Winterball
Winterball is a common name for a winter baseball league. In general, a winter baseball league does not meet the ideal conditions to play baseball, but the idea is to keep the players fit for their regular summer seasons.
Boston Men's Baseball League
Winterball is an annual charity event run by the Boston Men's Baseball League in Boston, Massachusetts to collect toys for the Toys for Tots program. Each year during the month of December, one or more 9 inning games is played, snow or shine, regardless of temperature, with the 18+ league (MABL) squaring off against the 30+ league (MSBL).
History
The first Winterball game was played on December 2, 2001 at Carlisle Pennsylvania, and brought 35 players to play 2 games. The outside temperature was 48 degrees Fahrenheit. By contrast, the second event was played the following year on a snow-covered field with the temperature sitting at 33 degrees Fahrenheit at game time.
The fourth year had the largest turn-out since the games inception, and marked the first year that the game was converted to a charity, with the Marines on hand to collect toys for the Toys for Tots program. With the temperature at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, 49 players turned out to play a 12 inning contest.
The sixth year was the most significant, with 57 players competing in two back-to-back 9 inning games. "An entire truckload (literally) of donated toys was filled..." [1] On hand for this event was the Red Sox Stories, an editorial-style program about the Boston Red Sox featured on the UPN network.
References
- ↑ "Winterball VI". bostonbaseball.com. 2006-12-02. Archived from the original on 2007-02-18. Retrieved 2006-12-02.