Our History
The volunteers of Whitby Minor Baseball Association are proud to be part of a long history of putting the youth of Whitby on baseball diamonds. Founded in 1969 with 335 players on 20 different teams (both WMBA and EOBA teams), playing 450 games, the WMBA held its first Opening Day Parade on May 31, 1969. Over the years this community supported association has grown. In 1974 the association was incorporated as the Whitby Minor Baseball Association; a not for profit corporation with its Charter granted by the Provincial Government. For the 1977 season, the association reluctantly charged a registration fee for the first time: $5 per player of $12 per family. The association continued to grow such that at the height of the Blue Jay’s excitement the association had over 2200 registered players (from Mosquito to Junior ages) on 10 Rep teams and 132 House League teams. Always innovative, the league introduced Minor Rep teams to its list of competitive teams and experimented with ‘B Ball’; the latter leading to the establishment of an internal Select league in Whitby (players played on their House League teams and on one of 4 Mosquito, 4 Peewee, or 4 Bantam Select teams on the weekends). Whitby became a dominant member of the Select Ontario Baseball Association where Whitby Select teams won many championships over the years. Meanwhile the Rep teams continued to capture numerous EOBA championships and our fair share of OBA championships. Whitby introduced Tier 2 Rep baseball to the EOBA and to this day, run Teir 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 teams at al levels in addiotion to competeing in the Elite Baseball League of Ontario. Whitby Minor Baseball remains the largest association in Eastern Ontario (both at the Rep level and the House League level). Continuing with the innovative ideas, following on earlier introduction of Rookie Ball play and, for our youngest registrants, Blastball, prior to the 2015 season, the WMBA opened its own training facility; The Strike Zone. That facility is intended to provide off-season training for all players in the WMBA. |
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