The OSBA Awards Committee have narrowed down the list of nominees for the 2009 OSBA Awards down to 5 finalists in 10 of the 12 caregories in each conference. The two Gold Glove Awards, have 10 nominees each.
Each team submitted their teams nominations for the awards and then the committee of 5 OSBA Board members went through the list and also made suggestions for players that may have been overlooked. This committee had been put together to make sure that the final nominations put forward to coaches were as deserving as possible.
OSBA coaches will cast their votes at this coming weekends board meeting in Richmond Hill. The winners will be announced later next week.
The Award winners are usually announced at the Year-End OSBA banquet, however this years banquet has been cancelled due to a forcasted very low turnout. The OSBA Board will look at banquet for next year and come up with solutions to make sure that there will be a banquet in 2010, the 10th Anniversary of OSBA.
Please feel free to leave comments either in the OSBA Forum or Guestbook with regards to this years nominees or any other OSBA subject. As long as comments are clean and about OSBA or baseball they will not be removed.
Last weekend the 2009 season concluded with the Burlington Bulls sweeping the Brooklin Dodgers 3-0 in the best of five championship series. With the win, the Bulls tied their opposition and the Mississauga Stars - as the only OSBA franchises to have ever won championships in back to back seasons. While this feat in itself is impressive, Burlington broke the three-way tie for most championships winning their 3rd in convincing fashion – without losing a single play-off game in the process. Having been to the finals in four of their 5 years since joining the OSBA back in 2005, the Bulls are well on their way to eclipsing Brooklin’s impressive 6 trips to the finals in 9 seasons. And while these teams are tied when facing one another in league championship finals (1-1) it would appear as if the Bulls have taken the torch as the OSBA’s most successful franchise.
To their credit, the Brooklin Dodgers have been the model of consistency since helping launch the association off the ground back in 2001, and having made it back to the finals after missing the play-offs completely last season they should have erased any doubts about their status as an elite team.
While the association dropped to 14 teams (down from 16 in 2008) many would agree that the competition was very good this past summer, and perhaps the best it has been in any given season. Races in both conferences were tighter and with some upsets along the way during the play-offs, there should be a high level of optimism amongst all teams as the OSBA gets set to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
While play on the field has completed, the OSBA executive and special projects committees still have some work ahead of them in the next 4-6 weeks. The annual banquet has been set for Friday, November 13th at the Oasis Conference Centre in Mississauga. More details will follow shortly. Part of the festivities at the banquet is to honour individuals for their performance and with that, coaches will be asked to submit their nominations – once all the award categories have been finalized. New this year will be an awards committee put in place to take the coaches’ nominations and come up with 5 players per award. From there, the coaches will then vote to which the winners will be announced at the banquet.
And as mentioned, the OSBA will be celebrating a decade of baseball next season, so the OSBA Competition Committee will be called upon to help develop some possible ideas/events for next season. Players wanting to share ideas or voice concerns on this past season (i.e. possible rule changes) are strongly encouraged to do so and can contact their team rep, coaches or any one of the executive members.
So in closing, the OSBA would like to congratulate the Burlington Bulls on their impressive season and 3rd league championship.
In addition, a special thank you to all fans, suppliers, media reps, umpires, convenors, special project/committee members and league executive members for their support and involvement. Each of you plays a specific role in helping the OSBA continue to be a success year in and year out.
And finally, to all the coaches and players thank you for your dedication to our program. Without you, the OSBA could not continue to grow – both in numbers and talent. Hopefully several members will be out to the league banquet to help cap-off a great year. Continue to check the league website for more updates as the months pass until it is time to take to the field and do it all again.
Respectfully,
OSBA
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