MONTREAL – Baseball in Notre-Dame-de Grâce (NDG) hasn’t been this popular in a long time.
Coaches and organizers feared that their program would eventually fade away.
But when NDG Minor Baseball League organizer James Rankine saw the line up of kids outside the William Hurst Park Chalet waiting for their uniforms, he knew 2016 would be a good year.
“We’ve had about a 10 per cent increase in registration,” Rankine said.
NDG Minor Baseball League is expecting over 220 kids this year, half of them will be under the age of 12 and suiting up for a baseball team for the first time.
“We’ve been stuck at that level for five years,” said Rankine. “We accommodated by creating more teams. We’re set to go and we’re excited.
He and other coaches like Paul Tsang, who coaches house league and competitive baseball, couldn’t be happier.
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“I think baseball is in the DNA of this city and I think their parents are kind of encouraging them to come and participate,” Tsang said.
This year’s increase in popularity can be attributed to many factors like the Toronto Blue Jays playoff run last year.
But the coaches can all agree on one factor being more influential than others.
READ MORE: Montreal welcomes a new baseball team
While the future of baseball in NDG appears to be in good shape after an increase in registrations, there is an added bonus.
Several fields in the area, like Loyola Park, Kent, and Benny are getting a financial boost.
The Loyola Park is getting $280,277 to renovate its two fields. That will allow the park to fix up its fence and add more lighting fixtures.
The hope is to make Montreal an attractive place to host the Canadian Little League Championships in 2018.
For Frank Martinez, a long-time coach of NDG Minor League Baseball, the renovations are long overdue.
“It’s a struggle to try to get the field in shape for game time, and when we heard about the possibility of getting the field we got excited,” said Martinez.
All told, Montreal is investing $11 million to renovate its fields.
For the full list of parks receiving funds for renovations, consult the following link.
Frank Martinez insists it’s all worth it, since he represented Canada during the last Little League World Series in California.
“Everything started here. You know the little group of kids running around in early morning, everything starts there.”
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