Men's Baseball History
McGill and the founding of the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association
In the early 1990s, players from Nova Scotia, Québec, Ontario and British Columbia organized their own leagues and began playing in their respective areas. On Aug. 24, 1994, the McGill University department of athletics hosted a major press conference to announce the formation of the Canadian Interuniversity Baseball Association, which also adopted the French name Association de Baseball Inter-Universitaire Canadienne.
That inaugural year actually marked the 100th anniversary of the McGill Baseball Club which was originally founded in 1895, but became extinct with the onset of World War II.
The inspiration for the CIBA came from Dan Brock, who graduated from McGill in 1986 and worked in Eastern Canada for CBC radio before returning to McGill in 1994 to study in the faculty of law. Brock, who previously played junior varsity hockey at McGill in the mid-1980s, was a player-coach with the new Redbirds baseball club.
Joining Brock as "founding fathers" for the league's three other teams was Durham's Ken Babcock, Guelph's Katie Cornell and McMaster's Jason Guindon.
Former Montreal Expos pitcher Bill (Spaceman) Lee was appointed honorary commissioner of the CIBA, which was then a four-team league which consisted of the McGill "Redbirds", the McMaster University "Marauders" from Hamilton, the University of Guelph "Gryphons" and the Durham College "Lords" of Oshawa, Ont. McGill, which housed the league office for the first five years, won the CIBA championship that year, hosting the tournament in Montreal. The league played a 12-game regular season schedule, which began on Sept. 10, 1994.
At the time, plans were also in the works to incorporate an interlocking schedule with four Maritime universities – Acadia,Saint Mary's, Mount Allison and University College of Cape Breton.
In 1995, the league expanded to incorporate the four maritime-based teams. Six of the teams -- two apiece from Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario -- qualified for the CIBA championship, which was won by the Laval Rouge et Or. More importantly, the seeds were sewn for a true national championship and discussions led to a rapid expansion of CIBA.
In 1996 the league consisted of four conferences, representing regions from Atlantic, Québec, Ontario East and Ontario West. In total there were 21 teams playing a 16-game regular-season schedule, plus playoffs. Today, baseball is a varsity sport with nearly 30 teams playing in Canada.
The CIBA administers three conferences, spanning four provinces. Western Canada has a spring program and one school competes in the U.S. Efforts to bring the east (autumn) and west (spring) programs under one roof continue but regional weather and economics make it very difficult.
During that inuaugural press conference in 1994, it was also announced that the Montreal Expos had agreed to be a sponsor of the McGill team, providing financial assistance and some equipment. Former minor league pitcher John Elias, who served as the Expos southpaw pitcher in batting practice and also operated Montreal's Grand Slam Baseball School, was appointed field manager for the McGill Redbirds, who hosted Guelph in a doubleheader on Opening Day, Sept. 10.
Due to travel restrictions, McGill played eight of their 12 games at their home field – Centennial Park in Cote St-Luc, Que. Among the Redbirds who shone on the baseball diamond that year were Steve Monroe, a biology sophomore who was a draft choice of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993 and 19-year old southpaw pitcher Brian Titherington, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound engineering freshman from Mississauga, Ont.
McGill Men's Baseball Championships
1994 CIBA DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONS
2005 CIBA DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONS
2006 CIBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2010 CIBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2012 CIBA DIVISION CHAMPIONS
2014 CCBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2015 CCBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2016 CCBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2017 CCBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2018 CCBA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2022 QUEBEC UNIVERSITY DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONS
