Don't forget to swing hard,
in case you hit the ball. 
~Woodie Held

BOSL NEWS - 2019

August 13, 2019
Mini Tournament

Steve Bourke, thanks for creating this little GEM of an event - its so much fun to get together one day and play baseball... I would like to thank everyone that took time to bring along food items and to those that donated some cash - we received 74 lbs of food and $30 was added for a total donation of $222. After mr Rowsell figures out our numbers we should be able to add whatever profit we made to the Golf Day profit and then add that to our Awards night number for a final contribution for the season.

Team Baxby shown here with the Right Fielders Only in the distance. We were also blessed with the reunion of the Judge & Jury team and a surprize fly-by of the Lancaster just as we started to play. It was a sign!! Thanks also to Jim Hindley and Jim Kotsopolis for recruiting our 4th team. Great time guys - thank you for participating.

August 10, 2019
Busy Today?

Steve Bourke, and his committee of volunteers (Darren Anderson, John Andersen, Carl Camilleri, Steve Rowsell, Ron Evinou) have done an excellent job getting ready for today’s mini-tourney. If you get a chance try to stop by and take part in or watch the HR derby at 3pm or so at Sherwood. It should be fun and we have a great day for it – and a fan-favourite bartender!  Each player needs to take one at bat using a WOODEN BAT. The old Judge & Jury team (thanks Dave Geneau) has been reunited for one last tournament and the other three teams are BOSL All-Stars. Thanks to Glen Baxby and Jim Hindley  for their help recruiting to make this charity tournament happen

Home Run Derby

Our Mini Tourney at Sherwood is hosting its first Home Run Derby - probably around 3pm

Anyone can join - just $5 ea... come on out and watch how far these go.
http://www.bosl.ca/mini-tourney.htm
 

Awards Night & Dance

Saturday September 21, 5pm at the Polish Hall

SAVE the date guys. Awards night tickets will be distributed soon by your team captains - or you can buy your tickets online here as well. Join your teammates for one last drink!

BOSL GREATness

As you may know – we lost our grandfather to BOSL last weekend. Moose’e Uncle… no ceremony or service is expected.

Gary Wright
August 3, 2019

With great sadness we announce the passing of one of our fathers of BOSL - Gary Wright.

In the late 1970's there was interest in summer activities by some of the players in the BOHC. The idea of a baseball league soon emerged. A sign up sheet was posted in the BOHC lounge (Hectors) on Morris Drive. In 1980 the league was started by Gary Wright, a Stelco employee along with co-worker Andy Smith. According to Andy, 14 players making up two teams were the first members of the league in the summer of 1980. The season lasted a couple of weeks and was played on two diamonds in Burlington. The original season was played following Mushball rules (no glove and using a soft mush ball) but after several broken fingers it was decided to adopt traditional baseball play using a baseball glove for the following season. 

Following the first season, interest picked up and it quickly grew to four teams and then to eight teams soon after. Gary Wright founded the Ladies Slo-Pitch League shortly afterward with similar success.

August 1, 2019
BOSL Summer

Hopefully your Batting Average is improving with all this sun. After such a shaky start to our 2019 season and all the rain outs, looks like we have cottage weather for August!

Golf Day

Thanks for participating. I would personally like to thank the Sponsors for stepping up to help us out... Carline Muffler, The Door Dudes, Deeth & Co, L3M Freight Solutions, Carson Law, Edward Jones, JNA Contractors, Lougheed H&C, QB Sports, Locker Room Lager, Verwey Auto, BOHC, BASL, VanderHout Flooring, McCleary Electric, EPK Training Solutions, Dave’s Fish Market, Baseball 365, SHL, Lawrence Thompson, Brent Pope and Force Sports

Baseball 365 had a Hat Draw that made $250 for us (Bill Misener won that), Jacqueline Fox ran her Beat the Fox Challenge and raised $550 for us, Ryan Carson was closest to the pin. Bobby Grenier ran the putting challenge and kicked in an extra $50. Joanne Bero won the booze bucket and donated it back to auction an additional $300 and Ron Vandermeulen won the Jays tickets and donated them back to auction raising an extra $225 to the cause.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldtimers/albums/72157709934067691
A great day for all of us! Thanks again for joining guys!

