Senior Baseball IsOn The Way Back!

Fri, Jan 13th 2012, 09:50 AM

Executives in the Bahamas Baseball Federation (BBF) got their first 'grand slam' of the year yesterday, when they presented Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Charles Maynard with the drawings for a complex they are expecting to call home shortly.

The unveiling of a new Andre Rodgers Baseball Complex is the first swing taken by the executives to revive the senior baseball program in the country. It is also an attempt to market The Bahamas through the sport, by inviting professional, collegiate and national teams to the country to compete or train. The complex will be located at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre and is a part of the massive transformation that is currently ongoing in the area.

The proposed complex will house a main stadium, four fields, and four infields for practices. A baseball academy, academy dormitories, practice pitching mounds, and batting cages are also included in the overall design. The main stadium, which will be the last to be constructed, will seat approximately 5,000 and the remaining four fields will accommodate about 1,500 each. Although neither party could reveal an exact date the construction will start, Minister Maynard confirmed that the work on the 9-10 and 11-12 fields, as well as the 13 and over diamond, will get underway this year.

"We are just one or two steps away from construction," said Maynard. "We are pleased to receive this plan on behalf of The Bahamas government. In 2006, in preparation for the groundbreaking of the new national stadium, the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium was demolished. And so from 2006 to date, we have not had a national facility for baseball, and senior baseball has suffered as a result. In fact, night time baseball in The Bahamas has suffered as a result. So, with the introduction of these facilities, we hope to take advantage of all of the success that we have had over the years in junior baseball and bring senior baseball back to The Bahamas in a big way.

"We are hoping to be able to attract teams from around the world. We want them to come to The Bahamas and use our facilities for training. We were fortunate to have young men who have made it big and are making it big in baseball internationally, but unfortunately I think that so many more young people like them would have those opportunities once we have those particular facilities and make it a regular stop for teams from around the world. That kind of exposure goes so deep, in terms of the overall development of the sport."

No price tag was placed on the complex, which will be done in phases. Estimates from engineers were presented, revealed Minister Maynard, who also noted that it is going to be a very expensive venture. He, along with President of the BBF Craig Kemp, believe that the country will benefit from the construction of the state-of-the-art facility in the long run.

In fact, Minister Maynard said the timing is absolutely perfect. Kemp also said that this is the first step in bridging the gap in the sport of baseball. It was a historic moment for the federation and all the stakeholders involved. On hand to witness the event were Tim Munnings, director of sports in the ministry, Teddy Sweeting, general secretary in the federation, professional players Antoan Richardson and Albert Cartwright and collegiate player Richard Bain.

"It has been a long time between Antoan Richardson and Wilfred 'Sudgy' Culmer or Ed Armbrister, in terms of being in the major league," said Minister Maynard. "It has been decades of a gap for us to have a Bahamian playing at that level, so we are again pleased that we have pulled through that curse. We now have a whole cadre of men who are in the position to join Antoan. We believe that having a world class facility is going to complement our overall baseball strategy.

"We want to take this time out to really congratulate the baseball organization and of course all of their associate clubs. What they would have done was bring baseball back in The Bahamas. Baseball used to be one of the top sports back in the day of the 1960s and 1970s. We had a lull there for a long time... baseball just was not progressing. The baseball federation decided to concentrate on youth development and doing that we ended up with success stories in baseball."

Baseball is currently being played in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Bimini, Eleuthera, Long Island, Abaco and Inagua. Each year, the Andre Rodgers Baseball Championships is held, where teams from the various associations and leagues come to play for overall titles. That event is usually held in June.

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