Category: 2023 Season Updates

HUNGRY HIPPOS ARE CHAMPIONS

HUMBER RIVER DEFEATS ROUGE RIVER IN BATTLE OF TITANS

How could we know back in 2018 that the matchup between the Humber River Humdingers and Rouge River Blush would be the start of a steamy Field of Dreamers rivalry? When the Humdingers won their first ever Discus Cup and had their name etched into the mantel, it began an era of Rouge and Humber staking claim to the championship – eclipsed only last year when Garrison Creek broke through the Red/Yellow ceiling. In 2019, the Rouge River Raccoons fleeced victory from the Humber River Haze. And last night, with beautiful weather, a boisterous crowd, and charismatic commentators, the Humber River Hungry Hippos won their team’s second championship thanks to elite fielding and potent hitting!

Continue reading “HUNGRY HIPPOS ARE CHAMPIONS” →

Red Moon in Bougee

Field of Dreamers News

On August 16th 1933, close to 10,000 people took to the streets of Toronto in what is known as the Christie Pits riot. The riot was a response to the violence of the Nazi-supporting fascist ‘Pit Gang,’ who showed up at Christie Pits to terrorize a group of mostly working class Jewish and Italian baseball players. The players and their supporters defended themselves against the far-right attacks for 6 hours that night. The police did not stop the violence and in some accounts, actively supported the fascists.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of these riots. Please join the Field of Dreamers Cooperative Softball Association for a discussion on the intersections of sport, politics, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, anti-queer/trans* hate, and anti-Semitism today.

Free Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-christie-pits-riots-looking-back-looking-forward-no-ticket-required-tickets-696135659497

Credit River Riot (1-1-0)

If the “Riot is the Language of the Unheard,” Credit River has been “calm like a bomb” over the past three weeks. A convincing win against Garrison Creek in Week 11 was followed by a hard fought loss to Rouge River in Week 12. With the week off during Week 13, Credit will be re-energized for their final game of the regular season, before looking to takeover the airwaves with their guerilla radio in the playoffs.

Humber River Hungry Hippos (2-1-0)

Some teams might take a pause to rest for the playoffs when they have been so successful during the regular season, but the Hungry Hungry Hippos are chomping at the bit to maintain that high energy! The Hippos have been playing so many nail-biter games edging Rouge in Week 11, narrowly defeating Don in Week 12, and then coming up one run short of Garrison in Week 13. With an average weight of two tons, it’s going to take significant effort to move the Hippos from the Championship Game.

Rouge River Bad N Rougee (2-1-0)

Spurred by the return of some of their key stars, the Bad and Rougee have been on fire over the last three weeks. A narrow loss to Humber in Week 11 was followed by solid wins against Credit River and Don River in Weeks 12 and 13 respectively. The Rougee can finish no lower than the third seed for the playoffs and will prepare during their off week for the first round of the playoffs – where a win will send them straight into the Championship game!

Continue reading “Red Moon in Bougee” →

A New Don is on the Horizon

Field of Dreamers News

Field of Dreamers has been invited to give a talk to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Christie Pits Riots at the Gladstone Library. The talk will feature Don River’s Rachel Small, Credit River’s Phill Morgan, and Garrison Creek’s Craig Fortier! Keep up to date by checking the Field of Dreamers socials.

Credit River Riot (0-2-0)

In her famous graphic, Rebecca Solnit explains that social movements can be compared to mushrooms. While we might marvel at the fruiting bodies as they emerge in all their glorious colours and shapes and forms above ground, the real work happens below. Despite two losses in the last three weeks, the Credit River Riot are starting to put together some cohesion and chemistry. Drawing on the speed of Brianna Greaves, the thump of Manjeet Bedi and Claire Heese-Boutin, the steady play of Paula John, the sweet swing of Camie Koo, the plucky pluckiness of Peter Demakos, the soulful style of Jill Aoki, the wonderous woo of Carianne Leung, the daunting presence of Phill Morgan, the sleek fielding of Sam Ponting, el correr fantastico de Yosnai Mena Mora, the circle A effort of Claudia Calabro, the talltop hits of Shannon Dunham, and the chip-ins from Nate Kulasinghe, the Riot is poised to be sprouting revolution come late summer.