Saturday Aug 10 – Home Run Derby

Our Mini Tourney at Sherwood is FULL with four teams - after the 3 games are completed we are running a Home Run Derby - probably around 3pm

Anyone can join - just $5 ea... come on out and watch how far these go.
http://www.bosl.ca/mini-tourney.htm

Charity 2019 - Burlington Food Bank

Despite the new City rules about Licensing of raffles and draws - you guys have really stepped up

This year's Mid Season tournament raised $705 cash, as well as close to 300 pounds of food with a value of close to $750. Then Ryan Carson matched that amount with a donation of $1,455. During golf day we donated $2,800 for a grand total of $5,710. We will also add any extra amounts from Golf Day to the mini tournament donation in mid august.

Thanks for making it a great season so far!

July 18, 2019
Events - Join us!!

We are relying on these two events to raise funds this season for the Burlington Food Bank.  So please register today!

Saturday July 27 – Golf Day

Trying to fill the last 20 spots for our tournament - if you can help support us. It is only $100/player, which includes a steak dinner and tons of door prizes!!!!! You are welcome to register as an individual, a team or even invite your own friends. This is a great event and is not exclusive to BOSL membership.  So register yourself, teammates and friends today!!!
http://www.bosl.ca/golf-reg.htm

Saturday Aug 10 – Slo-pitch Mini Tournament and HOME RUN DERBY

June 13, 2019
Tournament Update

Update from the City! 

The new pavilion will be open for us this weekend.  There will be power and running water to the hand wash station.  So we will be setting up HQ under the new pavilion. The bathrooms have not been confirmed that they will be complete, so the City is bringing in more porta-potties and hand washing stations just for this weekend.

Parking lot is complete and the paths have been paved.  The City said they will have minimal construction vehicles left on site, but there will be boundary fencing to block off areas that are not complete.  So please keep your kids (Big ones too) out of the fenced off areas.

Forecast is for light rain over Saturday and Sunday.  We placed a special order for extra large umbrellas to cover all fields to keep them dry.  Just kidding... come prepared to get wet as long as we feel the fields are safe to play on.  

The City recently imposed new rules governing all draws including simple 50-50 draws making it next to impossible to allow us to run these legally… we won’t be doing anything at all to raise $ for the food bank at our tournament. So in lieu of this policy we ask everyone to bring a food donation on Saturday or Sunday.

Top 10 most needed food items:
1)  Rice/Flavoured Rice
2)  Personal Hygiene Products
3)  Juice - Canned, Bottles & Boxes
4)  Canned Meat & Fish
5)  Canned Fruit
6)  Canned Tomatoes
7)  Pasta Sauce
8)  Cold Cereal
9)  Pancake Mix & Maple Syrup
10)  Peanut Butter

Have fun this weekend and play safe everyone

May 15, 2019
Tournament News 2019 Mid Season

2019 Robert Grenier Cup

Tournament weekend is just a few days away.  We are happy to announce that in addition to the Robert Grenier Cup, we have gone back to making this a money tournament.  So we will all be competing for team party slush funds!

Location

Good news and bad news! All 4 diamonds at Sherwood will be available for use.  So no Nelson this year!

Bad news is the pavilion won't be ready including running water.  So the headquarters set-up will be the same as last year.  There are portable toilets in the same place and we will make sure there is a hand wash station.

Parking

We have been told by the City that the main lot will be available for parking this weekend in addition to the completed parking lot we used last year.  The new main lot might not be paved, but we were told we will be able to use it.

If something changes we will let you and your Captains know.

Alcohol

We would like to remind everyone that bringing outside alcohol into our tournaments (whether for the BOSL player or spouse) is strictly forbidden!  

In either case we run the risk of loosing our permits to use the parks through the City of Burlington for the entire year and having our liquor license pulled for our tournaments.

This being said, we take abuse of this very seriously.  Anyone caught consuming or bringing in outside alcohol for the purpose of/or consuming to any of our tournaments will be immediately suspended for the duration of the season!   

Failure to comply by an individual and/or team can lead to the possible ejection of the entire team from any of our tournaments.

We have received many special requests.  We will do our best to accommodate them.  We intend on having wine, coolers, ciders and of course beer available for the wives and non beer drinkers.  So please ask them to leave their travellers at home as well. 

Free Beer!

