2012 Winner of the Dr. Anson Buck Award
2018 Elims - 4th Place
2019 Brampton Tournament Finalist
2019 COBA Playoff Finalist
2019 COBA MVP - Joe Ferreira
2022 Lakeside Tournament Finalist
2022 COBA ROY - Aidan Murphy
2023 Lakeside Tournament Finalist
2023 COBA Playoff Finalist
2023 COBA ROY - Alex Fascia
2024 Elims - 3rd Place
2024 COBA MVP - Victor Speciale
2024 COBA Comeback player - Dawson Fascia
2024 COBA Executive of the Year - Frank Fascia
A Proud member of the COBA "AAA" Major League since 2004
Team News
Triple Shot for the Royals
Any team with hopes of winning in this very tough, competitive league has to be led by quality people. The three above are a true example of that, they have contributed to the team's successes in their own way. The Brampton Royals are the beneficiaries of their talents.
Dawson Fascia - Bill Graham Comeback Player of the Year award
His BA last season jumped .65 points to .328 from 2023's .263 and his OPS went from .764 to last years .832. A lot of things have to happen to earn those numbers. No one the team works harder at their craft than Dawson.
Victor Speciale - Dick Willis Most Valuable Player of the Year award
It took COBA far too long to recognize Vic for his contributions to the Royals and the league. Although his numbers were down a little from previous seasons they were still very much MVP worthy, batting .368 with an OPS of 1.006. Victor has had an OPS of 1.000 and higher 8 times. To put this number into perspective, in 2022 only 3 MLB players had an OPS of 1.000.
Frank Fascia - Ken Johnson Executive of the Year award
Frank's reputation of being a successful team manager is well known around COBA. His tenure of leading the Royals may be shorter than most other managers around the league, he has earned their respect. I believe his years at the helm of the BMBI helped prepare him for managing a ball team of this stature. He has been responsible for keeping the teams' play at such a high level, especially at the annual ELIMS tourney.
Top Ten
June 2, 2024 - The Brampton Royals have cracked the TOP 10 List in the country covering 74 teams in 13 AAA senior baseball leagues. The TOP 10 list is being used to not only have some fun, but also to grow the sport of baseball at the Men's AAA level, Dan Estey has done much scouring all the leagues’ webpages from across the country to try and make the rankings as legit as possible. The Royals haven’t made the TOP 10 or the Honourable Mentioned List since it was created a year ago.
Dan is the founder of the Canadian Amateur Baseball Network. More about his amazing work promoting AAA men’s baseball across the country can be found here: https://www.cabcbaseball.com/
Many teams expect to be on the list, but it’s been a great honour for the Brampton Royals to be looked upon as the #10 team in the country. It's not easy making the list list but it's so much harder staying there, but it does mean that whatever they are doing, Manager Frank Fascia has them on the right track, but they are still a long way from being the team they can be.
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#10 - Brampton Royals (6-2; 1st Place COBA Major League) (NR)
The Brampton Royals make their 1st appearance on our National Top 10 Rankings. The Royals have had a good start to the year sitting at 6-2 which is good for top spot in the COBA Major League. Both of the Royals losses have come at the hands of the Etobicoke Rangers. They managed to beat the Rangers in their last outing though, a come from behind 11-8 win. Brampton has added some young pieces this year which will help to complement their core of veterans in 2024.
Top Hitters
*Victor Speciale (8-for-23, .348, 5 R, 2B, HR, 9 RBI, 3 BB, SB)
*Sam Lebel (9-for-29, .310, 8 R, 4 2B, 3B, 6 RBI, 2 BB, SB)
*CJ Fearon (7-for-15, .467, 11 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 7 SB)
Top Pitchers
*Myles Swartz (1-0, 13 Inn, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 8 BB, 10 K, 0.69 ERA)
*Matt Bardoel (1-1, 6 1/3 Inn, 4 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 6 K, 2.90 ERA)
*Aiden Murphy (2-1, 9 2/3 Inn, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 11 BB, 11 K, 5.47 ERA)
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June 16, 2024 - Because of the teams poor showing in Sarnia they were bumped down a notch to a Honourable Mention
Brampton Royals (8-2; 1st Place COBA Major League) (10)
Went 2-0 in league play over the last two weeks; 0-3 result at the CABC Gold Bat Tournament missing the playoffs
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June 30, 2024 - .
