St. Marys – The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame will conduct a tryout camp this Sunday, September 10, beginning at 10:30am at Kitchener's Breithaupt Park #2 hoping to bolster the rosters for their 2007 entries in the Premier Baseball League of Ontario. 

The two teams, aged 18 & under and 16 & under, intend to train briefly outdoors this Fall, indoors beginning in late January, and run a full PBLO schedule next Spring, closing with five weekend tournaments, mostly in the USA for exposure and experience.  Players will be allowed to continue to play on their house league teams, as long as PBLO activities take precedence.  Most game action is on Saturdays and Sundays, and mid-week practices will be planned for Wednesdays.

"When they named this league, the word 'Premier' wasn't chosen by accident," said Hall president & CEO Tom Valcke, who established the MLB Scouting Bureau in Canada and will run the camp.

"The PBLO is in place for the elite few hundred players in the province to compete with and against each other, and people shouldn't look at it in the same light as a house league team."

With other PBLO franchises based in Metro Toronto, Ottawa, London, Guelph, Niagara and Hamilton, the Hall feels its best chance to land the quantity and quality of players needed is in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

"Naturally, we can and will accept players from anywhere, as there are no official boundaries in this league," added Tom Valcke.

"That being said, we feel that there the Kitchener-Waterloo area is still relatively untapped and those players are also a reasonable drive from St. Marys that we can maintain a productive and enjoyable partnership."

The Hall's teams train as hard as anybody and have been respectable, although they have hovered in the lower half of the standings the past two years.  The Hall has been satisfied with being competitive given the inherent difficulty of drawing the blue chippers out of the other centres, which, on the flip side, gives the middle-range elite player an opportunity for more playing time.  Also, part of the motivation for the Hall to sponsor teams is to bring more people to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys.

What: Tryout Camp for Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame 18u and 16u entries in the 2007 Premier Baseball League of Ontario

When: 10:30am, Sunday, September 10, 2006 (arrive at 10:00am for registration)

Where:  Breithaupt Park (Diamond #2), Kitchener (enter from Margaret Ave. between Fairfield Ave. and Union St.) See Map Below.

Who: For 18u team, players born between May 2, 1988 and May 1, 1990;  For the 16u team, players born between May 2, 1990 and May 1, 1991.  Players bring their own equipment. If you're interested but can't make it that day,  please contact the Hall of Fame baseball@baseballhalloffame.ca for an alternate tryout date.

Fee: No charge