Humber River Hungry Hippos (2-0-0)

The hypothalamus is a structure deep within your brain. It’s the main link between your endocrine system and your nervous system. Your hypothalamus keeps your body balanced in a stable state called homeostasis. Well, friends, the “hippo”thalamus of Field of Dreamers is the steady and stable state of winning produced by the balanced roster of the Hungry Humber team. Led by the early favourites for captains of the year, Victoria Barnett and Terrance Luscombe, the Hippos have been chomping up wins like it’s a mild day in a fertile marsh. Where the sweet swings of Lucky Visvanathan and Oskar Eliashevsky meet the power pop of Marisa Tran and Fianna Dirks meet the bubbly belts of Marty Fink and Matías Contreras meet the silly slashes of Chris Yates and Kirsten Dick meet the sporty style of Claudia Vergara and Kaela Sanborn-Hum meet the cute couture of Carly Boyce and Amanda Hollingworth meet the hard nose grind of Jasper Walton and Beth Austerberry – is that deep part of the brain called the hippothalamus.

Rouge River Bad N Rougee (0-2-0)

Where were you when the beat dropped on Rouge River’s new chant? Because it’s fire! The two losses recorded here don’t tell the story of the Bad N Rougee’s fierce play. Down 17-3 in their final at-bat against the Good Griefers of Garrison, the trap queens dropped banger after banger for 12 runs and almost completed the most miraculous of come-from-behind victories in Dreamers history! Revved to elation by Huan Nguyen’s new chant, we saw Sarah Peek poke one through the whole, Jenni Klonteig blast a line drive, Nell Khayutin explode for their 4th hit, Kat Kleine speed around the bases, Emma Cuddy lace a sweet hit, Sabrina Benoit put a charge into a ball, Qui Alexander stay back and belt a base hit, LJ Robinson plate a couple with a sweet stroke, Rhiannon Cobb chop one up the baseline, Yazi Peer plunk a perfect pop up, and Johann Juarez slice a centre field cut against his arch nemesis….we wish sweet Andy Smith and Soren D’Alimonte could have been there to witness such perfect rhythm. <3

Continue reading “A New Don is on the Horizon” →

Credit River & the Coming Insurrection

Field of Dreamers in the News

Field of Dreamers was featured in Toronto’s best IRL news source The Grind s/o to Credit River co-captain + coordinating committee member Phill Morgan who is a member of the Editorial Board. You can read the article “Baseball is for Everybody: Field of Dreamers Shows Torontonians a Better Way of Doing Sports” on Page 22. Click Here: The Grind, Summer 2023, Issue 5 Vol 1

Credit River Riot (2-0-1)

After a slow start to the season, the Credit River Riot are starting to explode! Paula John and Phill Morgan have coaxed the best out of their squad over the past few weeks and have produced a 2-0-1 record during that time! It all began with a stunning “Merle Davis Matthews Win” (aka a tie) against the mighty Hippos of Humber where Credit evened the game 15-15. A rainout in Week 5 against Don gave Credit time to rest and re-group before a thrilling come-from-behind 17-16 win against the Griefers of Good Garrison in Week 6. In Week 7, down to only 7 players by 6pm on game day, Credit recruited subs to fill their roster and super-sub Victoria Barnett slugged a GRAND SLAM to help secure a 13-11 win!

Humber River Hungry Hippos (1-1-1)

In Ancient Egypt there is a story about a war that was caused by the loud noise made by Hippos. The Egyptian ruler Sequenenre Tao began to feud with the Hyksos pharoah Apophis. The nature of the feud was that Apophis claimed that the Hippos living in Sequenenre’s territories were sooooo loud that it was causing chaos in his community. The story is an allegory about the difference between being allowed to roam free and being controlled in your behaviours and in the end Sequenenre wins the war and unifies Egypt oriented towards freedom. Just like Sequenenre, the Humber captains Terrance Luscombe, Oskar Eliashevsky, and Victoria Barnett have allowed their team to roam free and they’ve been one of the most exiting to watch! In Week 4 the team tied the aforementioned Riot 15-15 – their Hyksos! In Week 5 they had an off week to regroup. Week 6 saw the Hippos take their first loss of the season to an inspired Bad N’ Rougee. And in Week 7, the Hippos went back to their winning ways with a big win against Don River!

Rouge River Bad N Rougee (1-2-0)

The Bad N Rougee continued to bring that muggy Atlanta feel to the diamond and dropped a few bangers over the last few weeks. Production and mixing by co-captains Andy Smith, LJ Robinson, and Emma Cuddy have resulted in some Top 10 chart toppers! In Week 4 the Bad N Rougee had their first break in a draining touring schedule, but came back in Week 5 to battle the Garrison Creek Good Griefers in a defensive gem, finally losing by a score of 9-8. In Week 6 the Bad N Rougee broke streaming records and finally supplanted the Hippos at the top of the charts with a 15-12 win. But in Week 7 despite coming out the gate with strong first week numbers, the Rougee couldn’t hold on against the Riot and dropped that match 13-11. Rouge River has proved themselves to be a formidable team and we can see them mounting a charge at the Championship again this season!

Continue reading “Credit River & the Coming Insurrection” →