By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 20, 2021 – The naming of the government complex in Bimini after George W. Weech, former member of Parliament for Bimini, brought back some wonderful memories of my years as President of the Bahamas Baseball Association (BBA) in the 1960s.
Long before George Weech was elected to represent Bimini in the House of Assembly, he was one of a cadre of outstanding baseball players produced by Bimini in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Indeed, Bimini was a “human baseball factory” back in the late 1950s and 1960s. Being so close to Miami, Bimini players honed their skills by regularly playing games against teams in Miami, resulting in a number of them attracting the interest of professional scouts, and if my memory serves me accurately, George Weech was the first Bimini player to sign a professional baseball contract.
The most successful of the Bimini players from that era, however, was Randy Rolle, who played in the Atlanta Braves farm system and made it to AAA, but there were a number of other players — like Oriel Rolle, who was unquestionably one of the best hitters among Bahamian baseball players when he was an active player – who also possessed the talent and skills to make it to the Majors.
The mid-1960s were indeed exciting years for baseball in The Bahamas. One year when I was president, we played regular season games simultaneously on weekends in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Bimini. The BBA used to charter a plane in Fort Lauderdale on Saturdays, to transport teams to the island where their games were scheduled. It was an expensive undertaking, but we managed to get through that season fairly well financially.
One reason was that whenever Bimini played in New Providence, the ball park used to be filled to capacity. Additionally, as part of an agreement reached prior to the start of the season, Bimini players agreed to pay a portion of the expense for the charter flights.
For reasons that now serve no purpose to regurgitate, the quality of baseball played in The Bahamas steadily declined in the 1980s, but thanks to a new crop of committed and dedicated administrators, baseball is once again headed in the right direction. Indeed, the stellar performance of Jazz Chisholm Jr., who just completed his rookie Major League season with the Miami Marlins, and the cadre of talented young Bahamian players in the “pipeline” headed towards the Major Leagues strongly suggest that baseball in The Bahamas has an extremely bright future.
The game’s bright future is enhanced by the fact that The Bahamas now has a Prime Minister who is a huge sports fan and baseball is one of his most favourite sport, having actively participated in BBA games during his youthful years.
What’s more, although he has enjoyed a successful career in banking for more than 25 years, Garden Hills MP Mario Bowleg, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, “is perhaps even better known for his achievements in sports leadership, coaching and mentoring,” as noted in campaign-related information on the PLP website.
So, unlike the former Free National Movement (FNM) government — whose inept Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Lanisha Rolle was forced to resigned amidst a financial scandal – the PLP government has placed a high priority on sports promotion and development in The Bahamas.
Indeed, The Bahamas is set to host the first ever Babe Ruth Caribbean Region Championships in July 2022 in Nassau at the Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium, which is still under construction, but is expected to be completed by then.
It is indeed good news that the government has established the completion of the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium as a top priority. Aside from providing an adequate facility for aspiring young Bahamian professional players to hone their skills, hopefully Sports Minister Bowleg will aggressively look into the possibility of attracting one of the Major League franchises to use the newly constructed stadium as their spring training base.
Currently, Florida and Arizona are popular spring training states for Major League teams primarily because of their pleasant weather during the months prior to the start of the Major League season, but isn’t The Bahamas one of the world’s leading tourist destinations because of our year-round good weather?
As a die-hard Washington Nationals fan, I would welcome the opportunity to assist Sports Minister Bowleg in encouraging the Nationals to spring train in The Bahamas. The Nationals is one of the corporate sponsors of the District of Columbia Spelling Bee, which is sponsored by The Washington Informer, the award-winning Black-owned newspaper, where I was News Editor for more than 12 years when I previously lived in D.C. for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas in 1993.
Ron Burke, Advertising and Marketing Director at the Washington Informer, has strong connections with the Washington Nationals Public Relations and Marketing team, as a result of his interaction with them over the years while promoting the D.C. Spelling Bee, and I am certain that he would be happy to assist Sports Minister Bowleg in getting in touch with the appropriate Nationals officials. Actually, I think Minister Bowleg should also give consideration to inviting one of the Nationals top marketing representatives to the official opening of the Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium next year.
Of course, convincing a Major League team to change its current spring training venue to Nassau is not something that will materialize overnight, but it’s certainly an idea worth pursuing. Meanwhile, once the stadium is completed, maybe the Miami Marlins, with Bahamian Jazz Chisholm Jr. as one of its developing superstars, can be convinced – with assistance from the Ministry of Tourism – to play an exhibition game in The Bahamas.
It certainly is A NEW DAY IN THE BAHAMAS for baseball and sports generally.