*Brampton Royals (9-2; 1st Place COBA Major League) (HM)
-Went 1-0 in league play over the last two weeks; went 1-1 at a rain shortened Vaughan Tournament
In order to shake things up, Dan Estey has chosen Burlington to be in his top 10 teams in the country. i have no issue with his choice as the Brants are the hottest team in COBA right now. Although the Royals my have the best record they have only played one game in the last 2 weeks.
Brampton and the Rangers of Etobicoke have maintained their Honourable Mention status.
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Frank Fascia
Congrats to coach Frank Fascia for being chosen as the Ontario Baseball Association's
2023 Barrie Salt Memorial Director of the Year
Heading 6
Aidan Murphy
2022 COBA ROY
Aidan became the first Brampton player since John Zamora in 2006 to win this coveted Trophy. Not many new players come into this league and dominate like Aidan did in 2022. The team's future looks so much brighter with Aidan in it. It almost seemed unfair that Aidan was constantly being put into a pressure situation, but he showed the team and himself, he can be depended on when needed. With the game on the line at the Elims vs Erindale, Aidan hit a game-tying home run to dead centre in the 7th to extend the game. If he doesn't get that hit the team would be going home with an 0-2 record.
Key stats - HR 6, RBI 31, AVG .340, OPS 1.143, Triples 5
Steve Hough and
Keegan Murphy
On September 25, 2022, at Connorvale Park, Steve Hough and Keegan Murphy received the highest sporting honour given by a college when they became inaugural members of Humber College's baseball Hall of Fame. (see attached article below).
Humber Varsity Hall of Fame: Baseball Edition - Humber College (humberhawks.ca)
John Schwalm
Former Brampton Battlecat pitching coach John Schwalm passed way in June 2022. I would like to pass along our sincere condolences to John's family and the whole Brampton Baseball community. John's son A. J. pitched for the Battlecats in the 2009-10 seasons. John and other volunteers like him are responsible for the success of BMBI. He took his position very seriously, who would fight tooth and nail for his players.
Frank Fascia
Frank Fascia has been involved in baseball from Brampton Minor Baseball to the Major Leagues. He began playing minor baseball in Brampton in 1983. He was named a Central Ontario Baseball Association (COBA) Junior All-Star twice and played four years in the NCAA at George Washington University and St. Bonaventure University. In 1991 he was a founding member of the Brampton Senior Twins, later the Pioneers and was a player and coach for 10 years, with the exception of two summers where he relocated to Montreal due to work. His accomplishments include being COBA Major League MVP, Top Pitcher and Sportsman of The Year in 1994. He was selected as COBA Major Executive of the Year in 1999. Fascia was elected to the COBA Major Senior Hall of Fame in 2010. From 1992 to 1996, he was an associate scout for the Houston Astros. He became a coach in Brampton Minor Baseball Inc. (BMBI) in 2007. Fascia joined the BMBI executive as vice president of rep from 2013 to 2015, becoming president in 2016 and continued in this role as of his 2022 induction into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame. He was BMBI Tournament Coordinator from 2008 to 2015. He spearheaded BMBI’s Rep Committee Retention Plan in 2012, leading to the opening of the indoor Upper Deck Baseball Academy. Fascia also created an annual Florida Spring Training Trip for players 15 years of age and older. Since 2008, he runs the Dave Dash Memorial Tournament which raises funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has volunteered with Challenger Baseball since its inception in 2018 which gives those ages 5 to 21 with cognitive and physical disabilities an opportunity to participate in the sport. Fascia has served in a variety of positions with COBA and Baseball Ontario which he continues until his induction. That includes COBA’s third vice president in charge of rules since 2016 and COBA’s rep on Baseball Ontario Rep Council, also since 2016. Fascia was elected as Director of Baseball Ontario in 2018 and to Baseball Ontario’s Board of Management in 2019. Since 2018 he has been general manager of Ontario’s U17 provincial team. He has also been commissioner of Baseball Ontario Elite Baseball League since 2019. In 2022, Fascia was named the head coach of the inaugural baseball team at Sheridan College. Fascia has also been active in Brampton Hockey. He was a volunteer coach from the 2006-2007 season to the 2011-2012 season. He was on the Brampton Hockey Board of Directors and sat on the Rep Committee.
