PRESERVING THE RICH HISTORY OF BASEBALL IN THE BAHAMAS THE COMMENCEMENT OF ORGANISED BASEBALL  IN THE BAHAMAS Prior to 1954, the game of baseball was first played in the Bahamas when Mr. David Ferguson used to go out to the American Naval ships tied up in Nassau harbour and bring the sailors to play against young Bahamian ballplayers. Games were played at the Southern Recreation Grounds, also known as “The Government Grounds”. The first official grouping for baseball in the Bahamas was formed on Wednesday, August 28, 1954 and was given the name, Bahamas Baseball Association. The meeting took place in the old Y.M.C.A building on Cockburn Street in the historic area of Nassau known as Grants Town. This was the beginning of Organized Baseball. The Association’s first founding members were The Southern Eagles Baseball Team, the Winnie Ann Reds, the Amateur Athletics Association, and the Western Sporting Club. Mr. E. S. Stanley Mitchell was elected President and Mr. Reno Brown as Secretary. These two gentlemen were regarded as pioneers of Baseball in the Bahamas. The other initial officers were Mr. Joseph Moses, First Vice President, and last but not least Mr. George Gardiner, Treasurer. All in all, these four men formed a great Executive team all working together and striving for one main objective. The first games were played at Clifford Park in November of 1954. Teams were the Westerns, Blue Sox, Falcons, Amateur Athletics, Jets, Southern Eagles, Ahepa, Braves, Comets, St Bernard’s, and Cee Bees. As mentioned earlier, Mr.  E. S. Mitchell and Mr. Reno Brown were the two individuals who were primarily instrumental in the organization of baseball and in the continued success  since that historic day in August of 1954. The Falcons won the first championship. In 1957, the Bahamas Baseball Association officially became a member of the National Baseball Congress of America. The N.B.C had a Global Baseball Programme which covered all the Countries in the World. This Association has helped the Bahamas in countless ways to improve the standard of baseball played here. the Bahamas Baseball Association elected Mr. Harry Joynes as their first Official Representative to the National Baseball Congress and subsequently he was appointed as the Commissioner of Baseball for the Bahamas by the National Baseball Congress. Being a member of the N.B.C., gave the Bahamian teams an opportunity to participate in the N.B.C 's sponsored Global World Series. This was usually held in the United States and competing teams came from all over the World. Commissioner Joynes decided that every effort possible would be made to send a team from the Bahamas to the Global World Series. The players were selected from the teams in the league and were based on their performances during the season. The season ended early in the summer and approximately 25 of the best players in the league were selected and trained for about one month before the series was to be played. The squad was then cut down to 16 players which was the maximum number of players any team’s roster could have.  In 1958, the Association took major steps towards improving the standard of play of baseball in the Bahamas. Under the supervision of the Commissioner, the Association employed Salaried Umpires for the very first time. The first such umpires were Tex Lunn, Bernard Millar, Dennis Fernander, Sidney Wilson and Kenneth Francis. Their standard of work was very good and each season, they gained more and more experience under their belts. Each year, there was no doubt that the standard and quality of Umpiring in the Bahamas showed considerable improvement. All Umpires showed enthusiasm, eagerness, willingness and punctuality in their umpiring and were undoubtedly a definite credit to the Association. One of the greatest draw backs to good baseball in the Bahamas was, has always been and still is, the lack of adequate playing facilities. All the games were played at Clifford Park  and although the grounds were good it was not quite large enough for a regular-sized baseball park, at least by international standards. All the games were played during the day time as there were no lights for night games. Because there were no bleachers at all, another major problem in those days, was that it was impossible to keep the many spectators adequately separated from the players. This proved to be a major problem whenever there were controversial calls and placed extra burden and responsibilities on the umpires. In 1966, all of that was changed when the league finally made the move to a brand new regulation-sized diamond with bleachers, press box and concession areas at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center. The move was good for baseball, with bigger and better facilities with more seating and the separation of the spectators from the players, the Umpires had better control of the games.  Also with the move the league was able to add more regular season games.  (Stay tune for more history)