South Hastings league hoping to extend streak to 87 years

The Maclan Designs (pictured above) were the winners of the 2019 South Hastings Baseball League championship. Submitted photo.

August 25, 2020

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The outlaw South Hastings Baseball League sure has quite an enviable record.

It has operated continuously since 1933, a streak of 86 consecutive years.

And even though no games have been played so far this season due to COVID-19, league officials plan on running that streak to 87, hopefully with games beginning on Sept. 8.

The loop for adult players, which operates north of Belleville, Ont., 90 minutes east of Toronto, comprises Bain Excavating Rockies, the defending league champion Maclan Designs, Melrose Shamrocks, Melrose Tal Trees, Parkhurst Tripps Pirates, Read Young Guns, Tyendinaga Mudhens and Uens Pole Line.

Because of the pandemic and the rules imposed by the Province of Ontario, the Township of Tyendiaga and the local health unit, each team will be allowed three practices before the tentative start of the regular season on the Tuesday after Labour Day weekend.

"The township has given us 99% approval to get started,'' said league president John Masterson, who has been a part of the league since 1968 when he began his tenure as a player.

"We have two baseball fields but we can only use one at a time and only one parking area. We have seven or eight pages of rules to follow to deal with. We have two or three pages of forms to fill out before every practice.''

Masterson said the league has been split into four, two-team leagues and he's hopeful that a grand champion will be crowned by the middle of October. No fans will be permitted to attend games.

"If worse comes to worse, we will play a seven-inning game to keep the streak alive by playing more or less an all-star game,'' Masterson said. "The league has operated even in war years. In the war years, they would play at least one game to keep the streak going.''

The Ontario Baseball Association doesn't receive any fees from the South Hastings league so that's why the organization is branded as outlaw.

Danny Gallagher's new Expos book Always Remembered is available at Amazon and Indigo.