Congrats to coach Frank Fascia for being inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame. To better describe Frank's contribution and commitment to baseball in Brampton I sought Greg Lawlor who gave me permission to use a great article he wrote in 2020.
Blake Frost &
Joe Ferreira
In 2021 Blake Frost and Joe Ferreira Sr. were recognized by the City of Brampton as dedicated volunteers whose efforts have made a significant impact toward the development and advancement of recreational sports."
They were honoured by having a poster with their likeness displayed at bus shelters and banners around Brampton.
21-000881 Citizen Awards- Bus Shelter Ads Long Term Service Award #2_final (filesusr.com)
Zac Fascia
Zac Fascia who is a Brampton native and past Royals player signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Guardians in 2022 and was assigned to the High A affiliate Lake County Captains. I'm sure if Zac stays healthy we'll see him in a few years with the Guardians.
Joe Ferreira
2019 COBA MVP
In 2019 Joe became the first Brampton player to earn the MVP award since Frank Fascia in 1994. Joe rewrote the Royals record book by his great play batting and pitching.
In game two at the Provincials in Windsor Joe threw 4 innings of one hit ball, shutting out the Windsor A’s then insisted on pitching against the powerhouse Etobicoke Rangers the next day. Joe was in total control beating Etobicoke 1-0, allowing only 3 hits with 8 K’s. It was efforts like this that catapulted the team to their best showing ever at the Provincials.
Joe finished the season winning the team Triple Crown in both pitching and batting on a very good team that lost only twice in their last 16 games. We all knew he would one day win this coveted award.
Key stats -
Batting - HR 10, RBI 53, AVG. .416, OPS 1.289
Pitching - IP 72, K 72, W 7, S 3, ERA 3.49, WHIP 1.20
ZACH POP
After suffering a devastating injury in 2019 Zach Pop, a Brampton native and a past member of the 2015 Brampton Royals, worked his butt off and made the lineup of the 2021 Florida Marlins. Even though he hadn't pitched above AA he still did well with the Marlins.
After completing his first season with Miami, I'm sure he's was very satisfied with his inaugural season. Zach threw 54.2 innings in his 50 games with a very respectable 4.12 ERA and a 1.4 WHIP.
In July of 2022 Zach was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays from Miami at the trade deadline. Welcome home Zach.
Dave Doherty
During 23 years with Brampton Minor Baseball Incorporated (BMBI) there wasn't any job that Dave Doherty didn't do. During this time, Doherty spent 20 years on the BMBI Executive, including 14 years as President, and two years as first Vice-President. He also spent 13 years on the sponsorship committee and 13 years as Uniform Coordinator. For 18 years Doherty was a player development coach and served as a volunteer umpire. He coached for 23 years, nine years in house league, four years all-star and 17 years of rep. Doherty also worked with the City developing the Flower City Community Campus and the Teramoto Park hardball diamonds. He found time to serve on the Central Ontario Baseball Association Executive for 11 years, including two years as President. Doherty also served on the Brampton Sports Alliance Council for 15 years. His dedication to baseball was so strong that he remained involved even after his sons had stopped playing. Doherty’s involvement with the sport locally and beyond was recognized with the Jack Campbell Award from BMBI in 2010, the Jack Middlemass Award for Baseball Ontario's Volunteer of the Year in 2015 and the Baseball Canada and MLB Canadian Volunteer of the Year in 2016.
