2012 Winner of the Dr. Anson Buck Award
2019 Brampton Tournament Finalist
2019 COBA MVP - Joe Ferreira
2019 COBA Playoff Finalist
2022 Lakeside Tournament Finalist
2022 COBA ROY - Aidan Murphy
2023 Lakeside Tournament Finalist
2023 COBA Playoff Finalist
2023 COBA ROY - Alex Fascia
A Proud member of the COBA "AAA" Major League since 2004
Site Updates
First tournament date for 2024 is in Sarnia on the June 7-9 weekend
2023 COBA ROY Award - Alex Fascia
2024 Schedule - Link below
Q&A - Team Manager, Frank Fascia
2014 Article - Top teams show rest of the province what it takes to win (link below).
Quote from Leo Durocher
"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me."
2023 Brampton Senior Royals
Dedicated to the Brampton Royals Senior Baseball Club
Team Manager - Frank Fascia - president@bmbi.net
About the Author
Welcome to the new site dedicated to Brampton's elite senior baseball team, the Brampton Braves/Battlecats/Royals.
This site is by no means the official Brampton Royals baseball site, nor do I want it to be. It was my intention to create a simple fan site to give recognition to the two gentlemen who reincarnated the team, but also to its coaches and players, past and present. If it wasn't for Blake and Ron, 200 young men who only wanted to continue their baseball careers at a competitive level, would not have a place to play. They were a huge influence on so many of the players' lives in the early years, even while losing most of their games. Your true character reveals itself through losing, not winning. I think Blake and Ron knew that.
Blake Frost
Ron Lutz
When discussing Brampton senior baseball one can't start anywhere else but it's 2 founding fathers, Blake Frost and Ron Lutz. I found a January 4, 2014 article written by long time COBA webmaster and player Dan Estey, who gave permission to add the attached articles:
This article features the Executive team of Blake Frost and Ron Lutz of the Brampton Battlecats.
Team News
All major Brampton Royals news will be posted here, such as Aidan Murphy winning 2022 COBA ROY trophy, Joe Ferreira's monster 2019 season earning him the COBA MVP and his dad Joe Sr. and Blake Frost being recognized by the city for their dedicated volunteer work. Frank Fascia was also recognized for his contribution to sports in Brampton earning him a place in the Brampton Sports HOF and much more.......
Team/Player Awards
I'm not sure when COBA began handing out Team/Player of the Week awards, but the team has been well represented over the years.
Between these four players, Joe Ferreira, Vic Speciale, Marco DiRoma and Mike Burke they have been selected to be on the All Star Team 24 times, including 9 times at the provincial level. They used to have an actual All Star game, but now it's just an announcement of names.
The team has had the honour of being the Team of the Week 8 times, and the players have taken the honour of Player of the Week 25 times.
The teams future is in good hands as Aiden Murphy and Alex Fascia have taken the COBA ROY Awards for 2022 & 2023 respectively.
Brampton Guardian Game Updates 2008 - 2017
For years the Brampton Guardian covered baseball and every other local sport. They had a long history of great reporters such as Frank Juzenus and Terry Miller. Many young budding baseball, hockey, and lacrosse players would eagerly await Thursday's paper to see their names in print. Frank Juzenus wrote most of the game updates for the Brampton Battlecat/Royals until 2017 when the paper discontinued their sporting section.
The Guardian updates were well written and allowed us to look back in time.
Wall of Fame
I have set aside a page to honour those players who have made significant contributions, not only on the field but on the bench as well, and have maintained a level of excellence over their tenure with the team. These are players who might not otherwise get recognized but have made the Brampton Braves/Battlecats/Royals a better team.
I would like to add more players every two years on the third Tuesday of January, aligning ourselves with MLB.
These coaches and players are my choice and not of the Brampton Senior Royals Team.
Franchise All Stars
Jan 26 2021
Team All Stars - I realize the selections will cause discussion but in my view these are the best at their positions regardless of tenure with the team that I saw play.
League All Stars - Over the years Brampton has been a major contributor to the COBA and Provincial All Star teams.
Game Updates - 2019
The stats found in the Weekly Updates will not be the same as the COBA/Brampton site as I am combining all the games whether they are League, Tournament or Playoff games.
Game Updates - 2022
The 2022 version has been scaled back somewhat because of the amount of time needed to do the writeups. I instead concentrated on game highlights.
Game Updates - 2023
Please refer to the COBA site for further info on home game locations.
All league and tournament updates can be found here.
I will concentrate on game highlights backed up with monthly updates, photos and/or videos.
The Pandemic Years
In the spring of 2020 when the pandemic was just getting started the governing bodies of all things baseball here in Ontario were working their butts off trying to get the players back on the field, but the pandemic had other ideas. What they settled on was a greatly reduced schedule for both seasons. The Canadian Championships were cancelled so the winner of the drastically reduced 2021 Elims had nowhere to go. We sent our team, losing both of their games.
