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Blake Frost and Ron Lutz
Blake Frost

Frost started his sports career in West Vancouver, BC. It was there that he played little league baseball both pitching and catching during this time culminating in two city championships with his All-Star team. He also played youth soccer for the West Vancouver Spuraways winning a city championship with them as well. In 1965, his father was transferred to the Toronto area and they ended up buying a house in the Cooksville area now known as Mississauga. Frost attended high school at T.L. Kennedy S.S. The multi-sport athlete played football (he was a running back) and soccer. His soccer team won the ROPSSAA Championship each year he was at the school. His soccer career was starting to take off as he was approached to play semi-pro soccer for the Croatian Soccer Club in Toronto with connections overseas. He played at this level for two years.

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In 1972, Frost married his wife Patti and they now have three kids; two daughters and a son. When his son turned six, he figured it was time to hang up the cleats and start his new career in baseball as a coach. Frost has coached at the house, all-star and rep levels for the Brampton Minor Baseball Association. He has also worked on the executive for a number of years as well. 

Ron Lutz
Lutz got his start in baseball in the Toronto area. After hearing about the career of family friend William “Babe” Gresko and watching lots of baseball games at Kew Beach and Stanley Park, he started to develop his love for baseball and playing in sandlot games in the 1950s & 1960s. Gresko played on the Tip Top Tailors team that upset Team USA and won the World Softball Championships in 1949. Lutz was fortunate enough to live near old Maple Leaf Stadium and was able to see plenty of games there and also spent many afternoons waiting beyond the outfield fence looking for homerun balls.

​After getting married in 1971 to his wife Yvonne and eventually moving to Brampton in 1987, Lutz started to coach his two sons in the Brampton Minor Baseball Association. He has spent over 25 years with the association coaching at the House, All-Star, and Rep levels. He also worked on the executive for the BMBI for a number of years as well. During these years, his teams won 3 city championships and won a large number of tournaments.

​It was in 2002 that Lutz joined the coaching staff of the Brampton Junior Rep Team. This is where he joined forces with Frost and the two have been coaching together ever since. During this junior season, the team was performing very well and was going into the Junior Eliminations on a roll. Even though the Elims did not end the way they wanted it to, the team still won the 2003 COBA Junior Tier 2 Championship that year.
Struggles & Triumphs
After that season of 2003, many of the players from that junior team were very upset there was not a Senior level of baseball offered beyond Junior in the area, so they approached Lutz and Frost about putting together a senior team for the area. The two men approached long time Milton Manager/Coach George Moore about putting an application together so they could apply for a team within the COBA Major Senior League. So they made the trek to Burlington in 2004 in early January to present their application to the league and it was accepted unanimously bringing senior baseball to the Brampton area.

The team endured many struggles in their first few years of operation earning very few wins but with each season, the team continued to grow and improved under the guidance of Frost and Lutz. As much as both of these guys have been around the ball park, one of their most gratifying moments was when the Battlecats won the Len Andrews Division title in 2012 with a 18-10 record in league play. This showed the rest of the league this team was now ready to take the next step in challenging some of the best teams in COBA and Ontario. Lutz and Frost were rewarded for their efforts that season, by earning the COBA Major Coaches of the Year. An award that was, for both men, a “very humbling and gratifying achievement.” Also in 2008, the mayor of Brampton presented them both with the Long Term Service Award for all of their years of working in the Brampton Minor Baseball System. They were also honored with the Jack Campbell Award for outstanding contribution to baseball by the Brampton Minor Association in 2010.

​For Lutz, he is taking a step back in 2014 as he has now retired from the Brampton Minor Baseball Executive and will also be working with the Senior Battlecats in a limited roll this season as well. For his years of service, Lutz was named a lifetime member of the Brampton Minor Baseball Executive; an honor of which he is extremely proud. Frost will continue to work with the Senior team this year as the President of the club and continue his coaching duties as well with Scott Stephenson. Over the 25 years both men have been involved with the game, they both stated that they have had nothing but great times being around the game that they love so much. “Being able to coach in the COBA Major Senior League and building the life long friendships that we have made is worth every second of time we have spent at the baseball diamond” said Lutz and Frost. “We enjoy watching the young men that we coach grow and become better baseball players and more importantly better people in their community.”
2014 Ushers in a New Identity
In 2013, the Brampton Battlecats season did not go as planned in the COBA Major Senior League. After compiling an 18-10 record and winning the Dr. Anson Buck Trophy (emblematic of the top COBA Senior Team during the regular season) in 2012, the Brampton squad struggled mightily in 2013 finishing with a league record of 7-20-1 finishing in last place in the Andrews Division. “This was a very disheartening season for us” said GM Ron Lutz. “We had some injuries to battle through but to see the guys working so hard the end result was very frustrating for everyone involved.”

