1984 GUELPH ROYAL CITY OPTIMIST MIDGET BASEBALL TEAM

FRONT ROW: Mel Melehes, Chris Caravaggio, Jason Falardeau, Sean Reilly, Nathan Grant, Ryan Morris, Kevin Towers, Dave Grant (Assistant Coach); BACK ROW: Larry Pearson (Head Coach), Barclay Cantin, Jeremy Kawalecki, Adrian Szamreta, Bob Brown, Ben Myers, Jamie Pogue, Dwayne Vanden Beukel, Shawn Pearson, Brian Pogue (Assistant Coach); ABSENT: Dave Patteson, Mike Kusiewicz

1994 was an incredible year for this baseball team. Over the season they compiled a phenomenal 54-6 won-loss record and won the Canadian Championship held in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta making it the first Guelph minor baseball team to win a national championship. This wasn’t a team that was simply thrown together. The nucleus had been together for eight years, having amassed a record of 231-63, good for a winning percentage of .786! Over this time the team appeared in 6 provincial championships, had three players selected to the Ontario Select team and in 1995 had one player, Shawn Pearson, named to the Canadian Youth team. Pearson went on to play in the Toronto Blue Jays Organization. Three other players played pro ball: catcher Jamie Pogue with St. Louis, left-handed pitcher Mike Kusiewicz with the Red Sox and Sean Reilly with the Twins. As well, several players went on to have successful careers after baseball in Guelph. Ten (10) went on to play ball in the United States at various College’s putting Guelph on the baseball map in the U.S.

Inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame – Team category – on May 2, 2001