We’ll save the acknowledgements for next time.
Exactly 14 days ago, the NCBL Spring Meeting took place somewhere deep inside the Nepean Sportsplex; so deep, in fact, that for a while Bill didn’t even know where it was going to be.
Unfortunately I, Shaun Keay, was not able to attend this meeting due to other personal commitments (streaming shows on Crave), but over the last couple of weeks, I have heard from many who did. After reviewing the footage, combing through my DM’s, and even a lengthy phone conversation will multiple Tier Presidents, I was able to come up with a definitive list of the 14 Winners and Losers of this Spring Meeting.
Not sure it’s facts until the @SweatSox says it’s so?
— Winchestersox (@winchestersox) March 4, 2024
1. Winner: Brian Samuel
He’s the all-time NCBL leader in just about every offensive category (although he needs to step his triple game up), he’s the longest tenured Tier president, and he’s probably consumed the most beers over the years, but most importantly: he was single handedly responsible for the switch in NCBL Banquet venues last year.
Sammy had been talking about getting the NCBL out of Pineview for years, but didn’t take action until he was forced to eat with plastic forks and knives in 2022. That was the final (paper) straw.
Commissioner Beelen recognized all of Brian’s lifetime achievements at the start of the Spring Meeting, and then presented him with a belated 2023 Joe Beelen Volunteer of the Year Award.
2. Loser: Campus Conspiracy
There were 2 expansion teams accepted into the NCBL this year, Campus Conspiracy (aka the current Carleton Ravens team) was not one of them. Curiously, their pitch centered around playing ONLY the regular season, opting out of playoff baseball even if they qualified. It was the most controversial pitch since the 2023 Capital City Reds, who’s players didn’t even know they were applying to the league.
There may be a conspiracy on the Carleton campus, but not with this vote. You’re either all-in, or all-out. This isn’t that backwards New Brunswick league that Van Putten is playing in this year. If you don’t want to play in the playoffs, go sign-up with the Braumeisters… ?
3. Loser: Gatineau Hawks
There were 2 expansion teams accepted into the NCBL this year, the Gatineau Hawks (a mix of Blue Jays, Marc Sports, River Hawks, and Orioles) was not one of them. Their application seemed in order on paper:
- They pulled competitive players from the NCBL, the Junior & Senior Elite programs in Quebec, and even the first round of the 2007 MLB draft.
- They recycled an old NCBL team name so they could save money on jerseys.
- They had the full and complete support of the Blue Jays, where several of the Hawks players played last season.
The rest of the league, however, did take issue with how this expansion team may have come to be. Several members of the NCBL Executive received the Hawks’ application in early December, but the Blue Jays weren’t made aware that 69% of their roster may be leaving until early February. Several of my sources speculated that perhaps the Hawks were looking to catch the BJ’s off guard, get them to fold, and then take over their spot in Tier 2.
As a deterrent to future expansion teams looking to pull some kind of hostile takeover shenanigans, the Hawks application was rejected.
There may have also been some mathematically proven attendance concerns as well.
4. Winner: Bytown Bats
The first expansion team that earned a spot in the NCBL this year were the Bytown Bats. According to their presentation, they have an equal mix of middle of the pack Tier 1 players, and players who have never played baseball before, but saw the Toronto Blue Jays on TV once and would like to give it a go.
The Bats, led by former Winchester Sox and Team Korea stud Cameron MacDonald, will play in Tier 3 this year, and if they can squeeze past the Tier favourite Padres, will certainly find themselves up in Tier 2 in 2025.
Welcome to the league Bats, slide into my DM’s if you’ve got any Lorenzo’s Pizza coupon codes lying around.
5. Loser: Team Korea
Team Korea’s chances at a [championship] [playoff spot] multiple win season took a hit during the Spring Meeting when Cameron MacDonald, their reigning Most Valuable Player, Batter of the Year, and Pitcher of the Year, officially defected to the Bytown Bats.
Along with Cam MacDonald, Team Korea also had to say goodbye to Kyle Goodkey and Nicolas Coyles, who are also now Bats. We do not yet know if they’re taking the legendary Team Korea Twitter account with them too.
One thing is for certain though, Team Korea will never be the same again.
6. Loser: The Black Sox
The Black Sox had 4 more wins last year (14) than they did in 2022 (10), and that was all thanks to their Rookie of the Year Nathan “Nasty” Nykilchyck (pronounced exactly like it’s written). Unfortunately, the Black Sox are once again a sub .500 team now that Triple-N has also jumped ship to the expansion Bytown Bats.