As we have experienced a reduction in some costs due to rainouts, we are going to be supplying each team with 20 free beer tickets.  These will be distributed to the teams through your Captains.  If you don't drink alcohol, we are sorry! There will be no refunds for rained out games :)

Food

Bradleys Catering will be on site selling food throughout the weekend.  They will also have a supply of non alcoholic beverages for sale.  We ask that you support them; if possible, by not bringing in any outside food.

Giving Back

The Burlington Food Bank will be one site to collect any food and monetary donations.  We are restricted in the fundraising initiatives that we can conduct in their favour this year. So please drop and make a donation over the course of the weekend.

Tents/Chairs

May 15, 2019
Opening of Sport Fields Delayed Due to Unsafe Conditions

Good afternoon Ball Diamond users -- A media release was posted to the city’s website and social media outlets this afternoon regarding field closures. The media release can be found here: https://www.burlington.ca/en/Modules/News/index.aspx?newsId=32bad28b-c8c0-429b-b323-25598cd497a1

I would encourage you to share this information with your membership, coaches, parents, etc. to alleviate the high volume of inquiries that we have been receiving.

Sport Field closures/conditions will only be communicated through News and Notices.  Please make sure you are signed up, as I will not be responding to any weather related questions at this time.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. Crossing our fingers for sunnier days! Once an opening date is established, our team will reach out to you.

May 4, 2019
Parking at Sherwood

Please find below and attached notice from the City regarding parking at Sherwood.  It's been too wet to pave the new parking lot so parking will continue as it did last year, the new lot and Fothergill Blvd.  As soon as the weather gets drier they will be paving the new lot.

Temporary on-street parking allowed on west side of Fothergill between Sherwood Forest Park and Prince William Drive during construction at Sherwood Forest Park

Access Plan

April 1, 2019
Registration

The 2019 season is just around the corner! Thanks to all of you that registered early enough so that we could get started planning.

Registration is still open - we will add new registrants to our very short wait-list.  Most players on the waitlist are likely to be placed on a team in the coming weeks. So please don't stop spreading the word about our league!

Events - Save the Dates

April 29, 2019 --- Opening Stag & Sponsor Night
May 6, 2019 --- Season begins!
June 14-16 --- Mid Season Tournament
July 13, 2019 - Special Olympics Tournament (looking for Umpire volunteers)
July 27, 2019 --- Golf Day
Aug 10, 2019 --- Charity Mini Tournament
Sept 21, 2019 --- Awards Banquet
Oct 24, 2019 --- AGM

Alcohol

We would like to remind everyone that tailgating during the regular season and bringing outside alcohol into our tournaments (whether for the BOSL player or spouse) is strictly forbidden!  

In either case we run the risk of loosing our permits to use the parks through the City of Burlington for the entire year and having our liquor license pulled for our tournaments.

This being said, we take abuse of this very seriously.  Anyone caught consuming ANY alcohol in the parking lot (tailgating after a game) or bringing in outside alcohol for the purpose of/or consuming to any of our tournaments will be immediately suspended for the duration of the season!   

Failure to comply by an individual and/or team can lead to the possible ejection of the entire team from any of our tournaments.

If you have a special request (within reason) for a certain type of alcohol you wish to consume during our tournaments, please let us know.  We will do our best to accommodate when purchasing our stock through our liquor license for the purpose of reselling so that everything is on the up and up.

I'd like to remind you that we make every effort to make the pricing of alcohol as reasonable as possible.  Any "profits" from the sale of such is either used to cover tournament expenses and/or donated to charity!  

Giving Back

The Burlington Food Bank sent us a letter thanking us for choosing them as our 2019 charity. Usage at the Food Bank has increased dramatically recently. The donations they receive every Christmas have all been used up already - a couple months earlier than usual.

Burlington Community Living - we visited Community Living last week and talked to their representative about ways we could help them. We are working on sponsoring an event that could involve the families and also make for a fun night for BOSL. More to follow .

Advertise with Us

December 21, 2018
BOSL - Bat Drive

In an effort of goodwill toward our Burlington baseball youth – the future slo-pitch oldtimers, BOSL is leading a Bat Drive for all new-ish and used bats from the men in Burlington everywhere.

Director Steve Bourke will be collecting bats at QBs on Friday January 13th and then will distribute to High Schools in Burlington!

Join us January 13th 7-9pm at QBs

 
Bats must be relevant and have minimal thumbprint please!

