Team
1973 Kinsmen Pee Wee Baseball
SPORT | Baseball
LEVEL | MinorPee Wee
YEAR OF INDUCTION | 2001
Front Row: Bill Herman, Jeff Boismier, Scott Reaume, Mark Gilhula, Kevin Skov, Paul Arrowsmith, Dave Bishop, Paul Hrach, Dwayne Elgie Middle Row: Jeff Gilbert, Bill Flavell, Mark Cleeve, Wayne Gretzky, Todd Lansens, Paul Petcoff, Len Price, Greg Gallagher, John Sojcynski Back Row: Stan Karnas (coach), Brian Ritchie (coach), Don Craven (manager) Absent: Larry Downs
1973 Pee Wee Baseball Team Induction into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, 2001 Front Row: Jeff Gilbert, Mark Gilhula, Mark Cleeve, Jeff Boismier, Dwayne Elgie, Back Row: Brian Ritchie (coach), Scott Reaume, Paul Petcoff, Bill Flavell
1973 Pee Wee Baseball Team Induction into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, 2001 Front Row: Jeff Gilbert, Mark Gilhula, Mark Cleeve, Jeff Boismier, Dwayne Elgie, Back Row: Brian Ritchie (coach), Scott Reaume, Paul Petcoff, Bill Flavell
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 Pee Wees 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.