Because most of the senior Royals opted out of the season the Juniors had to step up and take over. No one could have imagined what happened next. The Juniors represented their city by winning back-to-back championships. Mind you, unofficial back-to-back championships but they obviously didn't care. They brought their youthful energy every night and did well.
Contact Me
1 - As a beginner to this web site stuff, I will always accept the help of those who have ideas to make this site better, Is there something you would like included on the site? let me know how I am doing.
2 - I'm sure this site has many mistakes, so if you found any please let me know as I want everything to be as accurate as possible.
3 - Constructive feedback is appreciated.
Coaches
1 - I will outline the struggles that go along with playing on a new team in a very competitive league.
2 - The three eras on the Royals
3 - The team is well positioned for a great future.
Battlecat/Royals
Alumni
Player list with the years they played, with attention paid to those who played in 2004 (teams first season). Some players didn't have any data because they may have been a callup and used as pinch runner without an at bat.
Q & A
Since most of us weren't around the team when the Brampton Braves came into being, in late 2018, and early 2019 I asked a few of those who played and coached at that time to help me out by answering a few questions in a Q & A format. Most of the questions revolve around their point of view of what it was like playing on a brand new team and the challenges that followed. In the early years, it was extremely difficult for the young team trying to earn the respect of the other teams in a very competitive league.
I was quite surprised at the response I received regarding the Q & A. Thanks to all who contributed.
Coach Frank Fascia is the latest to answer the call for his viewpoint on team and baseball related questions.
Pics, Videos n' Clippings
Photos
A large collection of photos covering:
2006 game at SkyDome
2009 Battlecat season
2012 celebration after winning the Dr. Anson Buck Award
2018-2022 seasons
Videos
2010-2013 videos, including games at Bernie Arbour and Niagara, Also Scotty batting at Erindale.
2013 Tribute to Joey Nonis
2017 comeback win in Mississauga, Burke's 3 pitch strikeout.
2019 at bats by Pinner and Speciale at Burlington.
2019 Ceremony for Blake and Ron
2022 Many games including the Happ and Elims
2022 Aidan's HR vs Strathroy at Elims
Clippings
All clippings are from the inaugural season
Best of the Best
Have you ever wondered as a player where you ranked with all the other 185 players who were fortunate enough to wear the Brampton uniform over the teams 16 seasons? Luckily, I found someone who asked and answered that same question for his team. Thank you, Mark Walters. Mark had attached a series of PDF files outlining the prowess of his Niagara Metros over it’s 35-year history. Mark has a close relationship with the team as many of you know, having been a Metros player/manager/GM/P.A. announcer, and is in the COBA Hall of Fame. Over his tenure with the team he estimates he’s seen at least 1,400 of the Metro’s games which easily qualifies him as an authority on Metros baseball. Since Mark teaches EXCEL at Niagara College, he used his expertise to create spreadsheets depicting his team’s great history, and graciously helped me get started on this massive project. I began this project in early July, and if I knew how hard this was going to be, I’m not sure I would have started it. Although I spend far too much time trying to be perfect, I still made many mistakes, enough for me to delete everything and start over 4 times.
By the Numbers
Seasons
For each season you'll find the final standings plus batting and pitching stats.
Top Ten Batting/Pitching
Top 10 Lists of Seasonal and Career Batting covering 16 Categories and Top 10 Lists of Seasonal and Career Pitching covering 13 Categories.
Players Totals
Complete list of all Brampton players and their batting/pitching stats
The Elims (2018-2023)
Complete list of all the scores of each game played at the Elims for the years 2018 - 2023
Pandemic
I wrote a note before the team returned to the diamond post pandemic strictly from a fan's perspective. I used this space to encourage the team not to allow the pandemic to win, asking the team to continue this amazing run they've been on for the past few years. They are so close to the top and I'm fearing the pandemic will end careers that are far from done.
Baseball Tales
If you found this web site you must have a baseball story to tell. I put this page aside for anyone to share their stories. I will accept anything as long as your stories are true and revolves around baseball. You don't need to be associated with the team, the game is your link to everyone else here.
Use the CONTACT page to send me your stories and I will post them here. Humour is always good. If you wish to add your story anonymously, please let me know. You don't need to be associated with the team to contribute.
I have spent an embarrassing amount of time putting this site together so I thought it would be nice to read stories revolving around this great game. It could about your first time in a major league stadium, a baseball road trip with friends, or about crazy stuff at your house league or Rep baseball games.
It can be as long or short as you like.
Jan 2022
Years of Service
List of all the players and the length of time on the team.
Top Teams Show Province What It Takes To Win
Maybe someone can help me out because I'm not sure who wrote this blunt, realistic piece 10 years ago (maybe Estey). It offers food for thought.
I will post any replies anonymously below the article.
Game Updates - 2024
No League day games - All games start at 7:30 except DH at Burlington June 22 - 6:00 & 8:30.
The first tournament will be in Sarnia on the June 7-9 weekend.