Jan 26, 2019 --- Mike Silva Fundraiser
Feb 19/20, 2019 --- New Player Evaluations
April 29, 2019 --- Opening Stag & Sponsor Night
May 6, 2019 --- Season begins!
June 14-16 --- Mid Season Tournament
July 27, 2019 --- Golf Day
Aug 10, 2019 --- Charity Mini Tournament
Sept 21, 2019 --- Awards Banquet
Oct 24, 2019 --- AGM

November 24, 2018
BOSL - 2018

We received this acknowledgement from the House of Commons today... On behalf of the Government of Canada, I extend my warm thanks to you - The Burlington Oldtimers Slo-Pitch League for raising an exceptional $8,989 and 670 lbs of food for the Burlington Food Bank - It is with great pleasure that I extend my sincere thanks for being such a strong pillar of our community. Signed Pam Damoff, MP. -- way to go you guys!!!

November 24, 2018
BOSL - 2018 League of the Year Award from Slo-Pitch Ontario

It was with great pride that BOSL received the 2018 League of the Year Award from Slo-Pitch Ontario at their AGM Sunday, Nov 24. Shown at the presentation of the Award here are Ron Hawthorne (President SPO), Scott Sinclair (VP BOSL), Ron Evinou (President BOSL) and John Ariss (Director SPO). The award honours and recognizes the over 20+ years that BOSL has been part of SPO, as well as providing the older and more experienced slo-pitch players in Burlington the opportunity to continue to play the sport they love, to keep active, and enjoy  the competition and camaraderie league play provides.

-------

2018 League of the Year

We are delighted that the Burlington Oldtimers Slo-Pitch League is one of three leagues in Ontario being named as an SPO League of the Year for 2018, in part to honour and recognize the over 20+ years that the league has been part of our Association, as well as providing the older and more experienced slo-pitch players in your area the opportunity to continue to play the sport they love, to keep active, and enjoy  the competition and camaraderie league play provides.

We are grateful for your continued support of our Association, and appreciate all of the work that goes into managing, administering and overseeing any league. No matter the size of it, we know how much time and effort it takes. We realize that with family, friends, resposnibilities and other challenges that any volunteer has, the giving of so much of one’s free time in order that others may benefir, deserves to be observed and recognized.

Congratulations
Yours in Slo-Pitch,
Tom Bucham, CEO
Slo-Pitch Ontario Association

November 20, 2018
Join us in supporting our brother Mike Silva and his family

I'm reaching out to the BOSL community to ask for your support. Mike Silva (aka Chilie) has been a former captain and player of BOSL

In May 2018 Mike was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the age of 48. What started out as a pretty good outlook, needing only 3 rounds of chemo and 35 rounds of radiation quickly took a turn for the worse. The cancer has spread to Mike’s bones and he is undergoing another 4 rounds of chemo with the hopes of maintaining the cancer and keeping it from spreading. Mike will never be cancer free. He has his good days, and bad days where the pain is extreme. Mike has been unable to work since June. 
 
Will you join us in showing your support for Mike Silva and his family?

A fundraiser is being held on Saturday, January 26th at Milton Bible Church @ 7:00pm to support Mike and his family as he battles stage 4 cancer. We are hoping to alleviate some of the financial worry to allow Mike and family to focus on themselves, making great memories. Mike has 4 children, 2 in their early 20’s: Kennedy and Braeden, an 8 year old son named Jackson and a 4 year old daughter named Addison. 
 
If you are interested in attending the fundraiser, I'm selling tickets on behalf of the fundraising committee. They are $20 each. If you’re interested in buying tickets, please message me (dave.geneau@gmail.com or text 905-467-9480). If you aren't able to attend the fundraiser, we hope you'll consider a donation via Mike's Go Fund Me Page and/or will think healing thoughts for him and his family.
 
Dave Geneau
dave.geneau@gmail.com
905-467-9480

November 12, 2018
Calling all Captains

On behalf of everyone on the BOSL Board of Directors, I would like to welcome you to the 2019 season!

The new season will be upon us before we know it. We as a board have already begun working tirelessly to make this upcoming season as successful as always.

We are currently looking for those whom wish to volunteer to be Team Captains to email me with your intent ASAP.

Captains selections will be made prior to the New Year.  We will communicate to all of whom apply to let you know if you have been selected.

For those of you that are interested – THANK YOU for stepping up!

If you are interested in volunteering, please email me at revinou@propakenvironmental.com

Ron Evinou, BOSL President