I’m told there was a contentious verbal spat between Black Sox and Bats management about which team this player was actually going to play for this year; but since the Bats signed Nykilchyck before they became an official NCBL team, they weren’t yet subject to the league’s strict anti-poaching policy, so this recruitment was deemed legal.
Sorry, Louis.
7. Winner: Los Gladiadores
The Ottawa Gladiators, a spin-off of the now Tier 2 Los Latinos, came into the meeting on paper as heavy longshots to claim a spot as a new team in the NCBL this year, but ultimately won the voting members over by their willingness to play in the playoffs, a lack of illegally poached players, and the complete support from their former teammates and coaching staff, including a heartfelt plea from Paul Septimo and Gregorio Cobas, who put their reputations on the line and vouched for their credibility.
Gladiators spokesman Yuri Enriquez celebrated getting this new team into Tier 4 much like he celebrates every swing during every one of his at bats, with a loud, powerful grunt.
Welcome to the league Los Gladiadores!
8. Winner: The SweatSox
Craig Cornell’s tenure as NCBL Treasurer was extended for another two years, which of course means for the next 2 years the SweatSox will once again not have to pay any league fees, as Cornell has become an expert at cooking the books after all these years.
Raise the team fees as much as you guys want, the SweatSox don’t care.
9. Loser: Bill Beelen
From the beginning of January through the end of December, Bill Beelen is laser focussed on making and keeping the NCBL great. He gives and he gives, without asking for anything in return, well, except for us to kindly not rake infield puddles into the outfield at the Sportsplex.
Bill admittedly does look forward to one or two things a year that keeps him excited and motivated to keep doing what he does:
- He loves sharing a case of Labatt Blue with his boys after a win.
- He loves chalking the foul lines before a big game.
- But most of all he loves listening to the bullshit excuses during team pitches from those who don’t want to move up or down, despite them being legally bound to.
Sadly, since the team application portion of the meeting went so long, the team pitches were all but eliminated, and every team’s request was approved, no questions asked.
Poor Bill.
10. Loser: The Lumberjacks Pitching Staff
While most teams didn’t have to say a word, Brett Stott did spend like a minute and nine seconds talking about how the Lumberjacks weren’t good enough to move up a Tier, how their 18-4-2 record was phony, and how even though his 2 pitchers are older in age, weaker in muscle, softer in the bedroom, and much less committed than ever before, he’s still not going to recruit anybody new.
There was no reason to do Ty and Alex like that.
11. Winner: Stu Hayes
The Coyotes were just one of two teams to move up a Tier this year, proving that unlike the Heat, Lumberjacks, and Reverse Vampires, they do have some marbles. Even though the Coyotes didn’t do it the right way (winning the pennant), Stu gets full marks for promoting his team even though he didn’t have to.
Additionally, not only did Stu walk out of the meeting with his balls hanging a little bigger, he walked out as the new Tier 3 President, after Gregorio Cobas of Los Latinos was forced to vacate the position after he moved his team up to Tier 2 (also because of the marbles).
A pretty good upgrade after walking into the meeting as a measly second place Tier 4 manager.
12. Winner: The Umpires Bank Accounts
The first round of beers this year is on the umpires, who walked out of the Spring Meeting flushed with cash, after negotiating the best umpire pay rates in all of Ottawa, per the NCBL’s official Twitter account.
13. Winner: The Padres
It went down as the longest NCBL meeting on record at just over 2 hours, and with so many representatives of current and potentially new teams on hand, it was standing room only. If you didn’t get there early enough, as the Lynx, Koreans, and Padres found out, you were stuck standing against the back wall.
To be fair, the Padres co-managers did actually get there just in time to grab a seat, but it turned out those seats were right beside the Rockets contingent, so they voluntarily opted for the wall.
The Padres are obviously living up to their end of their Winter Meeting promise to be on their best behavior this year. I, Shaun Keay, can confirm through my various sources, that there were no bumps, shoves, or fisticuffs thrown before, during, or after the meeting between these two rivals.
Bayley was ready to scrap though!
14. Loser: Badminton
Who knew there was no Ottawa badminton league on Friday nights?!?
Final NCBL Spring Meeting Notes/Thoughts:
- It’s only poaching if you get caught, or put it in writing.
- The Bytown Bats are going to keep the best stats.
- Where was Joe Beelen?
- If you can tell the difference between a ball and a strike, you are qualified to be an umpire.
- Every team will play at least one game at the Stadium this year, maybe.
- Every team should have to play at least one game a year at legendary Morgan Field, definitely.
- Bill’s phone battery did end up lasting for the entire meeting.
