On Saturday evening the Guelph Royals honored 5 of their alumni who were selected to the InterCounty Baseball League's (IBL) top 100 players of all time list.  The players for the list were chosen from the top players of each team that had participated in the league since it's inception in 1919.  Guelph and Kitchener are the only 2 cities that were part of the league when it started that continue to operate today.  Many teams such as Listowel, Niagara Falls, Stratford and Mississauga have come and gone but players from those teams were still considered for the IBL Top 100 Players list.

The Players highlighted in last night's ceremony were Sean Reilly; Kevin Hinton; Frankie Hare; Mel Melehes and Casey Cooper.  Reilly, the league's all time Home Run, Hits and RBI leader, is the only one of the group that is still actively playing in the IBL.  He currently serves as Guelph's designated hitter and occasional first baseman.  Each player was part of one or more Championship teams from either 1993; 1997; 2003 or 2004.  

Hinton was the General Manager, Field Manager and designated hitter for both the 2003 and 2004 championship teams and was voted playoff MVP in 2003 and executive of the year the same year.  Hare was a multiple league MVP in 2008 and 2012 and won the league's batting title in 2010.  Melehes, a former member of the Greek National team, posted a career win - loss record of 46-15 and competed in the 2004 Olympic games.  Cooper had a career year in 1994 by posting the team's best ERA; winning team MVP;winning IBL pitcher of the year and voted to that years All-Star team.  Reilly's list of accomplishments is very long but consists of the IBL's all time home runs; single season home runs; hits; doubles; 2 batting titles; 4 league MVP titles and 12 All-Star team selections. Being as he is still active his numbers are still "and counting".

2 other Guelph players that were selected to the list were Erik Laseke and Jim O'Connor.

There were close to 400 fans on hand to witness the ceremony as well as other alumni from Guelph teams past.  And they were all treated to a fantastic baseball game as the Royals held on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0.

(Photo Courtesy Gar Fitzgerald)