Mushball

A Brief History

The mushball was instituted mid-2018 as a means of addressing two critical issues: (1) the potential danger and injury risk of experienced/hard hitting players striking the ball on a field with numerous beginners; (2) the narrowing of the competitive balance that comes with hitters being able to hit the ball “out of the park” and also the cost of losing balls! 

The mushball is primarily a safety mechanism, but it is also very challenging to hit. Our intention is not and has not been for players to aspire to “graduate” to the mush ball as a sign of their abilities, but rather as a means of maintaining as safe and competitively neutral environment as possible (i.e. if someone is hitting the ball consistently over people heads/in the trees we don’t actually practice fielding!).

On a related note, we want to continue to promote the use of the regular ball for as many players as possible. So long as it feels relatively safe, we encourage players who perhaps sit in the “grey zone” to continue the use of the regular ball (if they and the pitchers on their team feel comfortable doing so) in order to ensure that we have numerous hits to the outfield (those are fun!!).

Only the coordinating committee, the team’s anchor, and the player themselves can determine who uses a mushball. Please do not make comments/chirps/suggestions during games based on your perceptions of a player’s abilities. 

Only players who are either designated as “required” or “elective” are listed below: 

Mushball Designations (June 2025)* *Bold indicates current mushball user

Humber River

  • Darren (required)
  • LJ (required)
  • Manjeet (elective, not required)
  • Anto (elective, not required)
  • Yosnai (elective, not required)

Rouge River

  • Terrance (required)
  • Marty (required)
  • Victoria (elective, not required)
  • Matias (elective, not required)
  • Sabrina (elective, not required)
  • Jenni (elective, not required)

Credit River

  • Craig (required)
  • Andy (required)
  • Johann (required)
  • Sam (elective, not required)
  • Ivan (elective, not required)
  • Shannon (elective, not required)
  • Devin (elective, not required)
  • Janice (elective, not required)
  • Stuart (elective, not required)
  • Emma (elective, not required)

Don River

  • Karl (required)
  • Jaz (required)
  • Oskar (required)
  • Jasper (elective, not required)
  • Peter(elective, not required)
  • Jeffrey (elective, not required)
  • Sudeep (elective, not required)
  • Camie (elective, not required)
  • Emmi (elective, not required)
  • Natasha (elective, not required)

Garrison Creek

  • Phill (required)
  • Lucky (elective, not required)
  • Seb (elective, not required)
  • Maddy (elective, not required)
  • Soren (elective, not required)
  • Sara (elective, not required)