St. Paul Minor Ball was awarded with the Alberta Baseball Small Association of the Year Award on Nov. 2, and President Rick Austin said it is a sentiment of the organization’s effort to bring a better product to the local diamonds.
“They give out three awards a year, for a large, medium and small association of the year. They’re basically recognizing St. Paul Minor Ball for the achievements they’ve had in the past year,” says Austin. “Obviously we’re doing something right in St. Paul, because we got a little recognition from the province.”
Austin accepted the award on behalf of St. Paul Minor Ball from former Toronto Blue Jay and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, and former Jays pitcher Duane Ward.
Registration numbers, interest and attendance have been on a consistent rise for St. Paul Minor Ball, which Austin says is part of the reason for the award.
“A lot of it had to do with our attendance being up, the fact that we’re hosting provincials and we have some provincial teams in there, and a lot of work with Alberta Baseball, from myself and the board, as far as making baseball better in St. Paul.”
Austin says that St. Paul Minor Ball will be looking to host provincials on the local diamonds, but in order to host large-scale events, he says the town will need to increase its volume of hotel accommodations.
“We’re hoping to. Every year we apply (for provincials), depending on which level has a team. For instance, with my bantam team I’ll try to host again this year. That’s kind of in the books, but St. Paul really needs more hotel rooms” he says, adding that St. Paul Minor Ball is trying to promote the need for more accommodations in town.
“We can’t host nothing, because there’s no accommodations. So we’re working on that with the town to try and get some more as far as hotel rooms are concerned.”
