The origins of slo-pitch softball in Winnipeg

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2017 (3108 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A phone call in the spring of 1978 led to a major change in the Winnipeg softball scene.

The caller was Phil Quinn, an American who worked for the City of Winnipeg recreation department. Quinn had played slow pitch softball in the U.S.A., where it had surpassed fastball or baseball as the game of choice.

He wondered why the Manitoba Softball Association had no affiliated slow-pitch teams. There was no right answer and Manitoba had not been represented in the first Western Canada men’s slow-pitch championship the previous summer.

To determine if there was interest in this different version of the sport, an informational meeting was held on May 2, 1978. Based on the turnout, a second meeting was scheduled for May 10 to see if enough teams wanted to form a league.

Quinn said he would find playing fields. Nine teams paid the $25 entry fee, so a 10th was needed to balance the schedule. That led to the reluctant formation of a team named the TKM Touring All-Stars and the Winnipeg Men’s Slo-Pitch League (WMSPL) was born.

The teams played a single round-robin schedule and umpired their own games. Northwood won the initial championship over Dakotans. This year the league celebrates its 40th season.

In year two,  the league expanded to 20 teams. North End Flyers beat Place Louis Riel Raiders in the final. Unlike fast pitch, which was dominated by pitching, slow pitch was a hitters’ game. Organizations and groups of friends formed teams and didn’t have to worry about finding a top-level pitcher.
As the league continued to grow, teams were accepted providing they could provide a place to play.
Once standard slo-pitch softballs and high-tech bats were introduced, many of the neighbourhood diamonds became too small. The league implemented a facilities fee and long-time treasurer John Gribben said that more than $100,000 has been spent on improvements.

Over the years, work has been done at Sturgeon Creek, Optimist Park, Legion, Northwood, Shell, Lockport and Little Mountain.

Jim Herriot of the St. James Ambers was the first president. During the years of growth, the presidency was held by Brian Natch. Bob Edwards, Mark Badger, Wayne Ferguson, Dennis Atamanchuk and Marty Dokken, all representing different teams.

Dave Still handled scheduling for many seasons. In the early 1990s, the WMSPL had more than 100 teams. Mike Fennessy has been the president since 1991.

This year, the league has two divisions totalling 14 teams plus a seven-team masters division. The only team to play all 40 years is the Touring All-Stars. Terry Wolowiec, who was a teenage Amber, is the only 40-year player. He now plays for the All-Stars and serves as league commissioner. Gribben operates the Shortstops, which joined in 1979. He, his brother Paul, and the O’Brien brothers, Dennis and Terry, have been Shortstops for 39 seasons.

For many years, the Beavers, who joined in 1980, dominated the first division. Beavers 1.0 included Jim Duff, Wayne Gluting, Dave Hardy, Kim Rach and Ron Toews. The 1987-1992 teams, which won five league titles, were inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame in 2010. The team was led by coach Bill Finch, the present Softball Manitoba president. The lineup included Randy Bullard, Tony Caputo, Bill Hasiuk, Randy Ladobruk, Rick (Hollywood) Selewich and current Softball Manitoba executive director Don Klym.

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com