October. A championship trophy is not awarded, just “bragging rights”, laughs Foran.

Even more fun begins when the league schedule ends.

The 2013 gold medal-winning Monarchs team at the Roy Hobbs World Series Adult Baseball Tournament. The Monarchs are the first Canadian team to win a Roy Hobbs gold medal. Photo supplied.

Roy Hobbs in Florida

The Roy Hobbs World Series Adult Baseball Tournament held annually in Fort Myers, Fla., has played an integral role in the creation and growth of the Monarchs.

In 2008, seven middle-aged players from the Halifax area, including Foran, were invited to join remnants of the Vaughan Furriers, Maritime Junior Baseball Champions in 1962, to play in the tournament. The Furriers, the first integrated youth baseball team in Nova Scotia, were invited to the tournament as an “historic team.”

The Furriers, featuring notable players such as Wayne Maxner, former National Hockey League player, and Dave Downey, Canadian middleweight boxing champion, were inducted into the Nova Scotia Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Maritime Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

“By 2010, we had recruited enough players to form the first Monarchs team to play in the tournament,” Foran said. “We have entered teams every year since then.”

The Monarchs became the first Canadian team to capture a Roy Hobbs World Series title and gold medal in 2013. Their 60 AAA team followed up with another gold medal in 2019. They have also won a handful of silver and bronze medals over the years.

The Monarchs won their second Roy Hobbs tournament gold medal in 2019 in the 60 AAA division. Photo supplied.

This year, they will send five teams to play in five different age categories, totaling about 120 players. They have also formed the Nova Scotia Giants to ensure more people have a chance to play. The Giants will enter three different age category competitions. The tournament runs from October 14 to November 18.

“The Roy Hobbs is an opportunity for all of us to get away on a road trip, spend time together with our wives and families in Florida, to play some baseball, socialize and have some fun,” Foran said. “We’re just a bunch of guys who like to get together and play baseball. We take the game seriously, but happily get on with our lives when the game is over.

“This journey with the Monarchs has been fabulous. It keeps me going. I would like to do it into my eighties,” he added.

Anthony agrees: “We just love the game of baseball. The Monarchs make our social network so much larger which is important as we get older. We have a lot of laughs. It is so much fun.”

The Monarchs are part of the Canadian National Oldtimers Baseball Federation. The group holds its four-day championship tournament every August with teams from various parts of Canada. The host Port Alberni Cubs won the title this year.