St. John's Baseball League (N.L.)

The St. John's Baseball League (SJBL) was established in 1913. Its founding members included Robert Gillespie Reid Jr., Reid Newfoundland Company, and J.O. Hawvermale, the American-born manager of the Imperial Tobacco Company, St. John's. The League began with four teams: the Benevolent Irish Society (BIS), the Cubs, the Wanderers, and the Red Lions. A fifth team, the Church of England Institute (CEI) joined the League in 1920.

Most of the League's games were played on St. George's Field, which was also used by the Newfoundland Football League. Relations between the two organizations appear to have been amicable, with the better-established Football League generously accommodating the SJBL's precarious financial position. Regular season play culminated in the awarding of the Allan Cup, donated by G.G. Allan, New York. Teams also competed in a number of other series, including the "Garden Party" series under the auspices of Mount Cashel (H.D. Reid Cup), Kilbride (the Father Rawlins Trophy), and the Church of England (the Sir Edgar Bowring Trophy). The League fielded a City Team drawn from all member teams which played exhibition games on Wednesday afternoons. Beginning in 1915 the City Team also participated in inter-city series with teams from Bell Island, Grand Falls, Corner Brook, and Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Evidence in the fonds indicates that the SJBL became inactive after the 1922 season, possibly because of financial problems. The League was revived in 1927 as the St. John's Amateur Baseball League with many of the same active members; documentation in the fonds alternates between the new name and the older one. The revived League included the Cubs and teams from the BIS, Holy Cross, the Methodist Guards, and the TAAA. The teams of this period played for a trophy donated by the Crown Life Assurance Company, St. John's.

By 1934 the SJBL was again encountering financial problems as well as difficulty in finding a permanent venue for games. Minutes from this period indicate that there was discussion of terminating the League.

Organized baseball reappeared in Newfoundland in 1947. At that time the St. John's Amateur Baseball League appears to have been reactivated. The League was responsible for the establishment of St. Pat's Field as a baseball park, which later became the first lighted field in the province (1955). By 1978 the organization was also referred to as the St. John's Amateur Baseball Association and a Hall of Fame was established under that name to commemorate significant contributions to the history of baseball in Newfoundland.

Created - April 26, 2013

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