Matt Mutton of the British Baseball Podcast kindly had us on this week to help spread the good word that is Manchester Baseball. The podcast is also available on Spotify. You can also find Matt @britbaseballpod on the usual social platforms.
Manchester baseball club is my club and i want to tell you a bit about them. After a group chat with some of the current players, i found out some info about the 1947 team named the Stretford Saints, which i will happily share on twitter in the episode link that i pin to my page each week, and the more i looked into that team and the more info i read in Josh Chetwynds book and uncovered on the excellent british baseball website project cobb, the desire to know more about baseball in this country in its heyday bled into wanting to uncover more about its historic teams and players and this eventual narrowed down to try and find some of the original players and try and do some kind of documentary on them. Nowadays, the team has won 2 national champions honours, developed a youth team in 1990 called the Trafford Saints and both teams merged in the 2000s to become the manchester baseball club.
There are 2 teams competing in the northern baseball league, with a team in both double A and single A divisions.
The Manchester A’s fields the clubs most senior and experienced players. With recent triumphs as the British Baseball Federation’s 2015 Northern and National Double-A Champions, the A’s now find themselves back in the AAA division looking to make their mark on the competition. 2015 Northern Champions AA 2015 National Champions AA 2018 Northern Baseball League Champions AA – Playoffs Runners-Up AA 2019 Northern Baseball League Champions AA – Playoffs Champions AA Their minor league team if you will is the Bees, Formerly known as the Torrent, the Manchester Bee’s changed their name in 2018 to honour the victims of the Manchester Arena attack.
The Bees play a pivotal role in the development of talent within the club and i can tell you that they do a great job of providing a friendly and welcoming platform for players new to the sport, they are a competitive yet fun side that puts the growth of the sport first. The bees will be Competing in the Northern Baseball League Single-A competition once play resumes.
Follow the team @mancbaseball