Intercounty Baseball League

The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) is a semi-professional Canadian baseball league, comprising teams of college players and others from North America and beyond.^[1] The teams are located in Southern Ontario.

Intercounty Baseball League

Sport	Baseball
Founded	1919
Commissioner	Ted Kalnins
No. of teams	9
Country	Canada
Most recent champion(s)	Barrie Baycats (8th title)
Most titles	Brantford Red Sox (15)
Official website	theibl.ca

The league was formed in 1919 and has enjoyed much success over its long history.^[2] Teams are run similar to a professional minor league team, providing players an opportunity to play under the same conditions, using wooden bats and minor league specification baseballs. Teams play 42 scheduled games from early May to late-August. The playoffs are best-of-five series with the championship series typically played around Labour Day. The most recent champions are the Barrie Baycats who defeated the Guelph Royals 4-0 in the 2024 Dominico Cup Final.

History

The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) was founded in 1919 with just four cities represented — Galt, Guelph, Stratford and Kitchener, and is the oldest amateur men's league in Canada.^[3] During the early years, the league expanded to include the cities of Waterloo, Brantford, Preston, London, and St. Thomas.

It was previously known as the Intercounty Major Baseball League and the Senior Intercounty Baseball League. Teams compete for the Jack and Lynne Dominico Trophy, which is awarded to the league champions. The trophy is named for the late owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, husband and wife Jack and Lynne Dominico.

On December 3, 2024, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced they had signed Ayami Sato, making her the first female player in the league as well as the first female player chosen to play professional baseball in Canada.^[4]

In 2025, IBL commissioner Ted Kalnins stated that league was trasitioning from being a semi-proessional to fully professional league and would be expanding to a total of 10 teams as a part of that effort.^[1]

Labatt Park in London, Ontario, home of the London Majors.

All-Star Game

On July 8, 2006, in Barrie, the league's New Era IBL All-Star Classic game between the Barrie Baycats and the IBL All-Stars; Barrie won 7–2.

On August 21 and 22, 2010 in Ottawa, the Fat Cats hosted the New Era All-Star Classic between the IBL All-Stars and the All-Stars from Ligue de Baseball Senior Élite du Québec (LBSEQ).^[5]

Barrie hosted the league's All-Star Game on July 11, 2015, with the IBL All-Stars defeating Barrie Baycats 13–4.

Following a several-year hiatus the IBL announced they will be hosting a mid summer classic on July 20, 2024 in Welland.^[6]

All-Star Game Results

Year	Venue	Host Team	Result	MVP	Home Run Derby Winner
2024	Welland Stadium	Welland Jackfish	South 13 - North 6	Matteo Porcellato (Welland Jackfish)	Tyler Duncan (Hamilton Cardinals)
2025	Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium	Hamilton Cardinals	North 5 - South 4	Yunior Ibarra (Kitchener Panthers)	Tyler Duncan (Hamilton Cardinals)

Teams

Intercounty Baseball League
Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Founded	2024 Record	Finish
Barrie Baycats	Barrie	Athletic Kulture Stadium at Barrie Community Sports Complex	1,500	2001	27-15	2nd
Brantford Red Sox	Brantford	Arnold Anderson Stadium	2,000	1911	11-31	9th
Chatham-Kent Barnstormers	Chatham	Fergie Jenkins Field at Rotary Park	1,600	2024	20-22	5th
Guelph Royals	Guelph	David E. Hastings Stadium at Exhibition Park	1,400	1919	24-18	4th
Hamilton Cardinals	Hamilton	CARSTAR Field at Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium	3,000	1953	18-24	6th
Kitchener Panthers	Kitchener	Jack Couch Baseball Park	1,400	1919	14-28	8th
London Majors	London	Labatt Memorial Park	5,200	1925	26-16	3rd
Toronto Maple Leafs	Toronto	Dominico Field at Christie Pits Park	1,000	1969	17-25	7th
Welland Jackfish	Welland	Welland Stadium	3,375	2018	32-10	1st

Source:^[7]