During the 2013 COBA Playoffs, the Cats went two and out and thus their season came to a painful end. After the conclusion of the season, Lutz and President Blake Frost sat down and figured it was time to start making some changes. First of which started with their team name changing from the Battlecats to the Brampton Royals. “We felt this was a good change as the name would now reflect with the rest of our minor baseball league teams who are also named the Royals. It also gives our younger players a goal to one day play for the Brampton Senior Royals Baseball Team which we hope will generate more interest in baseball in our city.”

​The next significant change for the young Brampton squad is their coaching staff. Last season, Lutz and Frost were joined on the field by Scott Stephenson. This season, Lutz and Frost will be taking a step back into more of an administrative role with the team and a brand new staff will be coming on to coach the Royals this season. Dave Doherty will be joining the staff this summer. He brings with him a lot of experience with all levels of baseball and is also the current president of the BMBI Baseball programs in Brampton. Also joining the coaching staff this summer are Bruce Wrigley and David Flannagan. Stephenson will also remain on the 2014 staff as well. “We are very happy with the new staff that we have assembled” said Lutz. “All of these guys have a great deal of baseball experience which will help our team out this summer.” Team captain and veteran 1B Victor Speciale echoed Lutz’s comments. “I think that these changes are only going to help improve our team and bring some younger players on board. When we met with the coaching staff in January, it was great to see that they share the same goals as the players; to win baseball games on a consistent basis.”

​Lutz said that the team is working hard for the upcoming season at the new Upper Deck Baseball Facility in Brampton. Even though he would not name names, he stated that the 2014 Royals roster “is going to look much, much different than our roster from last year.”
Blake and Ron's Ceremony
June 6, 2019 - After months of planning, the night was perfect when the Brampton Senior Royals Baseball Club honoured its founding fathers, Blake Frost and Ron Lutz. Blakes wife Patti was the happiest person at Dave Dash Memorial Field because she no longer had to carry the burden of keeping this secret from Blake. It was time to celebrate the careers of two men who gave so much but never asked for anything in return.  At the end of the 2003 Junior season, a few of the players came to Blake asking where are they supposed to play now. They had gone as far as they could in their sport in Brampton. Knowing the city had a Senior team a couple of years ago, Blake thought why doesn't he revive the old Pioneer team, but it wouldn't be easy as the Pioneers were disbanded meaning he would have to start over from scratch.

​His first and best move was seeking the assistance of someone who had the organizing skills and connections to get the job done and Ron Lutz (who Blake had worked with previously), was the only person who could make this plan a reality. They were presented with a daunting task as there was so much to do in such little time. Blake was told he should ask Milton's head coach George Moore to help them. George had given them a template to follow so they knew what they needed to do. The problem was they had to work with city officials who didn't quite share the same urgency as Blake and Ron, yet they never doubted themselves, but somehow they did it, they had broken through all the barriers the city put in their way meeting all the needed prerequisites enabling their application to COBA to be accepted. The new Brampton Senior Braves were born.

One very important fact I need to note is that I have heard over the years that Ron was Blake's sidekick. Ron was never considered to be a sidekick. When they were put to the task of getting the team off the ground their workload was evenly split down the middle, no one person did or was more important than the other. They were successful only because they worked as a team.

​Okay, they had a team of Junior players but they are playing in a Senior League. It was a steep learning curve, and it would take many years before they were competitive, but they stuck with their plan, and in 2012 all their hard work was rewarded with the Dr. Anson Buck trophy for owning the best regular season record (18-10).

​The genealogist in me makes me believe "how do you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been?" Every once in a while you need to look at the big picture, and stop to celebrate your past, and there weren't any two men that were more deserving. 

​Thank you to coach Dave Flannagan for making this night possible.

Thank you to the presenters Ken Appleby, Joey Nonis, and George Moore and Mike Burke who MC'd, these four gentlemen have a combined experience of more than 55 years in COBA. The key to having a successful night is surrounding yourself with quality people. I think I accomplished that.

Thank you to many of the alumni who came out to join in on the celebration.

​With the help of the presenters Blake's number 33 and Ron's number 50 were retired and they were given plaques briefly outlining their contributions to the team.

Brampton Guardian's article:
Brampton Royals senior baseball team honours founders Blake Frost and Ron Lutz (bramptonguardian.com)
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