In the summer of 1973,
the Canadian Baseball Federation held its national
championship in North Battleford, Saskatchewan and invited
each province to select a representative to try to qualify
for the tournament. The Ontario Qualifying Tournament was
held in Niagara Falls on July 6-8. Chatham Kinsmen Peewees
won 4 straight games to win the tournament and earn the
right to represent Ontario against Quebec for the Central
Canada Championship.
Chatham met an all star team from Quebec in a 2 out of 3
playoff on August 11 - 12 in the Burlington area. After
Quebec won the first game 6-5 by scoring 4 runs in the last
inning after 2 were out; Chatham won the next 2 games by
scores of 4-1 and 7-5. As Central Canada Champs, they were
off to North Battleford.
Most teams at the national tournament were all star teams
from the various provinces, however, Chatham was still a
local team bolstered by 4 out-of-town players. In the 5
games played, Chatham won them all, scoring 81 runs while
giving up only 11. After beating Saskatchewan, Alberta,
Manitoba, and North Battleford, Chatham beat Sydney, Nova
Scotia 8-0 to become Canadian Champions, the only Chatham
Minor Baseball Association team ever to accomplish such a
feat. Mark Gilhula won an individual award as the leading
hitter in the tournament as he went 14 for 21 for a .667
average and hit 5 homeruns. Larry Downes was the Most
Valuable Player in the tournament as he pitched 12 innings
without allowing a run and he also caught 2 other games.
- The local
players and coaches were
- Dave Bishop
- Jeff Boismier
- Mark Cleeve
- Dwayne Elgie
- Bill Flavell
- Greg Gallagher
- Jeff Gilbert
- Matk Gilhula
- Bill Herman
- Todd Lansens
- Paul Petcoff
- Lenny Price
- Scott Reaurne
- Kevin Skov
- John Sojczynski
- Don Craven (manager)
- Stan Karnas (coach)
- Brian Ritchie (coach)
- The 4
out-of-town players were
- Paul Arrowsmith
- Larry Downes
- Wayne Gretzky
- Paul Hrach
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