Map of teams

Barrie

Brantford

Chatham-Kent

Guelph

Hamilton

Kitchener

London

Toronto

Welland

Intercounty Baseball League teams

Past teams

Former Intercounty Baseball League Teams
Team	City	Stadium	Founded	Folded/Moved
Burlington Herd	Burlington	Nelson Park	2016	2018; moved to Welland and renamed Welland Jackfish
Burlington Bandits	Burlington	Nelson Park	2012	2016; renamed Burlington Herd
Burlington Twins	Burlington	Nelson Park	2011	2012; renamed Burlington Bandits
Galt/Cambridge Terriers	Galt	Dickson Park baseball field	1919	1984
Guelph C-Joys	Guelph	Exhibition Park	1964	renamed Guelph Royals
Hamilton Cardinals	Hamilton	Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium	1958	2005; renamed Hamilton Thunderbirds
Hamilton Thunderbirds	Hamilton	Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium	2005	2012; renamed Hamilton Cardinals
Kitchener Dutchmen	Kitchener	Jack Couch Stadium, Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex	1957	renamed Kitchener Panthers
Kitchener Legionnaires	Kitchener	Victoria Park	1957	renamed Kitchener Dutchmen
Kraven Knits	Stratford	National Stadium	1974	1976; renamed Stratford Hillers
Listowel Legionnaires	Listowel	John Bell – Listowel Memorial Park	1957	1969
London Avcos	London	Labatt Park	1970	1974; renamed London El-Morocco Majors
London Chester Pegg Diamonds	London	Labatt Park	1960	1963; renamed London Majors
London El-Morocco Majors	London	Labatt Park	1974	1975; renamed London Majors
London Pontiacs	London	Labatt Park	1964	1970; renamed London Avcos
Mississauga Twins	Mississauga	Meadowvale Baseball Complex	2009	2011; moved to Burlington as Burlington Twins
Niagara Falls Mariners	Niagara Falls	Oakes Park	1985	1989
Oakville Oaks	Oakville		1956	1958
Oshawa Dodgers	Oshawa	Kinsmen Stadium	2002	2009
Ottawa Fat Cats	Ottawa	Ottawa Baseball Stadium	2010	2012
Preston Riversides	Preston	Riverside Park	1920
St. Thomas Elgins	St. Thomas	Emslie Field, Pinafore Park	1948 as the Legion until 1953	1961; re-emerged in 1976 and folded again in 1996
St. Thomas Storm	St. Thomas	Emslie Field, Pinafore Park	2000	Moved to Stratford in 2004
Stratford Hillers	Stratford	National Stadium	1976
Stratford Nationals	Stratford	National Stadium	2006	2008; moved to Mississauga as Mississauga Twins
Stratford Storm	Stratford	National Stadium	2004	2006; renamed Stratford Nationals
Strathroy Royals	Strathroy		1938
Waterloo Tigers	Waterloo	Bechtel Park Ball Stadium	2000	2003
Windsor Chiefs	Windsor	Mic Mac Park	1979; 1969 in the Essex County Senior League	1981; left for Detroit Federal League in 1982

Champions

Main article: List of Intercounty Baseball League champions

The winning team is awarded the Jack and Lynne Dominico Cup.

Other awards presented include:

• Rawlings IBL Player of the Year Award/John Bell Memorial Trophy
• IBL Rookie of the Year/Brian Kerr Memorial Trophy

Notable players

• John Axford (Brantford Red Sox) – Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays
• Fernando Rodney (Hamilton Cardinals) — Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Miami Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals
• Don Beaupre (Waterloo Tigers) – Minnesota North Stars
• Todd Betts (Barrie Baycats) - Yakult Swallows
• Tom Burgess
• Rich Butler (Toronto Maple Leafs) – Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays
• Rob Butler (Toronto Maple Leafs) – Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies
• Frank Colman† (London Majors) – Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees
• Scott Diamond (Guelph Royals) – Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays
• Rob Ducey† (Cambridge) Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, California Angels, Texas Rangers, Nippon-Ham Fighters, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos
• Wilmer Fields (Brantford Red Sox) 1939–50 – Homestead Grays
• Mike Gardiner (Stratford Hillers) Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, Seattle Mariners 1990–1995
• Ferguson Jenkins† (London Majors) Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox (1991 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee)
• Mike Kilkenny (London Majors) – Detroit Tigers
• Joe Krakauskas (Brantford Red Sox) 1937–46 – Washington Senators & Cleveland Indians
• Larry Landreth (Stratford Hillers) – Montreal Expos
• Lester Lockett (Kitchener) – Baltimore Elite Giants
• Roy McKay (London Majors) – Detroit Tigers
• Denny McLain (London Majors) – Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves
• Jesse Orosco (Galt Terriers) – New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins
• Pete Orr (Toronto Maple Leafs) – Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies
• Lester B. Pearson† (Guelph Maple Leafs) – Prime Minister of Canada (22 April 1963 – 20 April 1968)
• Dalton Pompey (Guelph Royals) - Toronto Blue Jays
• Goody Rosen† (Galt Terriers) – Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants
• Dave Rozema (London Majors) – Detroit Tigers
• Chris Speier (Stratford) – San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs & Montreal Expos
• Paul Spoljaric (Toronto Maple Leafs, Barrie Baycats) – Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals
• Ron Stead† (Brantford Red Sox) – 1967 Pan American Games
• Fred Thomas† (Kitchener Panthers) – Wilkes-Barre Barons, Cincinnati Crescents (basketball), Toronto Argonauts (CFL)
• Rob Thomson† (Stratford Hillers) – Detroit Tigers
• Scott Thorman (Brantford Red Sox) – Atlanta Braves
• Jimmy Wilkes (Brantford Red Sox) – Negro leagues: Newark Eagles, Houston Eagles, Indianapolis Clowns

† Player is an inductee of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

Notable executives

• Bob Ferguson, league statistician (1958 to 1966) and owner of the London Pontiacs (1963 to 1964)^[8]