Doug Radford had a dream of putting together a baseball league where older players could not only keep active, but compete at a high level.
He formed the Red Deer Twilight Baseball Federation in the 1980s and today it’s one of the premier senior leagues in the country.
“He not only got the league going, but kept it going as he went out and recruited players, with a lot of them moving from fastball to baseball,” said RDTBF president Blair Hanna, who has played in the league for 10 years.
“Unfortunately Doug passed away a couple of years ago, so it’s up to the rest of us to keep it going in his memory,” added Hanna, who plays for the Gary Moe Volkswagon Snowbirds, which has an average age of 61.
“It was Doug’s dream to put together a team of 50 and over players, so they compete in tournaments. He recruited players from the league to start a team which could play in Arizona at the World Series and in the nationals.”
The Snowbirds are such a team.
They won the Canadian 50-and-over title in Red Deer in 2007, then captured the crown in Burlington, Ont., last season. They also won the MSBL (Major Senior Baseball League) World Series 60-and-over title last October in Phoenix. They’ve also won the 65-and-over crown.
“We have teams in the 50, 55, 60 and 65 year-old age group down there,” explained Hanna. “We use the core of our team, in fact, everyone goes down for at least one week, and then recruit players from places like Medicine Hat, B.C. and Ontario.
“We need players who are playing. You just can’t go down and be competitive if you’re not playing.”
The six-team Red Deer League is 35-and-over, although they do allow the odd 30 year-old to play.
“The thing is we don’t want some younger guy on the mound throwing smoke. It’s not that we can’t hit him, but if he’s a little wild we don’t want to wear the ball in our ribs,” said Hanna with a laugh. “But really the reflexes aren’t what they used to be.”
The Snowbirds are the oldest team in the league.
“There are a couple other teams close to us and a couple younger teams,” said Hanna, who played senior baseball with the Red Deer M&K Generals.
“It’s a great league and a perfect place for players from the Red Deer Riggers and Stags to come into. They need a place to play when they’re finished at that level.
“It’s a great situation as we play a 20 game schedule plus they can play in tournaments if they want. Also you can bat all the players on your roster during the game and there’s unlimited defensive subs.”
Hanna would like nothing more than to add two more teams.
“If there’s anyone out there who wants to play they should contact me or someone with the league. We’re always looking for a few more bodies. Some teams struggle to get nine players out because of different situations. We’re the only team to have a full roster all the time. We have 15 players and rarely do we have less than 13 out.”
The league, which has four teams in Red Deer and one each in Sylvan Lake and Lacombe, plays Mondays at both Great Chief Park and Lacombe, and either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at Great Chief.
Hanna indicated they’re looking at adding a fall league to their schedule.
“It would give us more games, plus keep the guys active who are going to Arizona. We practice, but getting a few games in would help even more.”
The league ran the Doug Bradford Memorial Classic tournament at Great Chief Park during the weekend, with Red Deer Printing Place scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth and going on to a 4-3 win over Saskatoon in the 45-and-over division.
Printing Place edged Gary Moe 3-2 in the semifinals while Saskatoon stopped Provost 9-7.
The Cadogan Nighthawks scored five times in the sixth to edge the Clive Red Sox 5-4 in the 30-and-over division.
Clive beat the North Star Sports 11-4 and Cadogan downed the Red Deer Hide Out/Del Rohn 4-3 in the semifinals.
Medicine Hat stopped Regina 9-1 in the battle of the two fourth place teams in the 30-and-over division while in the battle of the two third-place squads Lacombe and Sylvan Lake tied 4-4.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com